Radar, a startup backed by American Eagle CEO Jay Schottenstein that helps retailers manage in-store inventory and cut back on theft and lost merchandise, reached unicorn status with its latest funding round, CNBC has learned.  

The company, founded in 2013 by Spencer Hewett, raised $170 million at a valuation of over $1 billion in its series B funding round, which was co-led by Gideon Strategic Partners and Nimble Partners with participation from Align Ventures. 

The company also counts Schottenstein among its investors. He said American Eagle was the first retailer to implement Radar’s technology across its stores.

Through Radar, “American Eagle has unlocked greater inventory visibility, empowered our associates and sharpened our insights,” said Schottenstein. “With inventory digitized in real-time, we have enabled our creative, operations and technology teams to place their focus on creating seamless, customer-first experiences that define the American Eagle brand.”

Radar also works with Gap‘s Old Navy and other major retailers, covering more than 1,400 stores. 

When Hewett started the company with a boost from venture capitalist Peter Thiel’s fellowship for young entrepreneurs, his goal was to create a better way to do instant checkout, but the strategy evolved to inventory management. Using hardware mounted to the ceilings of brick-and-mortar stores, Radar’s technology can read any radio-frequency identification, or RFID, tag with 99% accuracy, the company said.

The tech addresses one of the most challenging aspects of running a retail business: inventory management. Between figuring out how much product to make, deciding where to send it and then keeping track of it once it arrives, retailers face a persistent challenge in overseeing their inventory. Errors can lead to lost sales and crush profit margins.

Radar primarily functions at the store level. It enables in-store employees to quickly hunt down an item a customer wants, addressing a pain point among shoppers who come to a store to buy a product listed as available online only to find it’s actually out of stock. 

“If a customer asks them, ‘I want this in a different size’ they can immediately see where in the store it is, no matter where it’s been moved, and get it for the customer,” Hewett told CNBC in an interview. “It gives them certainty that they can actually help the customer without them, like, saying we might have it in the back and disappear for like 15 minutes and then come back and be like, ‘Okay, actually the inventory system said we had it, but we don’t have it. I can’t find it.’”

As a result, some of Radar’s retail clients who offer a buy online and pick up in store option have seen order cancellation rates go from 25% to 3%, said Hewett. 

The tech also helps managers to keep a better eye on deliveries and more easily identify shrink, or inventory loss from theft, error or damage. Shrink sometimes comes from would-be customers stealing merchandise, but it’s murkier than that in many cases. It also frequently results from employees across the supply chain taking items or from administrative error.

For example, if a store expects a shipment of 100 T-shirts but receives 80, either because of theft at a distribution center or a packing error, it can be hard for a store manager to identify it, leading to out-of-stocks and lost sales. 

“You don’t have the labor hours to go and count every box that gets shipped, so you have to accept what they say is there and assume it’s true,” said Hewett. “With Radar, like, you actually have a real time check to make sure that it is true, and then flag it immediately if it’s not.” 

The company declined to share overall customer data showing the effectiveness of the tech, but Hewett said one of his clients saw a 60% reduction in shrink after launching Radar at one of its stores. 

When measuring shrink, companies tend to look at it on a net basis, factoring in both overages and shortages. One company may have a 15% shortage and a 15% overage, reflecting a net shrink of 0%, but that would also mean inventory was off by 30% for the customer, Hewett said. 

“Sizes and colors matter, like, if you don’t have my size, I’m not going to buy it, therefore, that’s a lost sale, and it shows up in your revenue and margin,” Hewett said. “We effectively eliminate that issue to make sure you’re always in stock in the sizes and colors and products that you want to have.” 

This article was written by

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Stagwell Inc. (STGW) J.P. Morgan 54th Annual Global Technology, Media and Communications Conference May 19, 2026 4:15 PM EDT

Company Participants

Mark Penn – Chairman & CEO

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Presentation

Unknown Analyst

All right. We’ll get started. I’m happy to have back at the conference from Stagwell, Mark Penn, Chairman and CEO. Mark, thanks for being here.

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Mark Penn
Chairman & CEO

Thank you.

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Question-and-Answer Session

Unknown Analyst

All right. So Mark, we are at an interesting moment for the marketing industry, significant AI-driven change, consolidation among some of your peers. We had the announcement yesterday that we’ll get to. But how do you see Stagwell is positioned? And where are you most focused currently?

