Volumental footwear fit tech firm raises $13m for expansion drive

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Dec 23, 2021

Footwear fit tech specialist Volumental has raised $13 million in a new funding round as it works to grow in Europe and Asia. It has the world’s largest dataset of 3D foot scans and is already strong in the US market.

The Swedish firm is a computer vision company and says it “helps the world's top retailers and brands solve fit, improve customer experiences, and transform data into fuel for profitable growth”.

The new minority equity investment is the company’s largest financing round to date and “paves the way for the expansion of global sales, marketing and product development efforts to accommodate the fast-growing pipeline of brands coming onto the platform”.

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Its 3D scanning tech is used in more than 3,000 retail stores globally by 90+ brands, including Canada Goose, Red Wing Shoes, New Balance, Bauer, Fleet Feet, Road Runner Sports, Under Armour, Lululemon and more.

Built around its FitTech, its offer includes retail scanning, mobile scanning, personalised recommendations and digital marketing tools. 

And its sees “massive” opportunities in the technology sector. “Size and fit remain as one of the last big unsolved problem areas for shoppers and brands,” said Alper Aydemir, co-founder and CEO. “More and more retailers realise this and want to provide a smoother experience. We’re seeing this from many of the companies we work with in the US where we continue to grow at a rapid rate, as well as in the European and Asian markets we’re expanding into.”

Aydemir added that “to meet this demand, we’ll continue to scale our products and onboarding, as well as attract and invest in sales, marketing, computer vision and AI experts to further develop our proprietary FitTech solutions”.

The company claims its diverse team of PhD-level engineers, data scientists, UX researchers, and retail experts can “provide the most accurate fitting recommendations using 3D scanning and AI”. And it said its customers “experience increased foot traffic, better sales conversions, increased basket sizes and decreased returns”. 

The new financing was led by CNI, a growth-oriented private equity firm based in Stockholm and “focused on investing in businesses that create true and sustainable shareholder value as they scale”. Other new investors include Backstage Invest and Abanico Invest, while existing partners also took part in this financing round.