China’s Boyu Capital Leads $125 Million Round for Image Retail Analytics Company Trax

Singapore-headquartered retail analytics company Trax Image Recognition has raised $125 million, the company announced Friday, bringing its total funding to $235 million to date. The round was led by China-focused equity investment firm Boyu Capital Consultancy Co. Ltd., with the participation of British publishing and TV production company DC Thomson. Existing Trax shareholders include Warburg Pincus, its largest shareholder, and South Africa-headquartered asset management company Investec. According to the announcement, Trax plans to focus on expansion in China, where it already has “a strong market presence."

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The current investment was made according to a valuation of close to $1 billion, Trax co-founder and CEO Joel Bar-El told Bloomberg Monday. In 2016 Calcalist reported, Trax considered an initial public offering on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange according to a company valuation of a little over $200 million, but backtracked.

Trax enables retailers to keep track of their stock using image recognition and computer vision analytic tools. The company was founded in 2010 by Israel-born Bar-El and Dror Feldheim, the company's chief commercial officer, and has a research and development center in Tel Aviv. The company operates in over 50 countries, with clients including some of Coca Cola's anchor bottlers and Henkel AG & Company.

In a statement, Bar-El said that Trax will use the funding for research and development, for global expansion, and to explore the possibility of setting up an engineering center in China. Some of the capital will also go towards buying out some early investors' shares.

Boyu Capital's "experience and insights into the scale and pace of China’s retail technology environment will be incredibly valuable" to Trax, said Bar-El in a statement.

“The investment in Trax is driven by our conviction in the compelling value proposition of new technology solutions that enable digitalization of brick and mortar retail," said Joey Chen, managing director of Boyu Capital, adding "as the retail industry in China further explores the technology-empowered online and offline convergence, we believe Trax is best positioned to help the clients in China achieve their digital transformation.”