NewStore

NewStore is a retail technology company founded in 2015 by German entrepreneur Stephan Schambach. The company develops a cloud-based omnichannel commerce platform intended to help retailers coordinate physical stores, digital commerce, customer relationships, inventory, and order fulfillment through a unified operating system. Its software is designed for brands that sell through several customer touchpoints and need store associates, e-commerce teams, and back-office operations to work from shared data and workflows. The company emerged from Schambach's earlier career in commerce software. He founded Intershop in the 1990s, helping establish one of the early European providers of software for online shopping. In 2004 he founded Demandware, an early cloud-commerce company whose platform was later acquired by Salesforce in 2016. NewStore represents a later generation of his work in commerce technology, with greater emphasis on mobile point of sale, unified inventory, order management, and the integration of stores into a broader digital retail network. NewStore's platform is associated with several operational functions. Point-of-sale capabilities allow store employees to process transactions using mobile devices and to support assisted selling. Order-management functions coordinate orders across stores, warehouses, and other fulfillment locations. Clienteling tools provide associates with customer and product information intended to support personalized service. Inventory-management features give retailers a more consistent view of stock and can support fulfillment models such as ship-from-store and other forms of distributed order handling. Together, these capabilities are positioned as an alternative to assembling multiple disconnected retail systems. The company has been headquartered in Boston and has maintained a presence in New York City and Germany, including Berlin, Hanover, and Erfurt. Its geographic footprint reflects both its United States corporate base and Schambach's longstanding connection to the German software industry. NewStore's primary relevance is in branded retail, particularly businesses with substantial store networks and a need to combine physical and digital selling. The available reference material does not establish a complete customer list, revenue figure, current ownership structure, or definitive geographic sales breakdown. NewStore received a strategic investment from Salesforce in 2020 and raised a $45 million Series B-1 financing round in 2021 from General Catalyst, Activant Capital, and Salesforce Ventures. These investments supported further company development and expansion, but NewStore has not been identified in the supplied material as a publicly listed company. In April 2024, Mike DeSimone became chief executive officer, while Schambach moved into the role of chairman of the board. This transition marked a shift from founder-led executive management while retaining the founder in a senior governance role. NewStore's positioning centers on simplifying omnichannel retail operations through a cloud-native platform rather than treating stores and online channels as separate businesses. Its value proposition is operational integration: a retailer can use shared commerce, order, inventory, and customer data to make stores productive in both in-person and digital transactions. The company should not be confused with consumer-facing retail brands using similar terminology; the subject here is the United States retail software company NewStore.

NewStore was founded in 2015 by Stephan Schambach, a German entrepreneur whose earlier companies helped shape the development of commerce software. Schambach began working in technology entrepreneurship in the early 1990s and founded NetConsult Computer Systeme GmbH. That business developed software that became associated with Intershop Online, an early e-commerce package. The company later became Intershop Communications, expanded internationally, and completed public offerings in Germany and the United States. Schambach left the chairmanship of Intershop in 2003. In 2004, Schambach founded Demandware in the United States. Demandware offered e-commerce software as a cloud service, a model that anticipated the shift away from retailer-operated commerce infrastructure toward subscription-based platforms. Demandware became publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange in 2012 and was acquired by Salesforce in 2016 for $2.8 billion. NewStore was Schambach's subsequent commerce-software venture and applied a cloud-platform approach to the operational challenges of omnichannel retail. NewStore's focus is broader than a conventional web-storefront system. Its platform is intended to connect mobile and fixed point of sale, order management, clienteling, and inventory management. This reflects the changing role of physical stores: stores can serve as sales environments, customer-service locations, inventory nodes, and fulfillment points. By bringing these functions together, the platform is designed to help retailers provide consistent service across physical and digital channels and to reduce the fragmentation created by separate retail systems. The company was headquartered in Boston and developed an international operating footprint that included New York City and offices in Berlin, Hanover, and Erfurt. Its United States and German presence corresponds to the company's founding market and Schambach's German technology background. The available reference material characterizes NewStore as a technology company selling its platform to retailers, but does not provide enough information to establish a complete chronology of product releases, customer contracts, revenue, workforce size, or current office structure. In 2020, Salesforce invested $20 million strategically in NewStore. The following year, NewStore completed a $45 million Series B-1 financing round involving General Catalyst, Activant Capital, and Salesforce Ventures. The financing was described as supporting growth. No supplied source identifies NewStore as publicly listed, and no ticker is available. In April 2024, Mike DeSimone was appointed chief executive officer. Schambach transitioned to chairman of the board, preserving founder involvement while handing day-to-day leadership to a new executive. This was the clearest documented leadership change in the available material. NewStore remains an active enterprise-software brand focused on omnichannel retail infrastructure, particularly for retailers that need a common technology layer across stores, online commerce, customer engagement, inventory, and fulfillment.

