After announcing a $50 million seed round on Thursday, Daydream has big plans for its retail platform and its presence in Kirkland.
Co-founder and Chief Product Officer Dan Cary said the artificial intelligence startup raised such a large seed round because the company is developing a new shopping experience, and the first impression needs to be strong.
"There's a lot of shopping that's broken," Cary said. "Anything where taste matters is something that the tech is especially well-suited toward."
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Daydream, which was founded last year and has headquarters in Kirkland and New York City, is a retail platform that uses AI to help customers find a specific look. Its website uses the examples "I need a dress for a summer wedding in Costa Rica" and "bright-colored sneakers that feel old school and classic" as queries consumers can enter to find what they want. Daydream says it has almost 2,000 brands available.
The startup plans to launch to the public this fall but isn't disclosing how many customers are in the private beta. Cary said Daydream will continue taking people off the waitlist leading up to the fall.
As for why Daydream is creating a consumer-facing website rather than licensing its tech to e-commerce companies, Cary said the company wants to create a consistent experience. Plus, he added, it's easier to personalize for consumers if Daydream has its own central database of brands.
Daydream has 21 employees, including four in the Seattle area, and open positions in engineering, business development, marketing and product. Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Matt Fisher said Daydream has no specific hiring target over the next year.
"It's a heavy compute industry, so where we're going into, there's a lot of inference and cost needed on the compute side," Fisher said.
The company's downtown Kirkland office has about 2,000 square feet, which is plenty for now, but Fisher said if Daydream outgrows the space, it would probably look to expand in Kirkland. The company also has a cluster of employees in New York City, with the rest of the team spread across the U.S.
Forerunner Ventures and Index Ventures led the seed round, while Google Ventures and True Ventures participated. Forerunner Ventures has invested in Dollar Shave Club, Bonobos and Glossier, while Index has invested in Etsy, Dropbox and Slack.
Co-founder and CEO Julie Bornstein previously co-founded The Yes, another AI-powered shopping platform. The company was acquired by Pinterest in 2022 for an undisclosed amount.
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