Crisp, the leading AI platform for retail data, announced the close of a Series B1 round of $26M led by Paine Schwartz Partners. Unlike horizontal AI, which serves more general functions such as chatbots, the new funding for Crisp is a recognition of the premium value that verticalized AI delivers for industry-specific tasks, such as automatically reducing out-of-stocks, maximizing e-commerce revenue, and optimizing assortment and space planning. Additional investors in the equity round include Blue Cloud Ventures, FirstMark Capital, Cox, DNX, Prologis and Wellington Management.