Lalaland.ai uses neural networks to create synthetic humans for fashion e-commerce brands, enabling brands to showcase collections on diverse models. An intro on their product in under 2 minutes can be found here: https://youtu.be/-dCCaClxJ6I
They have been a founder member on Fundsup for a while, so we have been able to see their progress. They have achieved some impressive milestones to boast about, so high time for a short chat with one of its founders: Michael Musandu.
A Dutch version of this article can be found on Emerce.
Where are you now with Lalaland.ai?
Physically we have moved to the World Fashion Centre. The team has grown to about 18 people. We found ways to serve our customers quicker. We recently launched a self service platform for fashion brands. They can customize models themselves. First they can upload their collection themselves. And based on that they can get model imagery. We can do 10.000 units a week now and we are gearing up to handle more volume.
We brought Secured Otto International on this platform and have done trials with Zalando and Wehkamp. They have 500 models online now and are implementing collection by collection.
And where are you on the fundraising side of the business?
We got the Google Black Founders Fund. That was huge for us. We feel that that was a real testament to our values, our mission and the work we are doing. Google for Startups has a lot of workshops (privacy, recruiting, legal). We have already experienced the network effect by getting two customer introductions. One a large retailer from the UK and a lingerie brand.
It has also been nice in terms of attracting talent as well. People got to hear about us and what we are doing. What you build is what you attract. We have different gender indications and nationalities and realms of expertise. So really versatile. That diversity and versatility is necessary to create the magic together. If we are going to solve online underrepresentedness, we need a diverse team.
We also won the Fashion Frontier Challenge by Tommy Hilfiger. It came with mentorship from INSEAD. The Tommy Hilfiger stores will be more inclusive and diverse as a result using our models online. Diversity is not just our mission, but we see it is a necessity.
We believe that inclusivity leads to higher profitability.
Are you currently fundraising?
As a startup you are always raising. We are now raising a late seed round. We got our current investors to back us up again. None of them have pro rata rights, so it feels like an extra vote of confidence. There is a bit of a gap stille, and we are closing that gap with funds from external angels. We hope to close as soon as possible.
Is there specific knowledge or expertise you are looking for in an angel?
They always call it smart capital, so yes. We are looking for commercial expertise with scaling B2B Saas.
It’s a polished product ready for market and scaling. The cherry on top would be fashion expertise and a network in that world. Most initial customers were through a network of someone.
Giving a startup a customer is the best gift.
What is the next phase of Lalaland.ai going to look like?
Taking our product global. We now have 2 US customers. So scaling means internationalization as well. Which means that angel investors coming on board that have US market and other country knowledge would be interesting. Our next hires are customer success managers and people to help onboard those who are currently in our sales funnel. The next phase will mean running an efficient operation. It is an interesting challenge to scale that alongside the demand.
More information:
Would you like more information on Lalaland.ai? Then go to https://api.fundsup.co/go/PykRMEJik