Bling Capital is a venture capital investment firm based in the San Francisco Bay Area, California. It primarily invests in consumer tech, internet, mobile, marketplace, data, fintech, SaaS, and automation sectors.

Bling Capital

Chicago Early Growth Ventures (CEGV) invests in early-stage startup companies, with a particular focus on Chicago-based entities.

Chicago Early Growth Ventures (CEGV)

Taelor

Taelor is a Silicon Valley-based fashion industry start-up founded by Anya Cheng, ex Facebook and Target Lead who led teams to build Facebook Shopping and Target eCommerce and a current Northwestern University faculty member.  Taelor is a revolutionary new way for men to rent clothes, allowing them to look and feel great every day while also reducing their carbon footprint. The service uses a combination of Artificial Intelligence and personal stylists to select clothes for men based on their sizes and personal preferences. The clothes are shipped directly to customers, who can either wear them for two weeks and return them or purchase the clothes for up to 70% off the regular retail price. Customers then receive another box of clothes. “Our goal is to provide individuals with stylish, everyday menswear. We believe that every day is an opportunity to look good and feel confident,” said Cheng, a former digital product lead at Facebook, eBay and Target. “And when you rent clothes instead of buying them, you not only save the time and energy of having to search and shop for clothes, but you also help the environment, too, instead of purchasing clothes that will eventually end up in a landfill.” Cheng has a strong background in both the digital and retail space. A TEDx Talk speaker and best-selling book author, Cheng spent 15 years leading digital innovation teams at Facebook, eBay, Target, McDonald’s and Sears before launching Taelor. Cheng said she originally got the idea to start a clothing rental subscription service for men after becoming a huge fan of other clothing rental subscription services herself. “I became such a fan of renting clothes that I haven’t purchased any clothes for myself except for underwear for the past five years,” Cheng says. “But I realized that none of the clothing rental services really served menswear nor focuses on helping people to achieve career or personal goals in their everyday life, and I thought, men should be able to enjoy this service too so they can feel ready and confident for their day.”  The popularity of sustainability practices, minimalism, and no-ownership trends have caused the clothing rental business model to explode in recent years, with some analysts projecting that the Circular Fashion industry, which includes rental and resale, could earn as much as $66 billion by 2024 in the U.S. alone. Taelor gives customers the option to choose between two different subscription packages. The first option is a flat, monthly fee, where customers get two boxes per month, which include four shirts per box. The second option is for customers to pay a one-time fee, where customers receive three boxes in total, with four shirts per box. Both options include complimentary personalized styling, dry cleaning, and shipping both ways — making the process of renting and returning clothing easy and effortless. It’s a service that is a perfect solution for busy individuals who don’t want to spend time shopping or picking out their clothes. “I want to look good, but I don't really want to spend time shopping,” says Danny Ma, one of Taelor’s first customers. “I considered clothing subscription boxes for years, but I didn’t want to commit to buying something from each box. After using Taelor, I am much more confident!”  For more information about Taelor, please visit https://taelor.style. For investment inquiries or schedule media interview, please contact hi@taelor.ai

Taelor operates a men's clothing rental subscription service that combines artificial intelligence with human styling expertise. The company's platform allows subscribers to rent a variety of menswear items including shirts, sweaters, blazers, and pants through flexible subscription plans. Their primary offering includes options for 5-10 items across 1-2 monthly shipments, with subscribers able to try clothes and return them or purchase items at up to 70% off retail prices. The service handles all cleaning and shipping costs.

