Alta raises $11M to bring ‘Clueless’ fashion tech to life with all-star investors

Summary

Throughout her years working in technology, Jenny Wang, 28, always found herself stumbling back to one idea — a personal styling agent to help users decide what to wear and buy based on their budget, lifestyle, weather and calendar. She has tried to build such a product numerous times in the past, “but the AI technology was not yet mature enough,” she told TechCrunch. That’s changed so a few months ago she announced the launch of her dream company, Alta, followed by the announcement today of an $11 million seed round led by Menlo Ventures. The product, which feels straight out of the movie “Clueless,” is indeed an AI stylist and personal shopper that makes outfit recommendations and lets users try on those looks with their personalized virtual avatar. For example, a person can ask Alta what the best outfit might be for, say, TechCrunch Disrupt, and the AI will offer suggestions and present a lookbook of outfits. Users upload their closet by either taking photos, forwarding purchase receipts, or searching what is already in the Alta database. People can also dress themselves in clothes they are looking to buy, mixing and matching with clothes already in their closet. There are others playing around in the AI styling space, such as Whering and Cladwell, all trying to recreate the magic of that iconic scene in “Clueless,” where Cher plans an outfit from her closet using computer technology. Want considers herself to be part of the new wave of consumer technology, looking to make styling and shopping more effective. “There are existing players like Google Shopping and Pinterest who are also experimenting with AI,” she continued. “But the experiences that consumers will crave and use in the future will need to be built with new technical architectures and new user interfaces.” The product is backed by some heavy names, including Michelle Obama’s stylist Meredith Koop, who Wang said helped train Alta’s AI. Other investors in the company include Benchstrength; Algaé Ventur...