Lalaland (company)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lalaland
IndustryFashion-Tech
FounderMichael Musandu, Ugnius Rimsa
HeadquartersAmsterdam, Netherlands
Number of employees
10-50
Websitehttps://lalaland.ai/

Lalaland is an Amsterdam-Based Dutch tech startup that creates artificial intelligence based virtual models for e-commerce.[1]

History[edit]

The startup was co-founded in 2019 by Michael Musandu and Ugnius Rimsa.[2] Lalaland states that the concept of creating AI based synthetic, full-body virtual supermodels is aimed to replace the traditional human models to reduce cost to vendors and to increase diversity in product representation.[3]

In April 2020, Lalaland received a pre-seed funding from Amsterdam-based venture capital fund ASIF Ventures.[3] In May 2020, Lalaland won the 15th Philips Innovation Award.[4] In June 2021, the startup received €350.000 funding from Google under its program to fund the ventures initiated by the people of color.[5]

In January 2022, Lalaland won the Tommy Hilfiger Fashion Frontier Challenge,[6] which includes a prize of €100,000 and mentorship opportunities.[7]

In June 2022 Lalaland raised €2.1M in a new pre-Series-A round of funding.[8]

In March 2022 Michael and Ugnius made it to the European Forbes 30 under 30 list in the retail and e-commerce list, which identifies entrepreneurs under the age of 30 who, the Forbes page notes, are “reinventing how we shop, both online and offline.”.[9] The same month, Levi Strauss & Co. announced a partnership with the aim for later this year, to test AI-generated models to supplement human models, increasing the number and diversity of their models for their products in a sustainable way. [10]



References[edit]

  1. ^ Zolfagharifard, Ellie (2021-01-06). "Virtual supermodels dig their heels into the fashion industry". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2021-06-16.
  2. ^ "Synthetische media: de positieve businesscases van deepfakes". Emerce (in Dutch). Retrieved 2021-06-16.
  3. ^ a b "Amsterdam student-run VC fund ASIF Ventures invests in LALALand, another ACE Incubator alumni | Silicon Canals". Retrieved 2021-06-16.
  4. ^ "Lalaland Amsterdam winnaar Philips Innovation Award 2020". wijNederland (in Dutch). 2020-05-19. Retrieved 2021-06-16.
  5. ^ "These are the 30 hottest black-led companies according to Google's startup team". CityAM. 2021-06-03. Retrieved 2021-06-16.
  6. ^ "Fashion Frontier Challenge". Make It Possible. Retrieved 2022-09-12.
  7. ^ "Winners of the Tommy Hilfiger Fashion Frontier Challenge Recognized for Driving Social Innovation and Inclusivity in the Fashion Industry". DutchNews.nl. 2022-01-14. Retrieved 2022-09-12.
  8. ^ Terra, Caitlyn (2022-06-10). "Fashion-tech start-up Lalaland haalt investering van 2,1 miljoen euro binnen". FashionUnited (in Dutch). Retrieved 2022-09-12.
  9. ^ "Nederlanders in Forbes 30 under 30: Omoda's CEO en de oprichters van Lalaland". FashionUnited (in Dutch). 2023-03-08. Retrieved 2023-05-10.
  10. ^ "LS&Co. Partners with Lalaland.ai". LeviStrauss. 2023-03-22.