Motorola Solutions Venture Capital invests in Retailigence’s $2.6 million funding round

SCHAUMBURG & PALO ALTO, USA: Motorola Solutions Inc., through its strategic investment arm Motorola Solutions Venture Capital, has invested in Retailigence, a mobile marketing service for retailers focused on local product and brand availability. The funding will be used to advance the development of the service, accelerate integration into major retail systems, and dramatically expand retailer coverage.

As the worlds of online and offline retail commerce merge, it has become essential for brick-and-mortar retailers to provide solutions that connect with consumers seamlessly both online and in-store. Retailigence facilitates these connections by integrating with local retail systems and aggregating data. A retailer’s highly actionable “available inventory” information then is distributed to shoppers with high purchase intent via applications utilizing Retailigence’s services.

Retailigence information is demanded by mobile consumers using smart devices to find products locally for purchase. With the proliferation of location-aware applications, consumers now are equipped with sophisticated shopping tools that can be even more powerful when connected to existing and emerging retail solutions.

“Motorola Solutions is an established leader in retail, and we are very excited to be working with them to accelerate the adoption of our service throughout the retail industry,” said Jeremy Geiger, founder and CEO of Retailigence.

“The rising availability of shopping-assisted options across all shopping channels means that retail stores must be visible when shoppers are ready to buy,” said Reese Schroeder, MD of Motorola Solutions Venture Capital. “We believe that Retailigence is implementing critical technology that can help brick- and-mortar retailers remain fiercely competitive.”

The results of Motorola Solutions’ annual Holiday Shopping Survey, released in December 2011, revealed that while shopper activity and spend remains higher in-store than online, retailers need to continue to address the needs of the omni-channel shopper. Online purchases increased more than 18 percent compared to 2010, and 63 percent of surveyed shoppers with smartphones downloaded a shopping application.

Retailigence has grown rapidly since launching in late 2010. The service now has more than 10 million active products that can be found at nearly 100,000 retail locations across the United States and Canada. The company also is seeing great success in the Japanese market where it recently launched with major Japanese IT and telecom partners.