Serial Entrepreneurs Anil Aggarwal, Jonathan Weiner and Don Kingsborough -- Founders of Ventures such as Money20/20, TxVia and Blackhawk Network -- Launch Shoptalk, the Leading Tech Event for NextGen Commerce

NEW YORK, Sept. 22, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Anil Aggarwal and Jonathan Weiner, founders of the world's largest FinTech event—Money20/20—have partnered with Don Kingsborough, long-time Silicon Valley entrepreneur, to launch the leading conference and exhibition for next generation commerce—Shoptalk. The event will be held on May 16-18, 2016 at the Aria in Las Vegas with over 2,000 attendees, including hundreds of CEOs. Shoptalk also announced today that it has raised $2.5 million in funding from strategic investors including Commerce Ventures and Primary Venture Partners.

Shoptalk covers the technologies and trends that are set to fundamentally reshape how consumers discover, shop and buy. Bringing together an entirely new community of Internet companies, tech startups, retailers, brands, investors and other key stakeholders around an unprecedented agenda, Shoptalk will provide an unmatched opportunity for dialogue and interaction that will serve as a critical catalyst for the entire commerce ecosystem.

Shoptalk addresses the full range of revolutionary trends redefining commerce including:

1. Pioneering brands and retail models
2. On-demand services, delivery and logistics
3. Collaborative consumption and the sharing economy
4. Integrated, omnichannel shopping
5. Search, discovery and curation
6. Consumer-centric product development and customization
7. Delightful user experiences and interfaces
8. Anywhere, anytime marketing
9. Measurement and analytics everywhere
10. Globalization and borderless shopping

The three-day event is designed with a wide variety of formats and programs that enable attendees to:

1. Discover groundbreaking technologies and trends as well as identify new directions to take their businesses
2. Discuss and debate the latest and most novel business models across all verticals to stay ahead of the curve
3. Collaborate in new ways, forge innovative partnerships and fund new ventures

"There is a fundamental transformation underway," said Aggarwal, chairman of Shoptalk. "Technology has enabled a new unified physical and digital world where everyone creates, curates and consumes differently. Connected and empowered, today's consumers expect a wide range of new integrated, on-demand and personalized products, services and experiences. This is the future of commerce. It's far more than just the incremental shift to omnichannel that dominates today's dialogue: It's a reinvention of how consumers discover, shop and buy everything."

Added Kingsborough: "Disruption is the new norm in retail and commerce. We see Shoptalk as the definitive annual event to organize this transformative change in a meaningful, efficient way—and to provide a venue for important in-person collaboration among all ecosystem stakeholders."

Joining the Shoptalk founders is a team of industry specialists vested in creating an exceptional experience and the blockbuster annual event for commerce, including:

• Zia Daniell Wigder, with over 20 years of experience in the digital space, is a leading authority on commerce. She joined Shoptalk from Forrester Research where she directed the company's global ecommerce and commerce technology research.
• Deborah Weinswig, an award winning retail analyst and a specialist in retail innovation and technology. In addition to her role with Shoptalk, Weinswig is the Head of Global Retail & Technology for the Fung Business Intelligence Centre and was previously Head of the Global Staples & Consumer Discretionary Team at Citi Research.
• Sonal Gandhi, a commerce expert with 10 years of experience in delivering customer-centric digital and omnichannel strategies, most recently at eBay Enterprise and Macy's.

Shoptalk also announced today that it has closed $2.5 million in funding. Investors include Commerce Ventures and Primary Venture Partners.

"As investors in companies that are shaping the future of commerce, we're thrilled to invest in Shoptalk," said Dan Rosen, managing partner, Commerce Ventures, who led Shoptalk's funding. "We share the team's mission to build a new community of commerce innovators and restructure the conversation to center around the disruptive technologies and innovations that are changing the basics of personal consumption."

"We're excited to back a team of such passionate and proven entrepreneurs," said Ben Sun, general partner at Primary Venture Partners. "Anil and Jon have previously started and exited multiple leading tech companies such as TxVia, in which we were among the first institutional investors and which was acquired by Google in 2012 as part of its commerce initiatives. They have consistently used their insights into innovation to help build industries—Money20/20 was a great example of that for FinTech—and we look forward to working with them to achieve the same for NextGen Commerce. Don is a highly respected Silicon Valley heavyweight with decades of experience in retail innovation, and we think the partnership creates the right formula for the development of Shoptalk into an industry-wide platform."

About Shoptalk

Shoptalk \ˈshäp-ˌtȯk\: 1. Talking about work outside the workplace. 2. The tech event for NextGen Commerce reshaping how we discover, shop and buy. 3. A catalyst for new technologies and relentless innovators disrupting how everyone creates, curates and consumes differently in a unified physical+digital world. 4. May 16-18, 2016 at the Aria in Las Vegas. For more information, please visit www.shoptalk.com.

SOURCE Shoptalk

Related Links

http://www.shoptalk.com