Botika, a startup focused on AI-generated fashion models, has raised $8 million and launched its new mobile iOS app.
While human fashion models are not going to like this, Botika said that it empowers online clothing companies of all sizes with its AI-generated models that can make their clothing look good.
The app, alongside the latest advancements to Botika’s generative AI platform, helps fashion brands create high-quality, on-model images for e-commerce. In addition to this announcement, Botika has successfully closed an $8 million seed funding round, co-led by Stardom, and Secret Chord Ventures, with participation from Seedcamp.
This funding will drive continued product innovation and support the company’s expansion in the fashion industry, where it has achieved remarkable growth – multiplying its revenue by nine times and its customer base by eleven times in the past year.
With this significant infusion of capital and the launch of the mobile app, Botika aims to provide an accessible, cost-effective solution to enable online clothing brands to enhance their visual content, improve sales, and reduce production costs.
Botika’s unique AI technology is designed to aid brands in seamlessly transforming basic product images into professional, studio-quality shots, complete with AI generated models and backgrounds that reflect each brand’s aesthetic, with the company also training its own custom foundation models.
More than half of shoppers rely on brand or retailer-provided imagery when deciding whether or not to purchase a piece of clothing. Yet, the production cost of a photography shoot for ecommerce can range anywhere from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars per shoot, the company said.
Botika’s AI generated fashion model addresses this critical pain point for fashion brands and breaks down the barrier to high-quality, on-brand images at a manageable cost and timeline. Botika’s platform allows brands to create lifelike, visually appealing images within minutes to engage customers and boost sales.
The new Botika mobile app brings the platform’s powerful AI generated fashion model tools directly into the hands of users, allowing fashion brands to create stunning, on-model product photos anytime, anywhere.
With the app, brands gain access to their own AI-powered virtual studio, drastically reducing time-to-market by streamlining image production without sacrificing quality. This mobile functionality also includes Botika’s new support for flat lays and packshots, expanding the brand’s capabilities beyond its original focus on on-model photography.
Responding to demand from mobile users on e-commerce platforms like Shopify and others, Botika said it designed the app to enable end-to-end, professional-quality photo creation right from the phone. Brands can now shoot, edit and sync images seamlessly to their online stores, accelerating time-to-market while reducing costs and maintaining quality.
“Converting browsing shoppers to buying shoppers relies heavily on engaging and accurate product imagery, yet every photo is not created equal,” said Eran Dagan, CEO at Botika, in a statement. “As consumer expectations heighten and e-commerce grows more competitive through social selling, smaller online brands and boutiques are at risk of losing profits to photography costs or lackluster images that receive less engagement and fewer sales. With the release of Botika’s mobile iOS app, we’re putting the power of Generative AI at our customers’ fingertips, empowering brands with the tools needed to bring their creative visions to life and better compete in a challenging online fashion market.”
The recent funding and product innovations mark a major milestone for Botika, with plans to build on this momentum throughout 2025.
I asked if Botika’s app could put human fashion models out of work. The company replied, “Our platform isn’t about replacing creatives, it’s about empowering brands to access high-quality visuals they might not otherwise afford. Our platform opens up new opportunities for creativity and fosters an environment for human creativity to thrive.”
And the firm said, “Most brands using our platform combine real models and AI-generated ones to serve different needs – such as editorials, brand ambassador campaigns, live shows, and more. We simply enable them to scale their efforts, generate visuals faster, and make their content generation processes more efficient.”
The company has 15 people and its hiring. The two founders have been developing and working on computer vision AI technology for the last five years, knowing that it can be applied in many industries and solve many of our daily problems and inefficiencies.
Originally planned for gaming, the company pivoted two years ago based on enthusiasm and feedback from friends, family, customers, and design partners who loved the idea of using generative AI for fashion photoshoots. The team quickly realized they were onto something that could make a real difference in the fashion industry by helping brands all over the world publish their collections easily and efficiently without compromising quality.
