Interactive Retail Merchandiser Perch Completes $1.7M Seed Funding

July 18, 2018 by Dave Haynes

NYC-based Perch, which has for several years been developing very clever interactive merchandising pieces for retail, has announced a $1.7 million seed funding raise and a high profile addition to its advisory board.Perch first came on my radar several years ago with an overhead projection system that turned an ordinary white merchandising table into a very nicely designed interactive lift and learn device. The company has since started working more and more with flat panel displays and come up with set-ups particularly attuned to vertical markets like beauty brands.

The PR company that wrote the announcement went a little nuts with its descriptors for the company, describing Perch as a “Computer Vision IoT Platform” that will “Accelerate Retail’s Resurgence.”

They forgot to slip in blockchain and AI. Would have been a win in buzzword bingo.

Under the leadership of new CEO and veteran entrepreneur Trevor Sumner, who joined PERCH in late 2017, PERCH has been growing exponentially, posting over 150 percent Quarter-over-Quarter (QoQ) growth in Q2. Mr. Sumner was previously founder and President of LocalVox, a retail marketing platform that he grew to over 100 people and was acquired by a subsidiary of the Blackstone Group in 2014.

PERCH’s funding and new leadership caps a 2018 in which the company announced a new augmented reality campaign management system, enhanced computer vision and sensing capabilities within its platform and the expansion of retail clients including Johnson & Johnson, Estee Lauder, Coty, kate spade new york, Bumble and bumble, Red Bull, and Beam Suntory.

“PERCH is changing the definition of what a shopping experience can be with technologies that completely reimagine brick and mortar retail,” says Howard Meitner, former Sephora CEO who has joined the company’s board of advisors. “This is a new era for retail, and PERCH is leading the way by bringing touches of online shopping to the in-store experience for a new, immersive customer-centric experience.”

Most recently, PERCH announced the launch of its open platform and partner program to embed mixed reality marketing into physical retail displays, with POP Displays as the first partner to enter the program. That followed the launch of PERCH Shelf Touch technology that extended the company’s technologies for installments that allow in-store shoppers to tap for information on one product, or swipe along a display to learn more about a group of products.

Installments???

“The time is now to re-imagine the in-store experience, taking the best of interactive digital content and marrying it with the clear advantages of in-store shopping,” says Sumner. “Perch revolutionizes retail by unlocking digital content like videos, ratings and reviews, comparisons, pricing and inventory to every product on the shelf automatically the critical moment a customer touches a product. The wow factor is off the charts and this funding allows us to rapidly expand our computer vision, behavioral sensing and customer analytics to scale this solution.” 

Have always liked this company and its founder Jared Schiffman, who with the addition of Sumner is able to focus on R&D and delivery, as Perch’s CTO.

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