Hey Savi, an AI-powered search and recommendation platform, has secured £2.2m pre-seed investment to shake up what it describes as the “outdated” shopping experience.
The startup aims to help consumers find their perfect outfits in under a minute by connecting them to retailers that have outfits in stock with the right size and at the most affordable price.
When it launches, Hey Savi says users will be able to search by text or images for clothing items on its platform. Hey Savi says its AI models can analyse and understand fashion and apparel items to provide recommendations to customers.
The models use a combination of criteria like fit, colour, cut, size, and style to identify exactly what the customer is looking for.
The startup was founded by Victoria Peppiatt, Angela Vinci and Sarah Daniel. Hey Savi claims the funding round is one of the largest pre-seed rounds by an all-female-founded UK startup.
Angela Vinci, the company’s CPTO and co-founder, told UKTN that the platform is still in the early stages of development and will launch in early 2025.
The “goal remains for customers to be able to snap, search, try and buy in 60 seconds,” Vinci added.
Vinci said the startup will have three lines of revenue: affiliate marketing, subscription model and data monetisation.
Hey Savi secured funding from angels from Boardwave, Founders Capital and the WITSEND community.
Daniel, who is co-CEO with Peppiatt, said: “As a leadership team, our combined experience is incredibly compelling. As we build the company from the ground up – our ethos to deliver a ‘people-first’ culture, along with product excellence, will stand us apart from closest competitors in this space and will be the engine to drive our business in the UK and globally.”
Rise of fashion tech
Technology is becoming an increasingly influential force in the fashion world. One such example is The Drop, a startup using proprietary technology to help customers get bespoke items.
The company set out to tackle the fact that traditional retail models focus on producing large volumes of garments in standardised and ill-fitting sizes, meaning customers are left having to “make do” with whatever they can find off-the-rack.
Big names such as Burberry have also experimented with the intersection of tech and fashion by using gaming technology in the clothing design process, using software that enables consumers to place a 2D print onto a 3D design template. In 2021, to launch its new signature Olympia bag, Burberry hosted a series of VR pop-up experiences with Harrods.
A 2023 report from Dealroom revealed that the UK ranked fourth globally for VC funding into digital shopping startups, with London ecommerce companies attracting $5bn in 2021.