This year so far, we’ve been spending more time in major European tech and start-up hubs including Berlin, Paris and Barcelona, with the Nordics to come in Q2, meeting with other VCs and founders with a view to increasing our investments in European markets.

Our industry finds itself in a perplexing spot in 2024. Macroeconomic conditions aren’t great, but they’re an awful lot better than they were a year ago. Opportunities abound, particularly the potential for AI to deliver efficiencies throughout the value chain, but challenges also remain plentiful.

Specialist investing appears to be gaining momentum. Atomico’s State of European Tech report 2022 showed roughly 40% of VC funds (and roughly 45% of Pre-Seed and Seed funds) were planning to increase their specialism in investment focus going forwards, second only to growing their networks. Joe Seager-Dupuy, Investment Director at True, explores why Specialist strategies will thrive in uncertain markets, with a focus on the VC strategy he leads alongside Mike Martin.

Two years ago, retailers across the sector were developing or showing an interest in metaverse experiences. Retail Week asks why enthusiasm has waned and what the future holds for immersive tech.

We chat to Orlando Ribas, Co-Founder of Fashable, a proprietary AI generated fashion technology that helps brands reduce the time spent on research, design, and content creation, while limiting the possibility of copyright infringements and allowing designers the time to focus on high-added-value tasks.

From supplier negotiations to store operations, AI offers retailers the chance to reap big benefits, believes Matt Truman

In today's ever-evolving advertising landscape, retail media networks are making waves. As Helen Thomas mentioned in the FT this morning, "the idea of 'retail media' is an old one." As the adage goes, everything old is new again, however this time round, the difference is how digital has unlocked new areas of growth.

In today's ever-evolving advertising landscape, retail media networks are making waves. As Helen Thomas mentioned in the FT this morning, "the idea of 'retail media' is an old one." As the adage goes, everything old is new again (we’ve been working in this space for years), however this time round, the difference is how digital has unlocked new areas of growth.

Inflation has been making headlines for more than a year but retailers now need to be alert to the risks of deflation, warns True’s Matt Truman

Retail is not rapidly transitioning from bust to boom, but the headwinds that have blasted the industry are abating, believes True’s Matt Truman.

Bad news sells, as we've seen in recent economic reporting. Very little has been publicised on the stabilising of the economy in comparison to the downward spike. In the spirit of starting the new year with a sense of optimism, and more importantly, a balanced point of view, read on for 12 headlines which are somewhat better (or at least less bad) than the media is reporting...

At True, we thrive on growing companies, striving to achieve equal contribution towards people, planet and profit, with a specific focus on positively impacting the communities in which our businesses live. We've warned of the macroeconomic dangers ahead and it doesn’t make me happy to see that those predictions are now playing out.

With rising inflation rates and a downturn in consumer confidence what is the lay of the land for retail this year? And what - if any - are the investment opportunities out there?

Following a year of rapid acceleration in digital adoption – to coin a Bezos phrase – many brands and retailers are looking at how, using technology, they can turn cost centres into profit centres, a practise that we, at True, love.