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Mark Penn
Chairman & CEO

Well, I think we’re strongly positioned for AI. I think AI and technology itself was at the core of why I created Stagwell, when I was coming from being Chief Strategy Officer at Microsoft. What I observed was in my work with the other companies was that they were not tech forward enough and they were not collaborative enough. And so on day 1, we opened up really a unique engineering team that was supposed to engineer innovation within the marketing space. And so as AI really came along here, this team is now able to produce AI marketing products that really kind of are part of a whole pivot to our business, which is very strongly positioned with digital transformation, but now is making a number of headline products, specifically AI based. And so I think it’s come along at a very good time for us.

Unknown Analyst

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So you reported Q1 earnings at the end of April as it relates to the macro, I didn’t hear any red flags, but wanted to see if you could just update on this, what

Britain’s labour market has buckled under the twin weight of geopolitical turmoil and stubbornly high interest rates, with the unemployment rate climbing unexpectedly to 5 per cent and payrolls plunging by 100,000 in April, the steepest monthly fall in years.

Figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Tuesday showed the jobless rate edging up from 4.9 per cent in the first quarter, confounding City forecasters who had pencilled in no change. The fall in payrolls was sharply worse than the 28,000 decline economists had anticipated, and follows a 28,000 contraction in March, signalling that the cooling that has gripped the British jobs market for the best part of two years is now hardening into something closer to a freeze.

Job vacancies tumbled to their lowest level in five years, an ominous bellwether for small and medium-sized employers already squeezed by elevated borrowing costs and faltering consumer demand. The Bank of England, which only weeks ago warned that hiring intentions were weakening, now expects the unemployment rate to peak at 5.1 per cent in the second quarter, in line with its April 2026 Monetary Policy Report.

Iran war casts long shadow over hiring

Behind the figures lies a stark geopolitical backdrop. The United States–Iran war has now entered its eleventh week, with no immediate prospect of a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway through which roughly a fifth of the world’s oil and gas supply has historically transited. The closure has driven a fresh spike in global energy prices and forced UK businesses, from manufacturers to hospitality operators, to put hiring and capital expenditure on ice. The supply shock, as Business Matters has previously reported, has pushed oil close to $120 a barrel and rattled global markets.

For SMEs, the message from the boardroom is plainly defensive. Recruitment freezes, deferred investment and rationed inventory have become the order of the day across sectors most exposed to discretionary consumer spending. The ONS noted that the sharpest declines in vacancies and payrolls have come from hospitality and retail, two pillars of the British high street that were already grappling with rising employment costs before the energy shock landed. The squeeze echoes earlier warnings that hospitality has been hit hardest in the wake of recent tax rises.

Pay growth slips below price rises

Wage growth, once the great hope of households battered by the cost-of-living crisis, is also losing steam. Average weekly earnings excluding bonuses slowed to 3.4 per cent between January and March, down from 3.6 per cent, leaving pay rising only fractionally above the March inflation reading of 3.3 per cent. Including bonuses, the picture was slightly stronger, with average wages up 4.1 per cent compared with 3.9 per cent in the previous rolling quarter.

That fragile real-terms gain is unlikely to last. Headline inflation, which had been on a steady downward path, is expected to dip to 3 per cent in April when temporary government measures to cap household energy bills came into force, but economists warn the relief will be short-lived as the Bank of England weighs interest rate decisions against the Middle East oil shock. With Brent crude trading well above pre-war levels, food and fuel inflation are likely to reassert themselves over the summer.

Liz McKeown, director of economic statistics at the ONS, said the labour market remained “soft”, noting that vacancies were at their lowest level in five years and unemployment higher than a year ago. “The number of payroll employees continued to fall in the three months to March, while regular wage growth slowed further,” she said. “Lower-paying sectors such as hospitality and retail have seen some of the largest falls in vacancies and payroll numbers, both in recent months and over the last year.”

Real pay set to slide

For workers, the implications are sobering. Yael Selfin, chief economist at KPMG, warned that with both private and public sector pay growth easing, “workers are likely to face a period of declining real pay, as headline inflation is set to outpace earnings, driven by higher energy and food prices.” Martin Beck, chief economist at WPI Strategy, added that “the latest labour market data suggest the UK jobs market is starting to feel the repercussions of higher energy prices, geopolitical uncertainty and weaker business confidence.”

