Major Investment for Retail Media Innovator Topsort
Topsort, a provider of auction-based retail media infrastructure, has received strategic investment from W23, a venture fund supported by several global grocery retailers. Topsort’s platform uses AI to automate ad allocation and pricing through a bidless auction model, reducing manual setup for advertisers and allowing retailers to monetize inventory with less friction.
Strategic Backing from Global Grocery Giants
W23 counts Tesco, Ahold Delhaize, Woolworths Group, Empire Company (Sobeys) and Shoprite Group among its backers. Their participation signals coordinated interest from large grocers in shared technology that can scale across banners and markets. For retailers, Topsort’s bidless auction technology creates a way to pool and price inventory consistently, simplify onboarding and extend reach to smaller brands and sellers who previously could not participate in retail media at scale.
Ushering in Retail Media’s AI and Scale Era
Topsort’s core technology addresses three persistent problems in retail media: fragmentation of inventory, high entry barriers for long-tail advertisers, and the manual work of bidding and optimization. By applying machine learning to match demand with available placements and by removing traditional bid mechanics, the platform speeds campaign activation and standardizes pricing signals. Advertisers gain access to widely distributed placements with predictable outcomes, while retailers get a mechanism to increase fill rates and revenue without adding complex operations.
The W23 investment suggests a broader industry shift toward shared, AI-driven infrastructure and greater transparency in measurement and pricing. As grocery retailers pursue unified solutions, expect retail media networks to open to a wider range of advertisers, improve cross-retailer scale and accelerate the emergence of standard practices for inventory, reporting and governance.
For brands and retailers, the collaboration between Topsort and W23 points to a future where retail media is more automated, measurable and accessible to the long tail of sellers that power modern commerce.
