Pear Commerce, a Minneapolis-based startup that created retail software that tells customers where products they want to buy are in stock, recently completed a $10 million Series A fundiing round and has partnerships with some of the nation's biggest brands.
Pear Commerce helps consumer-product brands — like food and drinks makers — tell their customers which nearby stores have certain products in stock. The company's technology tracks product availability in more than 3,000retailers at 165,000 locations nationwide. Brands can either use the software to create ads or customize their websites to show where their products are available.
The funding round was led by Stage 2 Capital with participation from Heartland Ventures, Homegrown Ventures, Dundee Venture Capital, M25 and angel investor Daren Cotter. The funding will be used for product development, market expansion and hiring, including a vice president of sales, vice president of engineering and head of customer success.
Eric Martell and Alex Wyler founded the company in 2018. While they were developing the product, the pandemic hit. Shoppable ads — ads that take customers directly to the product for purchase — emerged on social media networks and websites.
Martell and Wyler wanted to use shoppable ads, which usually advertise clothing or a product that can be shipped, for food products. And food brands were looking for different ways to advertise online as more people shopped for groceries online, Martell said.
"That’s what kind of started the shoppable ad revolution," Martell said. "Some of these brands didn’t know where their products were in stock at retailers. E-commerce became more important to consumer-good products."
The company has partnered with brands like Perdue Farms, Liquid Death and Molson Coors. In 2023, Pear Commerce and Yahoo Advertising partnered to help expand its retail and consumer-product goods offerings.
Currently, Pear Commerce employs 30 people and hopes to bring that number to 50 by the end of the year. Martell said the company has experienced five times the growth in revenue over the past year but did not disclose a number.
