ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Lillii RNB Inc., a retail fraud detection, prevention and data services firm, today announced the closing of its $3 million seed round co-led by Serena Ventures and Aperture Venture Capital. Lillii RNB's proprietary Returns Management and Total Retail Loss platform, Freeing ReturnsTM, assists retailers in optimizing their returns processes and identifying fraud and loss that is hidden in their own data. Lillii RNB's mission is to greatly reduce the over $400B in retail loss that retailers experience each year.
"Closing our pre-seed round of funding in 2021 and now successfully closing our seed round in the first quarter of this year are huge testaments to the progress we've made and the momentum we're building," said Barbara Jones-Brown, founder and CEO of Lillii RNB Inc. "Retailers have long suffered at the hands of fraudsters and hackers and have lacked effective tools to fight back. With this capital and the support of top-notch investors, Lillii RNB is one step closer to helping retailers and business owners turn the tables on bad actors and focus on growing their businesses."
The financing round was co-led by Serena Williams' venture capital firm, Serena Ventures, and Aperture Venture Capital. Previous investors include Morgan Stanley, Pax Angels, 1863 Ventures, Bronze Valley and Atlanta-area angels, Laron Walker and Rabieh Razzouk. With the closing of this round, Lillii RNB is also proud that over 90% of its earliest backers are managers of Black-led funds.
"I am happy to support and invest in women like Barbara and companies like Lillii RNB Inc., who address a huge need for retail brands," said Serena Williams, managing partner of Serena Ventures. "This investment aligns with our vision of a world where dreams are not stifled by a lack of access to resources."
William Crowder, founder and managing partner at Aperture Venture Capital, explains, "Aperture VC's thesis focuses on opportunities with diverse founders that leverage financial innovation to help individuals and businesses thrive. The ubiquity and proliferation of hackers and fraud represent one of the most significant barriers to business owner success. Barbara and the entire Lillii RNB team are passionately driven to use machine learning and artificial intelligence to remove these barriers. Aperture and its ecosystem of leading financial brands are thrilled to join Lillii RNB on this ambitious journey."
Since its launch in 2020, Lillii RNB's cloud-based solution has helped identify and prevent losses for in-store and online retail channels across numerous sectors, including grocery, clothing, sporting goods and electronics. The seed funding will allow Lillii RNB to take the next big step in bringing its innovation to retailers across the globe.
About Lillii RNB
Lillii RNB, Inc. ("Let's Imagine Life with Ladies In IT") is a retail fraud detection, prevention and data services firm based in Atlanta, GA. Its proprietary solution, Freeing ReturnsTM, optimizes the returns process for retailers, utilizes machine learning and artificial intelligence to spot organized retail crime and helps loss prevention teams respond quickly. Lillii RNB's mission is to dramatically reduce the over $400B annual loss experienced by retailers due to returns, fraud, hackers and bad actors.
For more information, follow us @LillliiRNBInc and visit www.lilliirnb.com. To learn more about the Freeing ReturnsTM platform, follow us @freeingreturns and visit www.freeingreturns.com.
About Serena Ventures
Serena Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm investing in founders solving everyday problems through diverse perspectives and leadership. With investments spanning the technology, consumer wellness and fintech industries, the firm aims to bring greater impact and opportunity to historically overlooked founders, namely women and BIPOC-led companies. Follow us @SerenaVentures and learn more at serenaventures.com.
About Aperture Venture Capital
Aperture Venture Capital is VC for the Multicultural MainstreamTM. We make seed investments in diverse founders that leverage financial innovation to help individuals and businesses thrive. Aperture has built a powerful ecosystem of investors that includes the world's leading financial brands, providing our portfolio companies with valuable strategic and operational resources that accelerate growth, increase scale and create transformative outcomes. The Aperture team operating from offices in Philadelphia and Los Angeles helps Fortune 500 companies, endowments and institutions rapidly transform DEI strategy into measurable impact. Follow us @ApertureVC and learn more at aperturevc.com.
