Hong Kong’s fashion tech start-up raises funds, eyes mainland, South Korea growth markets Code-Create, a Hong Kong fashion-design software provider, is teaming up with a local venture capital fund to raise capital for its expansion plan, targeting key markets in mainland China and South Korea for a start. The start-up aims to raise at least US$2 million by the end of 2025 with the help of Eschange Capital, its strategic investment partner. Funds will be used to support marketing, team build-up and software enhancements to achieve its goals. “China as a market has huge potential,” co-founder and CEO Kim Wong said at a media briefing on Monday, adding that Code-Create already has a presence on various mainland social platforms and among its clients. “We want to reach the global market.” Its AiDA software, or artificial intelligence-based Interactive Design Assistant for Fashion, utilises a range of AI technologies to cater to designers’ needs during the conceptualisation and design process. It accelerates the product development process from creative concept to product launch. First introduced in December 2022, AiDA is used by independent designers, original design manufacturers and educational fashion institutes, including Italian luxury brand Anteprima and Hupan Design Institute in Shanghai. AiDA generates new designs for fashion items based on a designer’s sketches and desired themes, fabrics, patterns and range of colours. The designer could then tweak the inputs to ensure that the final products reflect his or her creative vision. Code-Create is a spin-off from AiDLab, the government-funded Laboratory for artificial intelligence in Design. It was already profitable in the last financial year, it said, without elaborating. The firm will soon introduce another AI-based software that integrates product libraries to provide styling advice and retail solutions. AiDLab, jointly established by Polytechnic University and London’s Royal College of Art in 2020, is one of 28 research centres supported by government-run InnoHK Research Clusters under the city’s fintech and innovation drive. The fashion industry is large enough to be significant and niche enough to be thoroughly transformed by new technology, said Terence Qiu, a founding partner of Eschange Capital. “From design to production to retail, every aspect of fashion can be empowered and reshaped by AI.” The plan is to aim for a stock listing in Hong Kong in five years, he added. https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3276909/hong-kongs-fashion-tech-start-raises-funds-eyes-mainland-south-korea-growth-markets (ICE HONG KONG)

Fonte notizia: South China Morning Post