The Lead has announced The Leading 100 of 2019, the highly anticipated annual research list recognizing the break-out technology start-ups driving innovation in the fashion & retail industry. Companies from across the industry value chain — including marketing, e-commerce, in-store technology, payments, supply chain, manufacturing, design and sustainability — were nominated and considered.
Shopin continues to make strides across the world of retail post the recent release of R.I.D.E. (the Retail Intelligence Data Engine- a patent-protected “Bloomberg Terminal” for retail, powered by over 3.5BN purchase data transactions, 30MM SKU cooccurrences, 6.4MM products and tracking 71,000 fashion brands).
Recently the team returned triumphant from GDS Summit with several of Fortune 100 retailers ranking Shopin either 9 or 10 out of 10 for R.I.D.E. and the vision of a universal shopper profile for retail powered by proprietary visual artificial intelligence, NLP and decentralization technologies.
The Lead, a highly regarded retail research firm, announced The Leading 100 list of break-out tech startups innovating across the fashion and retail industry in collaboration with renowned The Robin Report. Amongst the prestigious honorees, Shopin was listed as “Moonshot of the Year 2019.”
“We are absolutely blown away. At Shopin, our goal is to ensure that timeless brands stay timeless,” said Eran Eyal, CEO and founder of Shopin.”We have looked to the rich tapestry and legacy of retail for guidance, and to the innovative leaders of ecomm for inspiration to scale in order to bring these worlds into harmony in a retail renaissance. Ultimately, we are a small and humble team, dedicated to working tirelessly and are unreasonably relentless to achieve these goals… but it is impossible without the support and guidance of people like The Lead, The Robin Report and the industry to help co-create this vision.”
The Leading 100 companies are representative of game-changing approaches and technologies that are likely to disrupt existing markets and entrenched players. They represent the next generation fashion, retail, and commerce technology ecosystem, while at the same time, creating high-growth businesses that offer outsized opportunity upside for investors. It is The Lead’s belief that this group collectively signals the future of the industry.
“When looking at these companies, we paid special attention to their business models, market opportunity and funding. It’s a crowded field. That said, it was important for us to select companies that are on a strong path of commercialization and are approaching exit velocity, so that we can be confident that they will not only be here in a couple of years, but have the longevity to have an outsized impact on the industry,” said Awais Khan, head of research at The Lead.
All companies were vetted and selected using a rigorous methodology. After reviewing the nominations, The Lead’s Head of Research, Awais Khan, led in-depth analysis into each company. The process included a detailed look at each company’s business with a focus on innovation, market opportunity, media buzz, team, commercialization, competition & investor value creation.
‘While these companies are in growth mode today, the technologies they are incubating will be main-stream in just a few year’s time. By understanding which companies are breaking-out from the pack, we hope the fashion and retail community can develop a stronger sense of where the industry is really going next,” Noah Gellman, co-founder and CEO of The Lead, said of the list.
The Leading 100 will be honored at The Lead Innovation Summit on July 9 and 10, where the entire fashion and retail innovation community will converge to explore what comes next for the industry. The annual event will bring together the top fashion brand and retail thought leaders, start-up CEOs, investors, deal- makers and stakeholders that comprise The Lead’s network, spanning the fashion-retail-commerce innovation ecosystem. The goal of the event — to zero in on the sweet spot in the fashion, retail & technology markets, where innovation is shifting behavior and creating new business opportunities. The Innovation Summit will come to life in Williamsburg on Brooklyn’s Innovation Coast.
