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Under 30 Retail & Ecommerce lister Spencer Hewett’s retail technology company Radar is gearing up for the busy holiday season. The startup, which creates sensors that are installed on store ceilings to monitor where any item is at a given time, closed a $38 million follow-on fundraising round this fall, bringing their total funding to $104 million.
Founded in 2017, Radar helps store associates to locate items and to more accurately determine inventory levels store-wide. While many retail stores today require employees to walk the floor and manually scan individual barcodes or wand over piles of clothing or inventory trucks to identify where items are at that moment in time, Radar’s proprietary RFID (radio frequency identification) ceiling sensors automatically track exact positions of products in real-time.
“Any time items are moving, we’re picking up the position,” says Hewett, who studied computer engineering at Washington University in St. Louis before dropping out to pursue Radar (then Skip) via a Thiel fellowship. “Once you have that position data, that enables you to know where an item is, so if a customer wants it—and you’re a sales associate who just started because you got hired as a temp worker for holiday—you can immediately go and find that item in the store no matter where it’s been moved.”
Plus, even with the rise of online shopping, more than 50% of online holiday purchases are expected to be shipped from (or picked up in) retail stores. That makes real-time knowledge of exact inventory even more critical, says Radar’s Chief Growth Officer Eric Mogil.
So far, Radar’s high-tech solution has attracted national retailers: Its sensors are currently installed in 541 American Eagle locations, and 14 more pilot projects. Hewett expects his systems to read 800 million product tags this year. “That’s down to the SKU… that jean, that size, that color, and that exact item,” said Mogil. “And what’s happening to that item from when it enters the store, to when customers engage with it, to when it leaves.”
Along with expanding their hardware into more storefronts, Radar will also use the funding to release additional offerings about customer behavior—like whether a customer picks up and places back down an item, indicating there was something about it the shopper didn’t like.
Until next time,
Alex & Zoya
Inside Alex Cooper’s $125 Million Deal To Grow Her Multimedia Empire
Media lister Alex Cooper has become a media mogul. Since making Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2022, she’s landed a spot on Forbes Top Creators lists in 2023 and 2024, and landed multiple record-breaking podcast deals. Most recently, a $125 million partnership with radio giant Sirius XM. Forbes sat down with Cooper to learn more about how she plans to shake up the radio space with her podcasting prowess.
Read about it here.
Lister Lowdown
-On Wednesday, 2024 Under 30 Energy startup Aquaria announced it raised $112 million in funding. Founded by brothers Brian and Eric Sheng, Aquaria has patented technology to produce clean water from the air, currently working on building water infrastructures in residential areas. They had raised $5 million when they were recognized on the Forbes list. Investors in the latest round include Soma Capital, Ciri Ventures and Umami Capital.
-TetraScience, which sells data to life science companies, this month announced a partnership with Nvidia, the GPU maker with a $3.4 billion market cap. Cofounded by 2018 Under 30 Science lister Spin Wang, TetraScience says the aim of the collaboration is to create AI-driven products for life science companies to use in areas like drug discovery and manufacturing.
-Lightyear.ai, a company that provides the likes of Glossier and Alo Yoga with an AI-driven telecom management system, raised a $31 million Series B this week. The round saw participation from Amplo VC, where 2024 Under 30 Venture Capital lister Samuel Garcia is a partner. Garcia has sat on Lightyear’s board since his firm led the startup’s $3.7 million seed round in 2020.
One Minute With Maya Jama
We’re bringing you the scoop on a new Under 30 community member. Up this week: 2024 Under 30 Europe Media & Marketing Lister Maya Jama, the TV and radio host known for Love Island and The Circle. Now the Bristol, UK native is a founder and burgeoning business owner herself.
The following has been slightly edited for length and clarity.
With so many facets of your career, how do you describe what your “job” is? Sometimes I like to joke and say my job is being a professional talker. But honestly, it’s a few things, so it’s hard to describe: I’m a businesswoman, I’m a broadcaster, I work with brands, and I work in the world of Entertainment.
Why did you decide to go down the media and TV presenting path? When I was little, I used to put on shows for my family. I was one of those kids who would chat to strangers, and I’d always love to find out people’s stories. I loved performing and acting, but I couldn’t dance or sing, so this was the best natural fit.
What was your first ever job (any fun or weird high school gigs or things you took on as a kid)? My first job was washing dishes in a café in Bristol when I was in secondary school.
But my first media job, which I don’t think a lot of people know, was a runner at Jump Off TV. They were a production company with a YouTube channel that also held live events and this really allowed me to dive into learning about media—like behind the scenes and events—and helped me start immersing myself in the London scene.
Was there a role you took on that particularly skyrocketed your career? I think the role that probably really skyrocketed my career was being on Radio 1 as that made me a bit more of a household name. But the Coppa 90 series on YouTube was the real defining moment for me, personally, and when I felt like my broadcast goals were attainable.
How did you land your role on Love Island—a show so beloved by viewers across the globe? I was actually a fan of the show for years. I’d appeared on Aftersun quite a few times in the earlier series, and viewers seemed to like my reactions and discussions. I was genuinely invested. When ITV was looking for a new host, they reached out, which felt like perfect alignment since I was already a fan.
What are three words you’d use to describe that experience? Viral, emotional (you get so invested in the Islanders), and fun.
With such a busy day-to-day, what’s your morning routine like? On a “good day” I’ll get up, have a little lemon water, and ice my face, head to Pilates or the gym, then head to meetings or filming something—like appearing on a show, doing a brand shoot, or a photoshoot. In the evening, I’ll have my friends over and chill.
On a “bad day” I’ll just spend the day on my sofa catching up on a series, but I also call that self-care. Downtime is important.
You’re also the founder of MIJ Masks. Why did you start this company? I was always wearing different face and eye masks on planes, whilst shopping, and on my way to shoots. People would constantly ask me on my socials which one was the best and I’d give out loads of advice, essentially promoting these brands for free. But when I looked into the ingredients of the expensive masks I wore I found out they’re not actually costly to make, it’s mainly the packaging and marketing that increases the price.
We sourced the same ingredients as those pricier masks, and spent a lot of time trying different combinations of ingredients to create a very custom skincare recipe. I made sure it felt luxurious, but at affordable prices.
They sold out immediately online, and then eventually we stocked them in Harvey Nichols. Now we’re working behind the scenes to bring out MIJ 2.0, which is exciting!
You are now the co-owner of Sproud, why was this a company you wanted to become involved with and what will your role be? I loved the Swedish connection. Being part Swedish is important to me, and I also don’t drink dairy milk, so I’m always looking for good alternatives.
My role with Sproud will be a co-owner and strategic advisor, which is essentially helping them increase their visibility in the UK and harnessing my reach. They already have a great presence globally, and in the UK, but I’m excited to be on board and help expand this.