Shoptalk, which organizes the most important U.S. event for innovation in retail and ecommerce, today announced $2 million in venture capital funding to support the launch of Shoptalk Europe. Shoptalk also announced the first group of its expected 250+ world-class Shoptalk Europe speakers. Shoptalk Europe will be held at the Bella Center in Copenhagen on October 9-11, 2017.

The investment was led by New York-based Primary Venture Partners and included participation from San Francisco-based Commerce Ventures as well as individual partners at Bain Capital Ventures and New Enterprise Associates (NEA). The total funding raised by Shoptalk now exceeds $5 million.

'Shoptalk has successfully reframed the conversation for the U.S. retail and ecommerce ecosystem to focus on disruptive technologies and trends as well as reset the standard for industry events,' said Ben Sun, general partner at Primary Venture Partners. 'We believe a similar opportunity exists to deliver incredible value in Europe, and we're excited to support the launch of Shoptalk Europe with our investment.'

Shoptalk Europe is the first large-scale pan-European event focused on innovation in retail and ecommerce, and the evolution of how consumers discover, shop for and buy all of their physical goods, from grocery to fashion and everything in between. It brings together leaders from established retailers and brands, disruptive startups, leading technology and Internet companies, venture capital investors and other key stakeholders. Shoptalk Europe expects more than 2,000 attendees at its inaugural event from all of Europe, all parts of the commerce ecosystem and all industry verticals who will come together to learn, network, collaborate and evolve.

Early confirmed Shoptalk Europe speakers represent established retailers as well as startups that have raised over $1 billion to disrupt traditional retail and ecommerce, and include:

3D Hubs CEO, Bram de Zwart
Appear Here Founder & CEO, Ross Bailey
Balderton Capital Partner, Daniel Waterhouse
Casper Co-Founder & CEO, Philip Krim
Depop CEO, Maria Raga
Eve Sleep Founder & CEO, Jas Bagniewski
Fyndiq CEO & Co-Founder, Dinesh Nayar
Galeries Lafayette VP Corporate Development and Innovation, Edoardo Manitto
Google VP of Product Management, Shopping & Travel, Jonathan Alferness
Harrods Managing Director, Michael Ward
Highland Europe Co-Founder & General Partner, Irena Goldenberg
Home24 Founder & CEO, Dr. Philipp Kreibohm
House of Fraser Chief Information Officer, Julian Burnett
Hudson's Bay Company (Brands include Saks Fifth Avenue, Hudson's Bay, Lord & Taylor, Gilt, Saks Fifth Avenue OFF 5TH, GALERIA Kaufhof, and Galeria INNO) CEO, Jerry Storch
IKEA Switzerland CEO, Simona Scarpaleggia
JUNIQE Founder & Managing Director, Marc Pohl
Kolonial.no Co-founder & CEO, Karl Munthe-Kaas
Lesara CEO, Roman Kirsch
LoveCrafts Founder, Edward Griffith
Lyst Co-Founder & CEO, Chris Morton
METRO Accelerator | METRO Managing Director, Dr. Alexander Zumdieck
Mister Spex Founder & CEO, Dirk Graber
Mymuesli Co-Founder, Max Wittrock
Newstore Founder and CEO, Stephan Schambach (Founder of Demandware and Intershop)
Notonthehighstreet.com CEO, Simon Belsham
Outfittery Founder & Managing Director, Anna Alex
Picnic Founder, Joris Beckers
Pinterest President, Tim Kendall
Plug and Play Founder & CEO, Saeed Amidi
REWE Group Chief Digital Officer, Jean-Jacques van Oosten
Space10 Founder & CEO, Carla Cammilla Hjort
Brillen.de Co-Founder & Member of the Board, Daniel Thung
Tesco Managing Director Online, Adrian Letts
Thread Co-Founder & CEO, Kieran O'Neill
Tictail Co-Founder & CEO, Carl Waldekranz
TCV General Partner, John Doran
Vestiaire Collective Founder & CEO, Sébastien Fabre
windeln.de Co-CEO, Konstantin Urban
A list of current speakers can be found at http://shoptalkeurope.com/speakers.

'The support of leading investors that have funded some of the world's most successful and innovative direct-to-consumer and commerce tech companies, as well as early traction with speakers from highly respected retailers and startups, underscores the early and growing buzz for Shoptalk Europe,' said Anil D. Aggarwal, founder and chief executive officer of Shoptalk. 'With different countries and regions in very different stages of disruption, a pan-European conversation bringing all major hubs of innovation together is critical to understanding and implementing new strategies. Those who are not part of this conversation risk falling behind both their existing competitors and new entrants, as well as failing to meet the needs and expectations of their customers.'

Shoptalk and Shoptalk Europe were created by the founders of Money20/20 and Money20/20 Europe, the largest fintech events globally and in Europe.

About Shoptalk

Shoptalk organizes the world's most important events for retail and ecommerce innovation. Held annually in both the U.S. and Europe, Shoptalk events represent unprecedented gatherings of individuals and companies reshaping how consumers discover, shop and buy. Each event provides a platform for large retailers and branded manufacturers, startups, tech companies, investors, media and analysts to learn, collaborate and evolve. The next Shoptalk will be held on March 19-22, 2017 at the Aria in Las Vegas, followed by Shoptalk Europe, which will take place on October 9-11, 2017 at the Bella Center in Copenhagen. For more information, visit www.shoptalk.com and www.shoptalkeurope.com.