For Britain’s 5.5 million small businesses, the data is more than a statistical curiosity, it is a warning shot. With borrowing costs unlikely to fall meaningfully before clarity returns to the Gulf, and consumer-facing sectors bearing the brunt of weaker demand, the second half of 2026 looks set to test the resilience of the SME economy in ways not seen since the pandemic.

The Bank of England’s next move will be closely watched. Threadneedle Street faces an unenviable choice between cutting rates to support a softening labour market and holding firm against the inflationary echoes of the Hormuz crisis. Either way, the era of cheap hiring and easy growth that defined much of the post-pandemic recovery now feels firmly behind us.

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Peter Kyle has issued a defiant message to the boardrooms of corporate Britain: the government’s long-awaited crackdown on late payments will not be diluted, no matter how loudly big business lobbies against it.

In an interview with Business Matters, the Business Secretary said he would not “resile from delivering” what he described as a “step change in the relationship between all larger businesses and their supply chains” as the Small Business Protections (Late Payments) Bill is laid before parliament on Tuesday.

The legislation, billed by Whitehall as the most far-reaching shake-up of commercial payment rules in more than 25 years, caps payment terms at 60 days for large firms paying smaller suppliers, imposes mandatory interest of 8 per cent above the Bank of England base rate on overdue invoices, and hands the Small Business Commissioner sweeping new powers to investigate, name and fine serial offenders. It also outlaws the controversial use of “retentions” in the construction sector, a practice in which main contractors withhold a portion of a supplier’s bill, ostensibly as a defects guarantee, but which the government argues has long been abused to prop up cashflow further up the chain.

According to government figures, poor payment practices drain roughly £11 billion a year from the UK economy and contribute to the closure of an estimated 38 small businesses every day.

A line in the sand

Kyle was unequivocal when asked whether ministers would soften the bill in the face of pressure from corporate Britain. “I am fighting to bring more fairness to our economy,” he told Business Matters. “Sixty days is a solid, reasonable outer limit for paying a small business.”

He claimed the reforms would give the UK “the strongest legal framework in the G7” on commercial payments — a point ministers have made repeatedly since the package was first trailed earlier this year.

“An unhealthy economy is one in which businesses are exploited or strangled to death,” he said. “I don’t think there are many people in their personal lives, let alone in their professional lives, that think it’s reasonable to wait more than two full months to be paid.”

His comments come amid mounting unease in Westminster that the legislation could be watered down at committee stage. Both the British Retail Consortium and the Confederation of British Industry have flagged concerns. The CBI warned last week that the new rules must be “balanced carefully against the need to protect the competitiveness of larger businesses — particularly those operating across complex supply chains”.

Supporters of the bill, however, see those interventions as precisely the reason ministers cannot afford to flinch. Craig Beaumont, executive director at the Federation of Small Businesses, pulled no punches. “Many big businesses are using small businesses for free credit, and some are busy lobbying to keep it,” he said. “As this bill goes through parliament, it absolutely must not be watered down. Victims don’t want a balanced approach with perpetrators.”

A commissioner with teeth

For the reforms to bite, much will hinge on enforcement — and on Emma Jones, the small business commissioner appointed last year to take on Britain’s payment culture. Until now her office has been seen by critics as toothless, having not used its existing “name and shame” powers since Labour came to power. The government has said that is because no complaint from suppliers had merited that step.

Kyle insisted that would change once the new bill became law, and made clear he expected Jones to use her new powers assertively, including fines that could run into the tens of millions of pounds for “persistently” late payers.

“I’m empowering her to do these things, and she also has my full backing to act as swiftly as possible,” he said. “We need to have swift inquiries, swift judgments, and we need to have swift enforcement. And that will lead to the behaviour change we need.”

A drag on growth

The political logic for Kyle is clear enough. Cashflow remains the single biggest pressure point for Britain’s 5.5 million small and medium-sized enterprises, and recent figures suggest the problem is getting worse, not better, with UK firms hitting record levels of late invoice payments and SMEs collectively left more than £100 billion out of pocket last year.

For a government that has staked its growth agenda on unblocking the supply side of the economy, the message that businesses can no longer treat their smaller suppliers as a free line of credit is, by ministerial standards, an unusually sharp one. Whether the bill survives its passage through parliament without significant amendment will be the first real test of how serious Kyle is about that promise.

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Wall Street’s main indexes closed lower on Tuesday after the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield climbed to its highest level in more than a year on mounting inflation concerns. Elevated oil prices and anxiety over the lack of a peace agreement between the U.S. and Iran also weighed on investor sentiment.

