Blockchain-powered fashion startup mmERCH has secured a $6.4 million seed funding round, with Liberty City Ventures leading the investment. Other participants in this funding round include 6529 Holdings LLC, Christie’s Ventures, and Flamingo DAO. Noteworthy contributors comprise Charles Cascarilla, CEO and co-founder of Paxos, Web3 investor Mike Jacobellis, collector and investor Daniel Maegaard (Seedphrase), entrepreneur and model Karlie Kloss, luxury fashion designer Tory Burch, and the Web3 fashion consortium Red DAO.
Scheduled for 2023, mmERCH is set to unveil its debut collection in April, leveraging relational algorithms to curate individual pieces. Each physical item will be accompanied by a digital twin integrated with blockchain technology, ensuring authenticity and fostering community engagement through undisclosed experiences.
Founder and CEO Colby Mugrabi has coined the term ‘nova-couture’ to describe the venture, emphasizing that “the investment signifies a significant milestone.” Liberty City Ventures’ founding partners Emil Woods and Murtaza Akbar view the fusion of AI and blockchain as a pioneering frontier, reshaping conventional practices across the fashion industry from design to user experience.
The incorporation of AI-driven design aligns with consumers’ increasing demand for uniqueness amidst the homogenization prevalent in fashion. mmERCH’s emergence coincides with a rising aversion towards fast fashion, exemplified by recent legislative actions in France penalizing overproduction and rapid turnover rates.
Trame, a design agency utilizing conceptual algorithms to craft distinctive physical goods alongside generative non-fungible token counterparts, has already demonstrated the viability of this approach in the design sphere. Trendsetting brands like 9dcc, launched in 2022 by entrepreneur gmoney, and MNTGE, in collaboration with heritage denim brand Wrangler, have capitalized on fostering a connected community.
The raised capital will be allocated towards enhancing mmERCH’s proprietary technology stack, expanding the engineering team, and developing subsequent collections. Backed by a diverse group of stakeholders spanning owners, developers, buyers, designers, artists, academics, and writers, mmERCH’s roots trace back to Mugrabi’s background in the art realm.
Mugrabi’s previous initiatives include Minnie Muse, established in 2017, which converges art, fashion, architecture, and design. She holds affiliations with esteemed institutions such as the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Shed arts center in New York, NYU Gallatin’s Dean’s Council, and delivers guest lectures at Parsons’ School of Design.
