New Delhi | 20th July 2020: Indian fashion tech startup StyleDotMe today announced that it has raised a total of INR 3.5 crore in a Pre-series A funding round led by Survam Partners followed by Bobby Kothari, Director Jewelex India as a Strategic Investor & with continued participation from existing investors from IAN (Indian Angel Network).
StyleDotMe’s powerful Augmented Reality technology, mirrAR has revolutionized the Jewellery Industry by enabling virtual try ons in real-time. With a strong client portfolio consisting of 150+ jewelers like Tanishq, Kalyan Jewellers, Senco, HazooriLal Legacy, etc. across 28 cities, mirrAR is now ready to enter the global market.
mirrAR helps jewelers sell without having any real physical inventory, over and above providing a great experience for their customers both offline and online. While the offline in-store solution allows shoppers to virtually try-on jewelry & make selections in a contactless manner, the webAR solution facilitates try ons for customers across the Globe via their laptops/mobile phones. Especially during this pandemic, where social distancing and sanitization is the new normal, mirrAR allows brands to open up their digital stores & also give a world-class seamless & safe experience to their customers across channels. With the integration, brands have been able to increase their leads and conversions & multiply their customer’s engagement!
StyleDotMe is also one of the first few companies across the Globe to have introduced the Real-time Markerless Hand Tracking technology in mirrAR. With this technology, consumers can try on rings & bracelets virtually, without having to follow any additional steps for calibration or adding markers to their hands for tracking. Jewelers will now be able to display their entire catalog for virtual try on in mirrAR including Earrings, Necklaces, Sets, Rings, Bracelets, which is an offering exclusively available via mirrAR in the Augmented Reality Industry.
After significantly adding value to the Jewellery Industry, mirrAR by StyleDotMe is all set to launch for the Eyewear & Watches Industry!
According to Meghna Saraogi, Co-Founder & CEO, “We, at StyleDotMe, truly believe that our product has the potential of reinventing how consumers shop in today’s world and that conviction drives everything we do and we’re excited to have found a set of partners whose ideals align with ours. Their backing and the experience will allow us to expand in the global market and we are looking forward to capturing almost 50% of the market share across the biggest jewelry hubs: India, Middle-East, and the U.S. by 2025. Through our product mirrAR, we are looking forward to revolutionizing the whole shopping experience of a person through virtual and contactless try-on. We are also extremely happy to see how our existing investors have re-invested in us, this shows we are going in the right direction and will always have their support.”
Ambarish Raghuvanshi, IAN Lead Investor says, “IAN, the pioneers in angel and early investing in India have supported StyleDotMe from inception and have participated in several rounds of fundraising since then. StyleDotMe is now poised to attain great heights with its emphasis on AR and VR and IAN investors continue to provide investing, advisory, and business assistance to StyleDotMe in its growth phase.”
Akshay Munjal, Survam Partners says, “We are delighted to partner with StyleDotMe as a lead investor, in their mission of transforming shopping experiences for customers and helping retailers drive their business in these tough times through their powerful AR technology. Meghna & the team have an in-depth understanding of the challenges that the retailer community faces today & the need-gap that exists from a shopper’s lens. Their customer-centric approach to innovation & that passion to revolutionize the industry is what has drawn us to StyleDotMe.”
Mr. Bobby Kothari, Director, Jewelex says “We’re drawn to the idea, StyleDotMe’s valuable offerings and also their passion for taking their product global. We are happy to see such a powerful technology aimed at enhancing the traditional workings of the retail sector come out of India. We’re thrilled to contribute to the brand’s future growth and expansion in the vast, underpenetrated segment and are absolutely excited to be a part of their journey, which has worldwide potential”
Emerging technologies like Augmented Reality and Virtual reality are radically changing the way people respond to experiences. According to a report by Gartner inc, 100 Million users will shop in AR online and in-store by the end of this year. In India, they expect the Immersive Media market to grow to USD 6.5 Bn by 2022 while Augmented Reality is estimated to grow to USD 5.9 Bn and Virtual Reality to USD 0.5 Bn by 2022.
