A staggering 40 per cent of online clothing purchases are returned, often as a consequence of inconsistencies of sizing between brands, or sizing standardisation ignoring the reality of different body shapes.
Fitbay.com removes the “will-it-won’t-it fit” experience from online shopping by only showing users clothes that will fit their unique size and shape.
The company has now closed a $2 million USD seed funding round, led by New York-based Steadfast Venture Capital and Stockholm-based VC firm, Creandum (an early investor in Spotify).
Having been invite-only since its launch in February 2014, Fitbay is now available to the general public as an open beta on the web and iOS. Having grown an average of 110 per cent per month, Fitbay is now able to recommend and link to over 2 million perfectly-fitting products for its users, from brands both big and small across the web.
The company was founded in Copenhagen 2013 by two DTU students and a Harvard graduate. Philip Wylonis has a BSc in IT and communication from DTU and is close to completing his MSc in digital media. The idea of Fitbay was originally conceived by Philip’s brother, Christian Wylonis, a Harvard graduate who has worked as a consultant for McKinsey.
However, the backbone of the company—the complex algorithm which generates the recommendations based on anonymous user information—is the brainchild of Andreas Jarbøl. He is a BSc graduate in physics and nanotechnology from DTU, but like Philip he has put his graduate studies on hold to devote himself fully to Fitbay.
Although it was founded in Copenhagen, Fitbay has just opened a commercial office in New York as over 40 per cent of Fitbay users are based in the United States.
Steadfast Venture Capital is an early stage investment firm based in New York City.
Creandum is the leading Nordic venture capital firm investing in innovative and fast-growing technology companies within the consumer internet, software, and hardware sectors. The firm has over €250M under management and has invested in over 20 companies including Spotify, Vivino, Tictail, Wrapp, iZettle, and Videoplaza.