EMEA Daily: French Retailer Carrefour Freezes Prices on 100 ‘Everyday Essentials’; BNPL Firm Tamara Picks up $100M in Series B

In today’s top stories from Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), French retailer Carrefour is freezing prices on 100 items, Saudi buy now, pay later (BNPL) firm Tamara secured $100 million in fresh funding and more.

French Retailer Carrefour Freezes Prices on 100 ‘Everyday Essentials’

As consumers grapple with inflation, Carrefour is freezing prices on 100 “everyday essential” products until the end of November.

Numerous own-brand food and non-food products are included in the price freeze, which is being offered at all Carrefour stores in France, including convenience stores, supermarkets, hypermarkets, cash-and-carry stores and its eCommerce offerings.

In a release, the company said, “Household budgets continue to be hard-hit by inflation, and that’s why Carrefour is doing everything it can to protect its customers’ purchasing power.”

Amazon Halts New UK Self-Checkout Grocers as Sales Fall Short

Amazon is pumping the brakes on its self-checkout grocery stores, as lagging sales and economic woes spell trouble for potential new Amazon Fresh locations.

Many existing Fresh stores aren’t seeing positive sales, according to a Business Insider report. Sources told the publication that Amazon has also walked away from talks to add dozens of new stores, though some store openings might go ahead if there were leases signed.

BNPL Firm Tamara Picks up $100M in Series B

Tamara, a Saudi BNPL startup, raised $100 million in a Series B equity round led by Sanabil Investments, which will help the company expand its product offering and launch in new markets.

Prior to the latest funding round, Tamara closed a $6 million seed funding round in January 2021, followed by a $110 million Series A led by Checkout.com in April 2021. So far, Tamara said it has raised $216 million in equity and debt.

Swiss Startup PeakData Raises $12M in Series A

Swiss HealthTech startup PeakData raised €12.1 million ($12 million) in Series A round, and the company expects to use the funds to expand the business and continue developing its artificial intelligence (AI) platform.

PeakData’s AI platform identifies and monitors the most relevant and impactful healthcare professionals (HCP) for pharmaceutical companies to connect with. Using the platform, pharmaceutical companies can track and gain insight into relevant HCPs, and AI ranks the HCPs in terms of digital impact, influence and relevance to a target market.

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