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Fashion Tech

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Taelor operates a men's clothing rental subscription service that combines artificial intelligence with human styling expertise. The company's platform allows subscribers to rent a variety of menswear items including shirts, sweaters, blazers, and pants through flexible subscription plans. Their primary offering includes options for 5-10 items across 1-2 monthly shipments, with subscribers able to try clothes and return them or purchase items at up to 70% off retail prices. The service handles all cleaning and shipping costs.
The company employs a hybrid curation model where dedicated stylists work alongside AI technology to select clothing based on customers' preferences and lifestyle needs. The process begins with a style consultation and questionnaire, after which the AI and stylists collaborate to curate personalized boxes. The platform incorporates a feedback system that helps refine future selections based on customer responses.
In September 2021, Taelor partnered with TRANZEND to offer eco-friendly shirts made from recycled plastic bottles and coffee grounds. These shirts feature advanced technologies including waterproof capabilities, thermal regulation, and motion-adaptive properties.
Key customers and partnerships
Taelor's target market consists of men aged 25-40 who prefer not to shop for clothes themselves. The company partners with various clothing brands including Modern Liberation, REESEDELUCA, Barque New York, and TAGS to source its rental inventory. In September 2021, the company established a partnership with UK-based TRANZEND to incorporate their sustainable clothing line into their rental offerings.

NTX provides innovative textile coloration solutions through its flagship product, Cooltrans. Launched in 2020, Cooltrans is a waterless textile coloration system that can process almost any textile material without heat and achieves a 90% reduction in water usage compared to traditional methods. The technology delivers precise color outcomes while preserving fabric texture and functional performance. Compatible with natural, man-made, and synthetic fibers (except polypropylene), including high power-stretch materials, the system operates on a cost-neutral basis.
Key customers and partnerships
The company established a strategic alliance with Ananta Group and partnered with Stella Blu, a product division of Prosperity Textiles, which implemented NTX's Cooltrans technology with panel printing at its manufacturing facility in China. In this collaboration, both companies aim to apply their expertise beyond denim to other cotton twill-like fabrics.

True Fit provides AI-powered sizing technology for apparel and footwear brands, helping solve online fit challenges for retailers. The company's technology decodes size and fit for consumers through its Fashion Genome, a structured data set that connects detailed garment specifications and style attributes to individual shopping behaviors. The platform deploys algorithms to translate how shoes and clothing fit shoppers viewing them online, removing sizing uncertainty in digital shopping. True Fit's technology encompasses men's wear, women's wear, kids' wear, unisex apparel, footwear, swim, and structured intimates categories. The company's solution includes the Fit Hub, which uses generative AI to enhance the online shopping experience.
The platform provides retailers with a dashboard of insights to drive personalization and growth. Through its Fashion Genome database, True Fit combines decades of expertise in fashion, retail technology, and data science to create detailed understanding of product specifications, from dimensions and color to materials and design details.
Key customers and partnerships
True Fit's technology serves 82 million consumers, tens of thousands of brands, and hundreds of retailers globally. The company formed partnerships with Princess Polly and Lucy & Yak to provide AI size recommendations. In 2024, True Fit partnered with Shopify to integrate its AI fit personalization technology into the Shopify platform, enabling merchants to connect their brands to True Fit's Fashion Genome. Through this partnership, True Fit has already supported fashion brands including Few Moda, Greyson, Toast, and Dia & Co.

True Fit

unspun is a fashion tech company that has developed Vega, the world's first 3D weaving technology for apparel manufacturing. The technology efficiently transforms thousands of yarns into garments in minutes, enabling almost zero-waste, on-demand manufacturing. The Vega system drastically shortens supply chains and lead times, allowing traditional cut-make-trim facilities to vertically integrate operations. The process is four times faster than conventional methods, achieving a 53% emissions reduction, 49% reduced energy demand, and 39% reduced blue water consumption. The technology generates less than 3% cut waste compared to the industry average of 15%. The Vega machines can create woven garments using almost any yarn, with the current generation focused on producing bottoms, bags, and hats. Future generations of the machines will expand into performance categories, outerwear, shoes, tops, and dresses. The company is also developing circular supply chain applications that will allow garments to be unspun back into yarns and re-woven into new products.
Through its microfactory model, unspun aims to eliminate the need for large order quantities while decreasing transportation emissions and lead times. The company operates a microfactory in Oakland, California, where it has demonstrated the commercial viability of its technology through low-volume production with proven third-party lifecycle assessments
Key customers and partnerships
unspun has secured multi-year agreements with Walmart to deploy its Vega machines for localized production in both North America and Europe. The company partnered with fashion label Eckhaus Latta to introduce the first-ever 3D woven collection at New York Fashion Week, with products now available online and in stores globally. In October 2024, unspun formed a strategic partnership with DECATHLON Pulse, the investment arm of global sports brand DECATHLON, to deploy its 3D weaving technology across Europe through 2030. The company has also collaborated with designer Ana Kraš' lifestyle brand Teget and has worked with brands including Collina Strada, Pangaia, and H&M-owned Weekday

