Leap, a fast-growing retail tech startup, announced Thursday it raised a $50 million Series B round, which it will use to further innovate its platform and expand its store location network. Chicago-based investment firm BAM Elevate led the round, and was joined by Harbor Spring Capital, Northern Trust, Simon, Costanoa Ventures and Hyde Park Venture Partners.
Put simply, Leap combines technology, store management and real estate expertise to help retailers open stores more quickly and efficiently. Using Leap, popular brands like ThirdLove and Birdies have been able to open stores equipped with sales teams, management resources and other operational tools in a “fraction of the time,” according to the company.
In addition to these brands, Leap also works with retail landlords, developers and brokers in order to build up entire retail markets and shopping centers. The logic here is that, by deploying stores in clusters, Leap can make the whole process more cost efficient, as well as mitigate risk for brand customers and their landlords.
“Modern brands require omnichannel solutions to connect with customers meaningfully and consistently across channels,” Leap’s co-founder and co-CEO Amish Tolia said in a statement. “It’s such an exciting time for retail. More than 500 brands have registered with us, and we have barely scratched the surface. This new capital will enable us to make significant investments into our technology for enabling omnichannel and to scale even more rapidly.”
Indeed, Leap says its store fleet and total system sales quadrupled last year, and it has opened stores in NYC, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Scottsdale, Florida and Texas so far. This fresh capital will help the startup scale the business even more, as well as grow its team at its New York headquarters and offices across the country.
“As brands look to overcome increasing costs in their supply chain and digital marketing channels, we believe Leap is uniquely positioned to transform the retail landscape,” JP Van Arsdale, a general partner at BAM Elevate, said in a statement. “Brands can now leverage Leap’s proprietary data, systems and scale to rapidly create or grow an omnichannel physical retail presence, which has never been more important.”
