A San Francisco startup that helps retailers analyze how customers shop their stores is growing fast with its first $3.8 million in funding and a new East Coast operation in Durham.
Dor Technologies is the brainchild of a pair of former Apple software and design engineers. It combines hardware and software into a foot traffic analytics tool that helps retailers as big as Habitat for Humanity ReStore and as small as Durham’s Runaway Clothing make decisions about product placement and marketing strategy.
After 100 percent month-over-month growth over its first two years, the team began to consider an East Coast sales and marketing operation earlier this year, in prep to achieve the aggressive ambitions of CEO and cofounder Michael Brand.
“In a few years every brick-and-mortar retailer should be using our technology,” he says.
Durham became an obvious choice. Dor VP of Sales and Marketing Sean Lakind has worked remotely in North Carolina since the company began.
“There’s such a wealth of talent in this area that it made building out a rockstar team really easy,” Lakind says.
The funding by investors like California-based venture firms Zetta Venture Partners and Vertex Ventures fueled the fast growth in Durham. Now working in offices at American Underground on the American Tobacco Campus are seven sales, marketing and customer service employees.
Dor’s marketing associate, Joanna Rutter, works out of the Durham office, and says the team has “loved getting inspired by the energy of the AU community and is thankful to call this our East Coast home.”
(Top) Dor customer service and sales teams at their office in Durham’s American Underground @ATC, (Bottom) Dor’s San Francisco and Durham teams convene at an AU HelpFest
Dor’s customers range from retailers to nonprofit nature centers and museums. But even though its retail analytics product can be applied to a range of scenarios, the technology itself is simple. There’s a wireless thermal sensor that’s easy to install and collects foot traffic data in a subtle, non-intrusive way. It pairs with a dashboard and API for analyzing the data in order to, optimize marketing efforts and make changes in workflow/routine to save money.
For example, stores can see a winter storm’s impact on foot traffic and change their tactics to take advantage of an influx of customers.
The products work seamlessly with one another to keep stores updated with new data on an hourly basis or in real time. The cost for the entire platform starts at $44 per month.
Zetta Venture Partners Managing Director Ash Fontana was impressed by Dor’s competitiveness in the analytics tech industry, he says in a public statement.
Though e-commerce platforms are increasingly in competition with physical stores, there’s still a population of shoppers in the U.S. who prefer to buy their products in person. According to the Pew Research Center, 64 percent of Americans still prefer shopping in physical stores rather than online—despite the growth of new, innovative technology to enhance the shopping experience.
With accolades like one of 50 top retail tech startups worldwide by Insider Trends, Dor’s uniqueness is marked by a subset of qualities. Fontana notes its ability to “match the accuracy of competitive products at 1/15th the cost,” with no installation or maintenance for retailers.
He adds, “This ease of use also opens up new markets, allowing customers to use Dor to optimize commercial building maintenance, measure space utilization and for security.”
Lakind is excited for Dor to grow in Durham, and to contribute to the vibrancy of the startup community here.
There’s another benefit the company brings to Durham too.
“Considering our SF/NC split, we’re in a unique position to help connect all of the great companies here with the available funding in San Francisco,” Lakind says.
