Ditto is a San Francisco-based e-commerce eyewear startup that lets customers record a short video from a smartphone or webcam to create a 3D virtual self (DITTO). Users can virtually try on designer prescription glasses and sunglasses in 180-degree views to assess fit and style before purchase. The site offers designer frames from brands including Persol, Ray-Ban, Oakley, Illesteva, and Paul Smith, and sells prescription lenses with free shipping and returns. The company has been issued two patents for its virtual try-on technology and plans to license that technology to partners. Ditto announced a partnership with National Vision to experiment with in-store kiosks at America’s Best locations. The startup intends to use the new funding to invest in its technology and grow its team to help scale the business; total funding raised now stands at $8.0M. Ditto provides a virtual try‑on service for eyeglasses, allowing users to upload 180‑degree videos and compare side‑by‑side snapshots to choose frames. The company combines social sharing features (posting to Facebook for feedback) with an online retail business that resells brands such as Persol, Chloe, Ray‑Ban, Tag Heuer and Vera Wang. Ditto offers a price range of about $110 to $1,800 and includes perks like free anti‑reflective lenses and free shipping. The founding team includes CEO Kate Endress (formerly in retail and finance, Stanford Business School) and engineers Sergey Surkov (Google) and Dmitry Kornilov (Nokia); the company has kept a roughly two engineers to one product person staffing mix. Ditto says it has patents pending on its underlying technology and has been approached by other e‑commerce sites to license the service. The company plans to use new funding to enhance the technology and to grow its own eyewear retail business, initially focusing on the U.S. while viewing the problem as global.

Total raised

$8M

Funding rounds

2

Latest round

Equity

Latest activity

Nov 2014