Unspun

Stitch Fix operates as an online personal styling service that combines data science and human expertise to provide personalized clothing recommendations. The company's platform uses algorithms and machine learning to analyze customer preferences through an initial style quiz that captures data on size, fit, and style preferences. Based on this data, Stitch Fix sends customers a curated box of five clothing items and accessories selected from thousands of partner brands, with prices typically ranging from USD 28 to USD 500 for adult items. The company employs a hybrid model where algorithms generate initial recommendations, which are then refined by human stylists before items are shipped to customers. Each delivery incurs a USD 20 styling fee that is credited toward any purchases, and customers receive a 25% discount if they keep all items in their box.
The company's technology infrastructure includes three main components: Foundry for corporate clients, Gotham for government and intelligence customers, and Apollo, their cloud-based scalable platform. As of January 2024, Stitch Fix's revenue has faced challenges, with Q1 net revenues declining 17.8% year over year to USD 364.8 million. In February 2024, the company launched Style Tune Ups in partnership with Spotify, offering personalized outfit recommendations based on music preferences and their 2024 Style Forecast report data.
Key customers and partnerships
Stitch Fix partners with thousands of clothing brands to source its inventory. The company entered a notable partnership with Spotify in February 2024 to launch Style Tune Ups, which combines style recommendations with personalized music playlists. According to their trend report data, nearly four in five of their clients take outfit inspiration from their favorite artists.

Stitch Fix

Katana provides cloud-based manufacturing ERP software that helps businesses manage their inventory, production, and sales processes. The platform offers real-time inventory tracking across multiple locations, production planning, manufacturing execution systems, and shop floor control capabilities. Users can manage orders, raw materials, finished products, production recipes, and stock levels through a unified system. The software enables companies to create multilevel bills of materials with subassemblies for accurate costing and make pricing decisions based on product margins. The platform's manufacturing execution system synchronizes inventory and sales across all channels while prioritizing task lists for production line operators. According to company data, businesses using Katana experienced 60% higher sales year over year and a 1.2x increase in inventory turnover. The software implementation typically takes six weeks compared to 6-12 months for traditional ERPs.
The platform operates on a subscription model with pricing starting at USD 179 per month for the Starter plan with one inventory location, USD 359 per month for the Standard plan with three inventory locations, USD 799 per month for the Professional plan with up to 10 inventory locations, and USD 1,799 per month for the Professional Plus plan.
Key customers and partnerships
Katana serves various industries including apparel, electronics, food, and aerospace manufacturers, primarily targeting small to mid-sized businesses. Notable customers include IDC Componentes, Walk With Me, Buttercream Clothing, and Puppy Cake. The platform integrates with several business tools including Shopify, WooCommerce, Xero, QuickBooks Online, Zapier, and Integromat to provide unified business operations.

Katana

Companies that use technology to capture user's sizes to create custom clothing on-demand.

Platforms that help provide style and outfit recommendations to customers based on their preferences. These are typically provided via apps and are used for recommendation purposes only.

Online platforms that help retailers and manufacturers enable their customers to virtually try on apparel.

Platforms and systems that track trends and data for both fashion brands and retailers to optimize operations.

Platforms that help apparel manufacturers disrupt traditional manufacturing and inventory practices through innovation through processes such as 3D printing.

Providers occasionally incorporate Generative AI into their services to help out with functions such as generating style/outfit suggestions

Some providers use digital twin technology for virtual fitting rooms

Some providers use apps or web portals to offer apparel products and style/outfit suggestions

Some providers offer AR-based virtual fitting rooms to help sell clothing to customers

Providers offer custom clothing and style suggestions based on individual preferences and requirements of customers

Some providers offer newer production methodologies that incorporate emerging technology and industry 4.0 to revolutionize traditional apparel manufacturing processes

Taelor

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