Doji, a new fashion tech startup, has raised $14M to enhance fun and social interaction in virtual try-ons through personalized AI avatars. Founded by Dorian Dargan and Jim Winkens, the app aims to provide a more engaging shopping experience by allowing users to create realistic avatars and share styles with friends. Currently in invite-only mode, the app is available in over 80 countries, with future updates aimed at improving efficiency and shopping integration.
In a bid to spice up online shopping, Doji has launched an app that transforms the often mundane virtual try-on experience into something entertaining and social. Thanks to a fresh $14 million seed funding round led by Thrive Capital, the startup aims to enhance its AI technology for better personalized avatars. Early feedback suggests users are excited about this new approach to fashion.
Doji, founded just last year by Dorian Dargan and Jim Winkens, is leveraging its own diffusion models to create avatars that are not only fun but also reflect a user’s unique style accurately. Dargan’s career includes stints at Apple and Meta, while Winkens has experience at DeepMind and Google, making their collaboration on this project quite significant in the tech realms.
The pair, who met on Twitter, were inspired by the popular Lensa app, which allowed users to create stylized avatars. “We saw Lensa and thought, what if we could do this for fashion, but in a photo-realistic way?” Dargan explained, outlining the vision for Doji. The goal? To provide users with a virtual mirror for fashion.
Thrive Capital’s Miles Grimshaw highlighted his intrigue with Doji’s app, especially how it simplifies the often tedious shopping process. “Going around the web to hundreds of click links to shop is laborious. Doji has an opportunity to make shopping fun as it puts me at the center of the experience,” he said. The app also features social elements, allowing users to share their different looks with friends and family.
The process of creating your avatar with Doji involves snapping six selfies and uploading two full-body images. This setup takes about half an hour and aims to ensure that avatars are highly personalized. As users onboard, they can select their preferred brands to see more tailored options within the app.
In contrast to other apps like Google-backed Glance, which typically require just a single image for avatar creation, Doji’s more detailed methods allow for better quality avatars that match users with clothing styles that fit. Users can scroll through virtual outfits and mix and match items, ultimately creating looks that reflect their individual styles.
Yet, it’s essential to note that while the app provides a visual approximation of how different clothes may look, it doesn’t gauge fit just yet. This is a pending feature that the Doji team is keen to address in future updates. Interestingly, in some user tests, the avatar’s representation sometimes appeared slightly altered, like looking taller or slimmer. However, users can retrain their avatars with new images for more accurate representations.
As of now, Doji’s app is still invite-only, available in over 80 countries. The startup hasn’t announced when it might lift this invitational barrier, but Dargan assures that they are focused on making the virtual try-on experience both enjoyable and efficient. He firmly believes their technology sets them apart, saying, “I think people who have explored this idea before either haven’t had the technology chops to make it good or the taste to understand what actually makes a person feel good about an image of themselves. We have invested a lot in core technology to ensure the way you perceive yourself through images is interesting and inspiring.”
As Doji gears up for its next phases, it looks to carve out its niche in a crowded field, making virtual shopping less of a chore and more of an adventure.
Doji aims to revolutionize virtual fashion try-ons by making them engaging and sociable through personalized avatars created by advanced AI. The recent funding will enhance this innovative platform, which is currently invite-only but available across 80 countries. With the founders’ impressive backgrounds and a commitment to quality representation, Doji is positioning itself to change the online shopping landscape. As customers await features like fit assessments and quicker buying processes, the future of online shopping could indeed hinge on this startup’s success.
Original Source: techcrunch.com