The S&P 500 and the technology-heavy Nasdaq marked their third straight day of declines as investors booked profits following a strong rally since late March. Markets also weighed the possibility that the Federal Reserve could resume interest rate hikes if inflation remains persistent.

Although Brent crude futures settled down 0.73%, they remained above $110 a barrel, as traders tracked developments in the Middle East conflict, which has nearly shut the Strait of Hormuz, a key energy route. U.S. President Donald Trump said he had delayed a planned military strike on Iran but warned that action could resume if negotiations fail, even as he claimed Iran was pushing for a deal.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance said both sides had made progress in talks and were keen to avoid a renewed military campaign, offering some hope for de-escalation.

Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury yield surged to 4.687%, its highest since January 2025, before easing slightly to around 4.65%, as inflation expectations strengthened.

“There’s nothing constructive that’s leading us to believe there’s going to be a ceasefire with any sort of substance. As long as there is nothing happening along those fronts, oil is remaining high, bond yields are remaining high, and the market’s anxiety levels are getting increasingly elevated,” said Michael James, managing director and equity sales trader at Rosenblatt Securities. He added, “As each day goes by and nothing substantive is happening, that becomes more problematic. That’s why you’re seeing equities having a tough time in the last few days.”
Traders have begun pricing in higher odds of rate hikes, with a 25-basis-point increase in December seen at a 41.7% probability and a 50-basis-point hike at 15.7%, according to CME Group’s FedWatch tool. Investors now await minutes from the Fed’s latest policy meeting for further guidance.”Rates are obviously front-and-center,” said Garrett Melson, portfolio strategist at Natixis Investment Managers Solutions. “It’s really not about the level of rates. It’s about the rate of change. Markets can handle a slow, steady grind higher, but when you have these step functions higher, that’s where it tends to translate to some indigestion in the market.”

According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 fell 48.74 points, or 0.66%, to 7,354.31, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 216.56 points, or 0.83%, to 25,874.18. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 312.77 points, or 0.65%, to 49,373.35.

Sector-wise, the S&P 500 software index reversed earlier gains to end lower, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index saw choppy trade and was down more than 3% at one point. The defensive healthcare sector outperformed during the session.

Investors are also focused on Nvidia’s quarterly results due Wednesday, with markets looking for confirmation that AI-driven demand can sustain elevated valuations across the semiconductor space.

Among individual stocks, Akamai Technologies fell after announcing a $2.6 billion convertible bond offering.

The service restarted this week and will run from Monday to Saturday

A direct train service from Bristol to Oxford, via Swindon, has resumed after more than two decades.

The GWR route from Temple Meads, which has not been in operation since 2003, runs every two hours throughout the week and also on Saturdays, calling at Bath, Chippenham, Swindon and Oxford.

The stretch from Swindon to Oxford takes less than 30 minutes, meaning it is nearly 10 minutes quicker than the current fastest weekday route.

The direct journey was resurrected after the Office of Rail and Road approved a GWR bid to run the service from Bristol to Oxford.

Marcus Jones, network Rail western route director, said: “These links will make it easier for people to travel between key economic centres, opening up new opportunities for work, education and leisure, while we continue to deliver further improvements across the route in the months ahead.”

Mark Hopwood, GWR managing director, added: “We are confident that these new services demonstrate the value of rail in driving economic growth, environmental benefits, and creating education and employment opportunities.”

The first Bristol service leaves at 7:14am on a Monday, arriving into Swindon at 7:59am and Oxford at 8:32am. Travellers from Oxford to Bristol can catch the 7am, arriving into Swindon at 7:30am and Temple Meads at 8:20am.

“It was great to see GWR’s new daily two-hourly direct rail service between Swindon and Oxford departing the platform,” a spokesperson for Swindon Borough Council said.

“We hope that if the service proves popular trains will run every hour. Evidence gathered by England’s Economic Heartland demonstrates that improved east–west connectivity along the Swindon to Oxford corridor would deliver substantial economic, environmental and social benefits by strengthening labour mobility, supporting innovation, and reducing car dependency.”

Swindon Borough Council said a “strengthened” Swindon to Oxford link would “form a cornerstone” of a future Thames Valley transport strategy.

“[It would align] with wider ambitions for greater regional coordination and devolved transport powers,” they added.