AI-Powered Virtual Try-On and Styling Company Zelig Secures $15 Million in Series A Funding, Led by Hilco Global
Company Launches Personalization Technology that Lets Consumers Visualize Themselves in Different Outfits While They Shop Online, Just Like in an In-Store Fitting Room
New fashion technology company Zelig today announced it has secured $15 million in Series A funding to support the launch of its AI-powered virtual try-on and styling technology (VTO-S). International financial services firm Hilco Global led the funding round, joined by global luxury investor Bezikian Zareh, which brings the company to a $100 million valuation. Launched by MadaLuxe Group co-founders Sandy Sholl and Adam Freede, who have been privately funding Zelig’s development for three years, Zelig will use the capital to deepen its personalization capabilities and build out additional features.
“The technology provides a high-quality, virtual try-on experience that allows online consumers to create different looks and see themselves in those outfits as they shop across an e-commerce site,” said Sandy Sholl, CEO of Zelig. “This first-of-its-kind solution gives consumers more confidence in their selections and the ability to make more qualified purchase decisions, which will significantly increase AOV and reduce returns. Zelig also provides brands with valuable data insights they can use to automate personalized marketing that drives customer retention and loyalty.”
Zelig’s patented technology is the first to offer a hyperpersonalized online shopping experience that recreates the in-store fitting room experience. The company’s B2B2C technology platform combines AI, machine learning and computer vision to show shoppers high-quality images of how clothes, footwear and accessories would look on their body type. Through an interactive interface, shoppers are able to swap out items and change their looks instantaneously. Users can also save their complete looks and share them with friends.
At launch, shoppers will be able to choose one of Zelig’s models, selecting from a range of photos of people with diverse body types, skin tones and hair colors. Zelig users will soon be able to upload a photo and virtually try on and style outfits and individual items using their own image.
The company’s technology will give retailers and brands access to valuable shopper journey data and provide them with a next-level understanding of how their customers combine garments, shoes, bags, sunglasses and other accessories to create complete looks.
“Sandy Sholl and Adam Freede are innovators in the luxury fashion business with whom I’ve had success with on previous investments, and Hilco Global is proud to be partnering with them again,” said Jeffrey B. Hecktman, CEO of Hilco Global. “While many tech companies are building solutions for an industry they don’t know well, Zelig was founded by fashion experts with firsthand knowledge of how to solve the retail industry’s biggest challenges. I’m thrilled to be bringing one of the most promising retail technology solutions I’ve seen to market.”
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Zelig’s advisory board consists of executives with deep expertise in technology innovation and luxury, including Michelle Lee, former VP, Artificial Intelligence at AWS and Under Secretary of Commerce and Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office; and Kirk Posmantur, Co-Founder of 25 Madison and Chairman & CEO of Axcess Worldwide.
