FIGR Ventures, a newly established family office fund, has announced its first portfolio investment into TRUSS, a UK-based tech startup revolutionising the fashion industry by powering resale with AI-enabled data infrastructure.
TRUSS, founded by Warwick University graduates Woody Lello (CEO), Felix Jackson (COO), Jack Cardwell (CIO), and Connor Mattinson (CTO), is on a mission to build the digital backbone for the future of fashion resale. Officially launched in 2022, TRUSS tackles one of the resale sector’s biggest challenges, product transparency. TRUSS creates millions of product profiles which contain detailed information about any product. Using only a photo, businesses can tap into this information to list products efficiently, enhance searchability, and improve conversion rates.
With the new £300,000 investment from FIGR, TRUSS has secured critical match-funding to activate a £1.1m Innovate UK grant. This funding supports a collaborative project with the University of Warwick, Depop, and Selfridges to develop a bespoke algorithm that can instantly recognise a fashion item from TRUSS’ database using a single image. The investment will be used to enhance TRUSS’ tech capabilities, expand and enrich the product catalogue, grow the team, and develop further partnerships with businesses that can benefit from TRUSS’ product.
The tech startup has previously raised £345,000 in a pre-seed round led by SFC Capital, alongside angel investors, and is now supporting major fashion retailers with its technology.
