Thri5, an artificial intelligence execution layer for retail, has secured $5.4 million in seed funding to help retailers close the gap between central planning and store-level action. The Toronto-based company announced the round on September 21, 2026, after completing a successful pilot with Wild Fork Foods. The investment was co-led by Whitecap Venture Partners and Mistral Venture Partners, with participation from MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund, N49P, Amar Varma, Farhan Thawar, and other retail and technology veterans.
Pilot Results Drive Commercial Rollout
The company said its nine-week pilot with Wild Fork Foods produced measurable operational and financial improvements. The program delivered a 3.0 percent increase in sales, a 3.6 percent improvement in profit, and a 2.0 percentage point gain in inventory accuracy. Based on these results, Wild Fork deployed the platform across its store network in the United States and Canada.
Operator Trust and Adoption
The pilot demonstrated that artificial intelligence can generate practical value beyond insights and dashboards. Wild Fork Foods Chief Operating Officer Radek Mazurkiewicz said the platform connected central plans with what was happening on the floor and earned operator trust quickly. He noted that adoption was fast because the system told teams what mattered each day rather than simply presenting more data to review.
Addressing Retail Execution Leakage
Retailers have invested heavily in planning, forecasting, and analytics systems, yet consistent execution across hundreds of locations remains difficult. Opportunities are often buried in reports and dashboards, while teams rely on emails, spreadsheets, and manual coordination to get work done. Thri5 estimates that the total value at stake from execution leakage can represent between 10 and 20 percent of sales.
AI-Native Execution Layer
The company describes its technology as an AI-native execution layer that sits above existing enterprise systems. It interprets signals across a retailer’s data environment, identifies the highest-value opportunities, and orchestrates action across teams, systems, and AI agents. Over time, the platform learns from completed work and outcomes to improve how the organization executes.
Founders With Deep Retail and Digital Experience
Founded in 2024, Thri5 is led by co-founder and CEO Jeremy Pee and co-founder and COO Herman Paek. The two previously worked together to build Loblaw Digital into a multi-billion-dollar operation. Pee most recently served as Chief Digital and Technology Officer of Marks & Spencer, while Paek was CEO and General Manager of Kijiji Canada.
Investor Confidence
Investors pointed to the founders’ domain expertise and their history of building successfully together as key reasons for backing the company. Whitecap Venture Partners’ Melissa Belbeck said the pair had experienced the execution problem firsthand and were applying that experience to a large market opportunity. Mistral Venture Partners’ Raif Barbaros added that the shift from systems of insight to systems of action represents an important new enterprise software category.
Funding to Support Growth
The new capital will be used to expand engineering, product, and commercial teams and to accelerate go-to-market efforts with enterprise retailers globally. According to company statements, Thri5 plans to roughly double its current ten-person team over the next year. The startup is targeting broader adoption across North America and Europe after its initial commercial deployment with Wild Fork Foods.
The funding announcement highlights how AI-native startups are moving beyond analytics to automate and streamline operational execution in retail. Thri5’s early results with Wild Fork Foods provide a concrete example of how artificial intelligence can connect planning with daily action in stores. With fresh capital and experienced leadership, the company aims to establish itself in a new category of enterprise software built around systems of action.