NEWS IN ENGLISH | Axel Springer and kaufDA founders will fund mobile shopping platform Retale with additional $12 mill...
Axel Springer and kaufDA founders will fund mobile shopping platform Retale with additional $12 million
2015-05-18 08:53:00



Pat Dermody, President of Retale (Photo: Retale)
Retale, a location-based mobile platform connecting more than 3.5 million shoppers with their favorite major retailers locally and based on the German kaufDA business model, today announced it has secured $12 million in funding from its existing investor base among which Axel Springer SE, the leading digital publisher in Europe, holds the largest stake. The funding for Retale is part of an overall $18 million shareholder investment in Bonial.com Group, Retale's parent company and an international leader in web and mobile advertising solutions for retail. Axel Springer's investment is part of its already announced plan, made in March 2015, to further invest in the international expansion of Bonial.com Group, most notably in the U.S.

"In the U.S., retail circulars are a staple of the print media industry," said Christian Gaiser, Chief Executive Officer and founder of Bonial.com Group. "However, as mobile adoption continues to flourish, consumers are increasingly migrating to digital channels for in-store deals and discounts. Retale is at the forefront of this evolution, enabling retailers to navigate new digital terrain, and we feel strongly about the potential for future growth."

"Axel Springer's investment in Retale underlines the extraordinary growth potential of the category, as well as our unique ability to facilitate it through our own platform," said Pat Dermody, President of Retale. "Circulars are increasingly consumed digitally and the support will enable our business to scale as needed to accommodate the demand we are seeing from consumers and retailers alike."

Retale replicates the print circular experience in a digital format, providing shoppers with access to in-store deals and promotions through the Retale website and mobile app. All information is location-based, making it possible for shoppers to find the right deal at a store nearby. For retailers, Retale provides new opportunities to reach circular readers who are migrating from print-to-digital, as well as a new generation of shoppers who are more likely to shop in-store while using smartphones or tablets to support them.

As the demand for digital circulars and mobile adoption continue to grow in tandem, Retale has experienced impressive growth since its October 2013 launch, with more than 3.5 million users in just over a year. To meet the demand for circulars through its platform, Retale has grown its retail partners by more than 664 percent, representing over 130 of the country's largest retailers, including JCPenney, Kohl's, Target and Toy"R"Us. In a recent study, nearly 75 percent of smartphone users claimed to have viewed a retail circular in the past 30 days, with 50 percent of those doing so on a mobile device. The findings confirm a strong and rapid digital migration path for the traditionally print-based retail cornerstone.

Retale is a location based shopping platform that combines the convenience of mobile browsing with the unparalleled emotional and visual impact of retail circulars to create a seamless experience from mobile browsing to in-store purchasing. Retale provides a central, interactive destination for consumers to research and discover weekly deals in their regional area from all their favorite retailers. The company is a member of Bonial.com Group.

The Bonial.com Group is the leading international network for digital circular advertising connecting shoppers with local brands in nine countries: USA, Germany, France, Spain, Russia, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and Chile. The globally successful provider of location-based advertising services (Research online - purchase offline) has its corporate headquarters in Berlin as well as offices in Chicago, Paris, Moscow, Barcelona, São Paulo and Munich. Many hundred retailers have chosen this service which reaches millions of consumers worldwide.

Axel Springer is the leading digital publisher in Europe. With headquarters in Berlin, the company is active in more than 40 countries with subsidiaries, joint ventures and licenses. Axel Springer SE is divided into three operating segments: Paid Models, Marketing Models and Classified Ad Models. In 2014, it achieved an EBITDA of EUR 507.1 million. More than half of Group revenues were generated by digital activities, their share of EBITDA amounted to more than 70 percent of Group EBITDA.

In the U.S., Axel Springer is the second largest investor in Ozy, an online magazine for news and culture, and holds minority interests in the online business magazine Business Insider, the start-up Readitlater (developer of the market-leading save-for-later app Pocket), the social-video-news media company NowThis Media, the Pixlee photo-community, as well as the Airbnb community accommodations marketplace. Axel Springer also acquired 100 percent of the digital publisher Livingly Media in the United States through aufeminin, the world's leading women's portal.