Handshake raises $3.2M funding

Handshake, an AI-powered retail agreement platform headquartered in London, announced a $3.2 million funding round led by Triple Point Ventures, with participation from Future Back Ventures by Bain and Company and Octopus Group. The funding will accelerate Handshake's product development, expand its engineering and customer success teams, and support deeper partnerships with leading retailers and suppliers. Handshake's platform aims to modernize retail buying by providing a transparent system for commercial agreements, replacing fragmented processes that currently rely on spreadsheets and informal 'handshake' agreements. This innovation is crucial for the $18.8 trillion retail industry, which faces pressures from inflation, cost volatility, and tighter margins. Alexander Lindsay, co-founder and CEO of Handshake, and Peter Welch, co-founder and CTO, highlighted the significant opportunity to build an AI-native operating system for retail buying, improving visibility, structure, and accountability for retailers and suppliers like Gopuff.