Online Fit startup Fitbay raises €1.47 Million

The Nordics and Baltics are chock full of companies trying to solve the problem of the “fit”. Newest among them making some traction is Fitbay, a Copenhagen-based startup that’s received €1.47 million in funding from Steadfast Venture Capital and Creandum. In January the company raised €290,000 from Jesper Buch.

What Fitbay does is it gets you to input your body type into their system so they can only show you clothes that fit that gorgeous shape of yours (it’s true, ArcticStartup has damn good looking readers). To make their system better, they ask you to plug in some clothes you own where you like the fit – so if you’ve got some t-shirts that really make you feel like you’re a greek god or some dress that makes your feel like a beautiful princess or whatever, then Fitbay can show you other clothes that will also fit like that.

Fitbay is locked and loaded for Generation Selfie as well. To help add a social layer to the platform, they ask you to upload selfies wearing clothes where you’re looking like a champ in order to help others make purchase decisions.

The big bet with Fitbay is that they can become a giant e-commerce platform. It’s a rough world out there, but I like the idea of only seeing clothes that are in stock and that I know will fit me; I’m picky enough that it bums me out to find something I like and have it be out of stock in my size. In comparison, other “fit” startups are developing technology to sell to the giants like ASOS, such as Sweden-based Virtusize.

Speaking of the virtual fitting rooms across the region you’ve again got Virtusize, a startup focused on 2D measurements to get some scope of what should fit you. Estonia has one of the cooler and least practical startups – Fits.me – which literally uses robots to try on clothes (can they do pants yet?). Finland isn’t to be left out – over here we’ve got StyleWhile, a iPad shopping app where (according to their video) busy yuppie girls can try on clothes with a virtual model based on their body type. Lifeline is invested in them, so I guess there’s something to it.

Does Norway, Latvia, or Lithuania have any online fit startups? We might as well collect them all… But man, I hope in my lifetime some genius can stand up there with the Nobel Prize for solving the problem of online fit. It feels like I’m in Groundhog Day telling the same Cinderella story over and over again.

Speaking of Bill Murray and Cinderella stories, here’s one of my favorite videos from Caddyshack.