Calgary tech startup Slyce has had a busy couple of months.
It started in December, when
they acquired hovr.it, a young Toronto company that developed coding to enable people to search for products visually.
In February, it
acquired a piece of tech from York University Ph.D. student Ehsan Fazi-Ersi that aggregates similar images. The tech was developed in conjunction with
MaRS Innovation and
Innovation York. The researchers also beneifted from a phase 1 Ontario Centres of Excellence grant. Slyce then hired Fazi-Ersi to head up its research and development department.
Then, last week, they announced they had completed their second round of financing, amounting to $10.75 million, for a total of $14.5 million in financing since startup, which may end up sounding like peanuts if things go their way.
The idea behind Slyce is a potential monster: Helping people take pictures of things they like (a cute bag they see someone with on the street, for example) or things they need (a broken window that needs replacing), and get matched up instantly with retailers’ offerings so they can buy it on the spot with their phones.
Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Mark Elfenbein