Fashion Tech Start-Up, Aiva, Receives Major Investment from CNT Tech.
Summary
Aiva, a Korean fashion tech start-up that operates both an AI-based clothing virtual fitting solution ‘myFit’ and XR showroom platform ‘VEER,’ has received new investment from CNT Tech, a leading investment accelerator. According to Aiva CEO Bo-min Kim, “The trend of non-face-to-face consumption, which has become a new daily life due to Corona, is advancing the era of virtual experience shopping.” Additionally, Aiva is currently collaborating with TaylorMade, New Balance, the Korean Fashion Industry Research Institute and Avnew Franc to create and launch a VR showroom. According to an industry official, “After adopting Aiva’s solution, consumers can wear clothes non-face-to-face and receive size recommendations, reducing product returns and saving resources in production and consumption activities.” CNT Tech has discovered and managed up to 24 early startup companies through its early startup package in 2021 and has invested a whooping 700 million won in 6 companies. Aiva’s VEER platform on the other hand creates a WebGL standard-based Metaverse showroom that enables fashion brands and distributors to present clothes without directly visiting customers. The pandemic mostly brought about negative impacts, but also brought an evolution for the fashion e-commerce businesses as they utilize virtual reality and augmented reality technologies to enhance the customer experience, creating a high demand for Virtual Fitting solutions in the fashion industry.