• Metail

  Led · Equity · Dec 2013

  Metail builds 3D visualisation virtual fitting-room technology that lets shoppers upload a photo and enter measurements to create a portable ‘MeModel’. The MeModel can be reused across participating retailer sites, and the system generates a sizing and shape dataset. The company supplies its tech to retailers including Tesco, Warehouse, Shop Direct, House of Holland, Zalando and Dafiti. Metail says it aims to become the “Google of sizing and shape” by custodianship of that dataset and by surfacing recommended garments. Management plans to use the new capital to focus on mobile, including building a consumer-facing app and patenting a unique browsing experience. The company also intends to expand into menswear, with strategic investor support for garment-sizing expertise. Financially, Metail has now raised additional funding on top of prior rounds since its 2008 founding. Metail's core product is a MeModel-based 3D visualisation platform that lets users upload a photo, enter a few measurements, and virtually try on garments; MeModels are portable across supporting sites. The company sells the solution to retailers on a commission basis rather than charging upfront fees, and claims the technology increases conversion and reduces returns. Customers named in the article include Tesco, Warehouse, Shop Direct Group (UK), SingTel (via its e-commerce), Zalando (Germany) and Dafiti (Brazil); Dafiti reports MeModel users buy and retain 6% more products. Metail runs R&D from Cambridge, employs seven PhDs, and has cut per-garment visualisation costs in half with a goal of reducing that to a few dollars per garment. The startup expanded staff from 27 to 40 in 2013, recruited Sarah Walter as Chief Creative Officer, and has experimented with a second-screen partnership with ITV's This Morning. Metail provides a virtual fitting-room service that creates a personalized 3D "MeModel" from a shopper's photo and a few measurements, allowing users to try on professionally digitized garments without CGI. Garments are photographed and converted into detailed 3D images to show fit and fabric details, and the company is focused on reducing the cost and automating that digital-photography process. Metail has commercial partnerships and trials with retailers including Warehouse (Aurora Fashions Group), Shop Direct, and Tesco, and a potential trial with Zalando in Germany. The company generates revenue from those retailer partnerships, taking a cut on every purchase made via its fitting room. Metail was founded in January 2008, has around 27 employees (including five Ph.Ds), and operates from offices in London’s Silicon Roundabout and an R&D base in Cambridge. The team includes CEO and co-founder Tom Adeyoola and Chief Scientist and co-founder Duncan Robertson, and the company says it will soon seek its first institutional round to scale the business.

• Likely

  Led · Equity · Nov 2012

  Likely analyzes social feeds such as the Facebook Open Graph to help brands tweak Facebook strategies and improve engagement. By examining follows, shares and comments the company says it can discover people most likely to engage and determine what content will resonate. Its clients have included Coca-Cola and the British Government. Competitors named in the article include social listening tools Radian6, Buzzmetrics and Ubervu and social marketing platforms Buddy Media, Wildfire, Syncapse and Rummble Labs. Likely has secured a £1 million (US$1.6M) equity investment that will be used for product development in the UK. Two investors' representatives will join the board as part of the deal.

No current team members are available.