Shopping startup Viewa raises $300,000 pre-Seed to bring the instore feeling to online

Melbourne startup Viewa has raised a $300,000 pre-seed round from Skalata to bring augmented reality (AR) into the online shopping experience. 

An extraordinary 80% of Australians shop via their mobile, making it a challenge to create an experience that leads to sales.

Viewa uses 3D, AR and generative AI to lift products from the page and recapture some of the in-store shopping magic, increasing conversions by up to 94% in the process. 

It’s web-, rather than app-based, running within a webpage without asking shoppers to sign up or download an app. 

Cofounder and CEO Ed Sedgley previously founded Global Data Company (GDC), an Australian identity verification firm acquired by Trulioo in 2014. 

“Our mantra is ‘seeing is believing’,” he said.

“Confident purchasing means infinitely better experiences for the customer, conversions increased by as much as 94% for the retailer, and massively reduced headaches for everyone when buyers buy the right product, the first time.” 

Sedgley also believes a “right first time” mentality will help address the impact of a global returns culture, which has made impulse buys then returns easy, but creates havoc for retailers and the environment. 

View has four options including ViewaConfigure (3D), ViewaAugment (AR), and ViewaSurface and ViewaScenes for big-ticket purchases like furniture, blinds, and pools.  It can literally “read the room”, scanning for colour palette, windows, and other furniture to define the style (eg. Scandi, Minimalist, Modern Eclectic), and offer product suggestions, custom colours, and fabrics, then places the selected item “in the room” through the user’s smartphone camera for viewing. 

Nitro Software founder Rich Wenzel is among Viewa’s advisors and the customer base is already 50-strong, with furniture retailer M+Co Living set to deploy Viewa’s AR software into across 100 Australian retailers.

Skalata CEO Rohan Workman believes Viewa will change the online experience for both shoppers and retailers. 

“The team’s clear strength is vision – no pun intended – and rapidly understanding new technology,” he said.

“Viewa has a strong culture and defensible technical skill, and we’re excited to back them on their path to international expansion.”