WORLD
VIRTUAL FITTING ROOM CLOSES €1.3 MILLION SECOND ROUND FUNDING
Baku, October 4 (AZERTAC). Fits.me, the innovative biorobotics and virtual fitting room company for e-commerce clothing retailers and shoppers, announced today that it has closed a second round of financing of €1.3 million Euros in an investment led by the Estonian Development Fund. The latest round of funding will be used to finance and build upon current international market traction and expansion, and brings Fits.me`s total funding to €2.6 million Euros.
“Online apparel sales to date have been exceptionally challenging due to the lack of a fitting room. However, it is also the fastest growing e-commerce category and will produce an estimated annual revenue of $31 billion dollars in the US in 2010,” stated Heikki Haldre, CEO and co-founder of Fits.me. “Only 8% of clothing is currently sold online, and Fits.me Virtual Fitting Room is the disruptive technology that will enable online apparel retailers to successfully compete with traditional brick-and-mortar clothing shops.”
Fits.me aims to reduce apparel returns and increase sales by allowing online shoppers to see clothes on a robotic mannequin with the exact dimensions of the buyer`s body via a Virtual Fitting Room. This is accomplished by using robotic mannequins with artificial muscles that can simulate the shape and size of any body type. Created using biorobotics and scientific algorithms based on more than 30,000 3-D human body scans, they are capable of shape shifting into nearly 100,000 different types of body shapes. Fits.me is currently live with its Virtual Fitting Room for men and plans to launch the service for women by the end of 2010.
“We are excited to be involved with a dynamic, disruptive company like Fits.me,” added Andrus Oks of the Estonian Development Fund. “The company is extremely well positioned to capitalize on the evolving trend of broader retailer adoption and will allow online retailers to successfully compete with traditional brick-and-mortar retailers. Our investment in Fits.me will ensure the company has the necessary resources to build upon current market traction and grow at a rapid pace.”