Artificial Intelligence. While the public frets about the impending doom, Silicon Valley PE Funds pumped in a record US$ 310M (Rs 2100 Crore) into AI-based startups in 2015. This investment represents a seven-fold increase over 2010. India which has the third-largest number of startups ( 4200 for FY15) is fast catching up with its US-based peers. In India, Adoro seems to be leading the pack harnessing Artificial Intelligence for Fashion. Read on to find out how Artificial Intelligence will soon decide what you will wear and buy online.
1. What does Adoro mean? Tell us a little about yourself and the founders of Adoro?
Adoro means “Love” & “to Adore”. It’s what we represent, an AI-based personalization for the love & aspirations of women and their personal unique style. We are composed of a team founded by graduates from IIT-Delhi, IIM-A and BITS-Pilani with extensive experience in technical strategy & mobility innovation products. We have previously worked in other Startups and Fortune 200 Corporations. We are a Hyper Personalized platform for fashion discovery for each user’s unique taste and fit. The gamut of fashion shops from local to online has only lengthened the process of discovery and buying of the best style for women. Our proprietary Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning & Computer Vision Algorithms, save an endless search of ‘right product for me’ by auto predicting it for the user. Adoro also provides an engaged social network for the user to enhance her style and help our AI better understand her personal taste.
3. How do you earn money? Is it through affiliate links for the products sold on your portal?
We are in the business of everything fashion. We predict not only the user’s unique style but the fashion trends itself. All Orders, their tracking and management happen on our platform for the user. Currently, we monetize on every transaction via our partner-affiliate sales for our eCommerce product providers, making all our transactions profitable right from day one (a rare vital in the current ecosystem).
4. Why have you chosen to go for Mobile App only approach? India’s largest online fashion retailer Myntra.com recently restarted its desktop website. Any comments?
Mobile app only makes sense, if it provides users something beyond a regular eComm website, leveraging experiences unique to native mobiles. With our platform where user can directly upload their style photos and engage with others inspirational looks and get products which are uniquely personalized for her, Mobile App makes the best sense. For India’s smartphone device market, we have created an app that is just up to 5MB (viz. >20MB of leading eComms) and provides the best in class experience Users can download Adoro from Google PlayStore, eliminating users to visit/download multiple fashion stores. Besides, Mobile app, we also provide for the user, the world’s first AI Style assistant chatbot – named Amy. Download it here.
5. Jabong.com which raised around US$ 115 Million over the years at valuations over US$ 1 billion today has no buyers even for US$50 million. In such a scenario isn’t it a bad time to be in E-commerce fashion? How do you intend to cope with the funding drought this year?
As we stated, we are profitable on each on every transaction. Our user-facing app doesn’t have the concept of unsustainable promo codes to drive fake growth. Instead, we have our price-AI engine to do the job for discovering the best prices and real-time discounts across the internet for that ‘red dress’ user is about to buy. With too many players in fashion inventory and marketplaces, we believe consolidation is the key. AI-driven Experience platform like us is what is required to make sales for the user and businesses, in a sustainable profitable way. Proof of our sustainability is the industry’s highest user-conversion number (on DAU) we have sustained, without any external funds so far. In today’s hasty unicorn era, we are self-sustaining cockroaches.
6. Are you looking to raise funding and when do you think your App will start making money?
We are making money from day 1 we launched (Jan 2016), aiding to our sustainability. We will be looking for Series-A fund to
- Reach out whole Indian Audiences and convey the tremendous value-proposition Adoro will be adding to their life
- To continue the next-generation research & innovations in Fashion AI.
- Expand the singularly fashion-focused, social interaction platform for style inspiration for our users.
7. Where do you see yourself in 2 years’ time?
We surely see us as a major one-stop destination for all user’s fashion needs. A single place where all women of India, shop, share and enhance their style. We expect to continue our R&D and will consolidate our lead in fashion AI, with patents over our key innovations.
