Azoma, the Agentic Commerce Optimization platform that measures and improves how AI shopping agents discover, interpret and recommend products for retailers and CPG brands, today announced an investment from dunnhumby ventures.
As part of the investment, dunnhumby will be able to extend how it supports its retailer clients in optimizing their customer-facing chat agents while providing brands with ability to optimize their discoverability and relevance in the new agentic commerce ecosystem.
The investment reflects a shared view that AI shopping assistants are becoming a primary route to purchase, and that retailers and consumer packaged goods brands need to measure that channel as rigorously as they measure the shelf. The new funds will accelerate Azoma’s product roadmap for customers including L’Oréal, Unilever and Mars, extending its ability to connect AI Visibility to recommended actions and measuring incremental revenue.
The move reinforces dunnhumby’s commitment to rapid innovation in AI and bringing leading-edge technologies to clients as consumer behaviours and retail ecosystems continue to evolve. dunnhumby has a track record of partnering with startups and tech companies whose propositions are creating value across category management, consumer insights, loyalty, retail media, and beyond.
Azoma’s analysis of tens of millions of AI responses in the second quarter of 2026 found that earned or social media accounts for 86.5% of the citations behind Alexa for Shopping’s recommendations, and 76% of those behind Walmart Sparky’s. ChatGPT draws more heavily on retailer sources, at 37.1%.The answer a shopper receives is therefore assembled largely from sources the brand does not own. This AI visibility problem is what the investment will solve for commerce and CPG brands.
The biggest challenges facing Answer Engine Optimization and Generative Engine Optimization tools are knowing which prompts to track and what the revenue impact of actions has been. dunnhumby’s data and expertise will enable Azoma to provide both.
Max Sinclair, CEO and Co-Founder, Azoma, commented: “dunnhumby has decades of expertise helping brands and retailers leverage customer data insight.” He added: “Agentic Commerce is the next frontier. dunnhumby understands this, and brands and retailers’ current data blindness better than anyone. Their investment is a vote of confidence in our current solution and shared vision. In time, their data will help us demonstrate to the world’s largest retailers and consumer brands the tangible value of agent-driven recommendations. Agentic commerce is a $9 trillion opportunity, and this is how we will continue to define the category.”
Leo Nagdas, Head of dunnhumby ventures, has also joined Azoma as advisor to the board as part of the investment. Nagdas founded dunnhumby’s Retail Innovation Network, an open innovation programme for retail technology leaders.
“AI shopping assistants are rewriting the path to purchase, and today retailers and CPGs have no reliable way to connect what an agent recommends to a sale,” said Leo Nagdas, head of dunnhumby ventures. “Azoma is a leader in the emerging agentic commerce space, and the team combines real depth in AI with a practical grasp of how retail actually works. Backing companies like Azoma is how we bring emerging technology to our clients as consumer behaviours and retail ecosystems keep changing.”
