Trend forecasting specialist Heuritech raises €4 million, eyes international expansion

By

Matthieu Guinebault

Translated by
Nicola Mira

Published
Sep 3, 2019

French firm Heuritech, a specialist in anticipating brand and product desirability in fashion using AI tools, is setting its sights on international markets and the beauty sector after raising fresh funds worth €4 million. Among the investors, the Elaia and Serena investment funds, former Jimmy Choo director Pierre Denis and former Cartier executive Coralie de Fontenay.

Heuritech was launched in Paris in 2013 by machine learning experts Charles Ollion and Tony Pinville, and utilises a proprietary technology capable of analysing three million pictures and videos on a daily basis. Over 2,000 details are extracted from each picture, enabling an algorithm to detect weak signals heralding future trends. Since its introduction, Heuritech’s technology is said to have identified 4,000 different trends, and the firm claims an accuracy rate of 90%. A first funding round in 2016 enabled Heuritech to raise €1.1 million.

“To begin with, our goal will be to consolidate our go-to-market strategy by hiring key personnel,” said Pinville. “We are proud of working with clients from around the world (Europe, USA and Asia), and Heuritech will now focus on further international expansion, especially by opening offices in New York and Singapore. In parallel, we will launch into new sectors, beginning from beauty. In the last three years, many beauty brands have approached us,” added Pinville.

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Heuritech was part of the second cohort of the Lafayette Plug & Play accelerator in early 2017, and in the same year it won the LVMH Innovation Award, recognising a start-up less than 10 years in business and with fewer than 100 employees, whose solutions addressed the customer experience challenges faced by the French luxury group and its labels. Heuritech’s initial positioning in the luxury industry led to collaborations with Louis Vuitton, Dior and Paco Rabanne. The firm then extended its reach to the sport and fast-fashion sectors, with clients like Adidas, Fashion3 and Wrangler.