Because December was all about Meta, I was thinking we were taking a break from the subject, but yesterday's statement confirmed it: Meta will be the company of 2022 (again?). According to their latest announcement, Tony Xu, co-founder, and CEO of Doordash, has joined Meta's board of directors, bringing the total number of directors to ten. Was it part of the "New Year, New Me" campaign?
Netguru's Virtual Try-Ons report is finally available after months of development and functional testing. Go ahead and grab your own copy for some high-quality information about the trendiest retail solutions. Spoiler alert: the study includes some fantastic firms such as Pandora, Charlotte Tilbury, Gucci, and others.
Disrupting Retail
- Parcel delivery specialist, DPD UK, has completed the acquisition of CitySprint, a UK-based same-day delivery company, following the recent approval of the transaction by the Competition and Markets Authority. Elaine Kerr, CEO at DPD UK, comments: "This transaction makes genuine sense for both parties and we are delighted to have completed the acquisition. Same day delivery is one of the fastest-growing segments of the logistics market and this deal will enable us to provide our customers with fantastic new services.” Read more.?
- Italian luxury footwear brand, Aquazzura, has selected the Cegid Retail unified commerce and Point of Sale platform to manage its stores. Pietro De Simone, IT Manager at Aquazzura, notes that luxury retailers in particular need to focus on brand loyalty and to make the shopping experience as personalized as possible. “We’ve had to adapt and undergo quite a lot of change, but thanks to Cegid Retail, we’ve been able to implement a truly omnichannel strategy and respond to today’s challenges.” Read more.?
- Blackhawk Network has announced a deal with Carrefour Group to manage its branded third-party gift card program across France, Belgium, Poland, Italy, Spain, Romania, Argentina, and Brazil. Laurent Baert, Global Director Carrefour Media/CRM & Branded Gift Cards, says: “Having worked with Blackhawk Network for over 11 years, we are thrilled to be extending our partnership with the leader in gift card distribution.” Read more.?
- UPS will handle more than 60 million return packages during its peak shipping season of Nov. 14 through Jan. 22, an all-time high for the company and 10% more than it handled the year before, according to a UPS fact sheet. Read more.?
Finance & Tech
- UBS Next, the Swiss bank's $200 million fintech venture fund, has invested in US-based digital estate planning platform Trust & Will. “Trust & Will’s platform helps to further digitalise and personalize an increasingly important aspect of wealth management: estate planning,” says Mike Dargan, UBS Group chief digital and information officer. “With this investment, we are exploring services beyond banking where we can partner to deliver real value for our firm.” Read more.?
- Revolut has launched as a bank in 10 Western European countries, enabling it to offer its customers in these markets deposit protection. “Launching the bank in ten new European markets will provide an even greater level of security and confidence for our customers, and will enable us to launch a host of new products and services in the near future,” says Joe Heneghan, CEO, Revolut Bank.
- Lynx Global Digital Finance Corporation is pleased to announce the extension of its financial infrastructure to include support for metaverse based services. "While metaverse is widely discussed across all industries right now, for Lynx, we have always focused on building an inclusive digital economy. The ability to integrate the virtual economy to our legacy financial system is a further opportunity to give access to everyday financial transactions to people, regardless of income level or where they live; for them to expand their own local economy," said Mike Penner, CEO. Read more.?
- The London Stock Exchange has led a Series A funding round in BondCLiQ, the operator of a consolidated quote system for the corporate bond market. Andrea Remyn Stone, group head, data & analytics, LSEG, states: “As a longtime supporter of visibility and transparency, we believe BondCliQ’s consolidated quote system is a major structural improvement that will lead to better outcomes for all investors.”
- UK-based circular economy fintech Twig has raised $35 million (￡25.7m) in a Series A financing round. Twig founder and CEO Geri Cupi says: “Our mission is to empower our consumers to make conscious choices around sustainability, and simultaneously release wealth in an instant and seamless way, fit for 2022 digitally savvy users.” Read more.?
All Things Innovation?
- Tumblr hid search results on iOS for a variety of tags to comply with the App Store’s guidelines. Today, Tumblr is trying to solve the issue by rolling out a sensitive content toggle for its iOS app, which allows users to opt-in to seeing sensitive content. (The toggle opts you out of seeing sensitive content by default.) When you search for a sensitive tag — think something like “marijuana” — the updated Tumblr iOS app will now hide search results. Read more.?
- Monica Sarbu, co-founder and CEO at Xata.io, has more than 15 years of experience working at tech companies. She never had a mentor to help her navigate her way inside the organizations where she worked, but she saw how some women and other historically underrepresented people struggled to find their way. She began thinking about how she could help more people succeed inside tech companies, and after much thought, she formed a nonprofit mentoring company in 2020 called Tupu.io as a side project. Read more.?
Personal Changes?
- Doordash co-founder and CEO Tony Xu has joined Meta’s board of directors, the Facebook parent company announced on Tuesday. Xu has served as CEO of Doordash since 2013 and was appointed the company’s board chair in November 2020. Meta says Xu’s appointment is effective immediately. Xu’s appointment brings the total number of people on Meta’s board of directors to 10. Read more.?
- MX, the financial data platform and leader in modern connectivity, announced today that Shane Evans has been appointed Interim Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors, effective immediately. Read more.?
A Number to Remember
- French tech startups seem to be engaged in a furious race to the top. The latest victor in this frothy competition is Back Market, which has claimed the title of most valuable French startup on the heels of a $510m round announced. Read more.?
Reader’s Corner
- During the pandemic, retailers attempted to reinvent the in-store fitting room experience. By the end of 2021, the retail market for AR and VR had been valued at $3.79 billion, with predictions of rising to $17.86 billion by 2028. Virtual try-on has been the pandemic's queen, but as we enter the age of digital acceleration, there is still a lot of work to be done. Netguru UX Teams tested solutions from F.Hinds, Ray-ban, Charlotte Tilbury, Candere, Pandora, Gucci, and more — we put all the insights and learnings in a report on the future of virtual try-ons and how brands can use its potential to the fullest. Download the report here.?
- Prep yourself for 2022, a year of product design trends that will respond to the still-forming “new normal.” Get familiar with MXDPs, NFTs, RPAs, and have a bit of nostalgia for dessert. Top 7 product design trends to follow in 2022. Read more.?
