The funding was led by Forerunner Ventures, with participation from Maveron, CAA Ventures, Global Founders Capital, NextGen Venture Partners, Revolution's Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, Dollar Shave Club founder Michael Dubin and Retail Connection co-founder Alan P. Shor (who's also joining the board of directors).
According to group chief executive, Kate Swann, the news distribution offshoot - which services 22,000 retailers and wholesales 36% of UK national newspapers - is handicapped because publishers and the other retailers it serves are suspicious of the group's own retail connections.
His portfolio companies, which include ChirpMe, a Facebook dating site, and Nutanix, a data storage company, can also tap his family's rich retail connections.
"I was so excited this season because I had finally made good retail connections," said the designer Alice Roi, who had buyers from stores like Harrods and Colette, the Paris boutique, at her Sept. 9 show.
Although Verizon today is a $126 billion business (2016 revenues), it has only 114.2 million retail connections.
VZW had 112.6 million retail connections as of this quarter, up 3.7% year-over-year, and 107.2 million retail postpaid connections, up 4.4% year-over-year.
Verizon said at the end of Q3 it had 113.7 million retail connections, up only 2.6percentt year-over-year.
TechCode also provides supply chain support, distribution, manufacturing and retail connections in the U.S., China and Europe, with a strong focus on China.
The company now has 110.8 million retail connections, up 4.3percentt; and 105.8 postpaid subscribers, up 4.9percentt, adding 1.3 million in total in the quarter.
But don't cry for Verizon just yet: the company employs 161,000 people and made $126 billion in revenues in 2016, with 113.9 million retail connections in its mobile business.
The company does this through its Retail Link system, which suppliers can tap into over a secure internet connection.
