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Retail technology startup Thri5 has secured $5.4 million in seed funding in a round co-led by Whitecap Venture Partners and Mistral Venture Partners, with participation from MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund (IAF) and N49P. The company, founded by former Marks & Spencer executive Jeremy Pee and former Kijiji Canada CEO Herman Paek, has developed an 'AI-native execution layer' designed to sit above existing retail technology stacks. The platform has already been piloted and deployed across the store network of Wild Fork Foods in the United States and Canada.
Thri5's platform is designed to continuously interpret data across a retailer's existing systems to identify high-value operational opportunities. It then orchestrates actions across teams and AI agents to ensure that head office priorities are executed at the store level.
The startup was founded by Jeremy Pee, formerly the Chief Digital and Technology Officer at Marks & Spencer, and Herman Paek, former CEO of Kijiji Canada. The founders previously collaborated to build the digital business for Loblaw, Canada's largest grocery and pharmacy retailer.
The $5.4 million seed round included participation from a group of retail and technology veterans. The company intends to use these funds to grow its workforce and expand its commercial footprint globally.
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The funding highlights a growing trend in enterprise software: the shift from 'systems of insight'—which provide data and analytics—to 'systems of action' that automate operational tasks. Thri5 aims to bridge the gap between head office planning and store-level execution by interpreting data signals to prioritize tasks for employees. By functioning as an orchestration layer that does not require retailers to replace core legacy systems, the platform addresses a common barrier to AI adoption in large-scale retail environments. The successful deployment at Wild Fork Foods serves as a practical validation of this approach, demonstrating how AI can translate high-level business intelligence into daily, actionable instructions for store operators.
Retailers often struggle with a surplus of data but a deficit of actionable intelligence at the store level. Thri5 attempts to solve this by automating the translation of corporate strategy into daily tasks for store staff.
By positioning itself as an 'execution layer' that sits above existing infrastructure, Thri5 avoids the high costs and technical risks associated with 'rip-and-replace' digital transformation projects.
The investment reflects investor confidence in the 'systems of action' category, where AI is used not just to generate reports, but to actively manage and improve business outcomes through continuous learning from operational results.
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Thri5 plans to use the new capital to expand its engineering, product, and commercial teams while accelerating its global go-to-market strategy. Observers should monitor the company's ability to scale its 'execution layer' across more complex, multi-banner retail environments beyond its initial pilot. As the company targets enterprise retailers, its success will likely depend on how effectively its AI agents can integrate with diverse, fragmented legacy systems without causing operational friction. The company's growth trajectory will also serve as a bellwether for the broader market demand for AI-driven operational orchestration in the retail sector.
The company's ability to maintain performance and reliability as it moves from a single-client pilot to a broader enterprise customer base.
Future announcements regarding new retail partnerships, which will indicate the platform's versatility across different retail segments (e.g., apparel vs. grocery).
The evolution of the platform's AI agents as they accumulate more operational data, potentially leading to more sophisticated autonomous decision-making capabilities.