1. 2024CEO transition

   Mike DeSimone became CEO, while Stephan Schambach moved into the chairman role.

   Source
2. 2021Series B-1 financing

   NewStore raised $45 million in a Series B-1 round involving General Catalyst, Activant Capital, and Salesforce Ventures.

   Source
3. 2020Salesforce strategic investment

   Salesforce invested $20 million strategically in NewStore.

   Source
4. 2015NewStore founded

   Stephan Schambach founded NewStore as a retail technology company focused on cloud-based omnichannel commerce.

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A cloud-native commerce operating platform for fashion and specialty retailers seeking to unify stores, digital channels, customer engagement, inventory, and order fulfillment.

• NewStore Omnichannel PlatformRetail commerce platform

  The company's central cloud-based platform for coordinating retail operations across stores and digital channels. It is positioned as a shared technology layer rather than a single storefront, bringing together commerce, store operations, customer engagement, inventory, and order workflows. The platform is intended for retailers that need consistent data and processes across multiple customer touchpoints.

• NewStore Point of SalePoint-of-sale software

  A point-of-sale capability designed for modern retail stores, including mobile or associate-assisted selling scenarios. It supports transactions within a broader omnichannel environment, allowing store staff to participate in customer journeys that may begin or end online. The supplied material does not specify supported hardware, payment partners, or release chronology.

• NewStore Order ManagementOrder-management software

  Order-management functionality for coordinating retail orders across stores, warehouses, and other fulfillment locations. Its role within the platform is to connect demand from different sales channels with available inventory and operational fulfillment processes. The reference material does not provide a detailed feature list or implementation history.

• NewStore ClientelingClienteling software

  Clienteling tools intended to give retail associates customer and product context during in-store interactions. The capability supports personalized and assisted selling by connecting store staff with information normally associated with digital commerce and customer relationship systems.

• NewStore Inventory ManagementInventory-management software

  Inventory-management functionality that provides retailers with a more unified view of stock across their retail network. In an omnichannel setting, this type of capability can help retailers use store inventory in online fulfillment and coordinate availability across locations. Specific algorithms, integrations, and performance measures are not documented in the supplied references.

• 2024Transition from founder-led executive managementStrategy

  NewStore reached a stage at which day-to-day leadership was transferred from its founder to a new chief executive.

  What changed. Mike DeSimone was appointed CEO in April 2024, and Stephan Schambach became chairman of the board.

  Aftermath. The change retained Schambach in a governance role while placing operational leadership with DeSimone. No later outcome is documented in the supplied sources.

  Source
• 2021Raise Series B-1 financing to support growthStrategy

  NewStore sought additional capital to develop and expand its cloud-based omnichannel retail platform.

  What changed. The company raised $45 million in Series B-1 financing from General Catalyst, Activant Capital, and Salesforce Ventures.

  Aftermath. The round provided growth capital. The available material does not specify how the proceeds were allocated or provide later financial outcomes.

  Series B-1 financing. $45 million (2021)

  Source
• 2020Accept strategic investment from SalesforceOther

  NewStore was expanding its retail software business and had an established historical connection to Salesforce through founder Stephan Schambach's former company, Demandware.

  What changed. Salesforce made a $20 million strategic investment in NewStore.

  Aftermath. The investment strengthened NewStore's financing base. The supplied sources do not establish an acquisition, change of control, or subsequent commercial terms.

  Strategic investment. $20 million (2020)

  Source

• 2024Mike DeSimone appointed chief executive officer

  NewStore appointed Mike DeSimone as CEO in April 2024. Founder Stephan Schambach transitioned from executive leadership to chairman of the board.

  Leadership change
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• 2021NewStore raises Series B-1 financing

  NewStore raised $45 million in Series B-1 financing from General Catalyst, Activant Capital, and Salesforce Ventures to support company growth.

  Other
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• 2020NewStore receives strategic investment from Salesforce

  Salesforce made a strategic investment of $20 million in NewStore, linking the retail software company's financing history with Schambach's previous commerce-software relationship with Salesforce.

  M&A
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1. Stephan Schambach
2. NewStore official website