Texel
From a Living Room Prototype to a Global 3D Body Scanning Platform
Co-Founder & CPO · Hardware + AI · 30+ Countries · 3 US Patents
My Role
- Co-Founder & CPO
- Product Strategy & Architecture
- Enterprise Sales & Partnerships
- Fundraising & Investor Relations
- Board Member (current)
Key Facts
- Founded: 2014
- HQ: London, UK
- Revenue: £3.7M+
- Capital: £1.3M raised
- Valuation: £7.1M
- Team: 25 at peak
- Status: Cash-positive
Partners
Marks & Spencer
Founders Factory
Plug and Play
Museum of the Future
Texel is a deep-tech venture I co-founded and scaled from a DIY prototype to a Top-3 global 3D body scanning platform. The company develops hardware and AI solutions for human body capture, measurement and virtual fitting — deployed across 30+ countries from Marks & Spencer in London to the Museum of the Future in Dubai.
This is a story about building a hard-tech business from zero — with no lab, no industry connections, and £20,000 of personal savings.
In late 2013, I started experimenting with 3D sensors, open-source software, and hardware from DIY stores. My first prototype: a depth sensor mounted on a sliding wardrobe rail, powered by a car power window motor, spinning a person on a Lazy Susan turntable. It was ugly. It worked.
Where it started
£3.7M+
Revenue
30+
Countries
3
US Patents
£1.3M
Capital Raised
Scanner Evolution
From the first prototype to a globally deployed product line — each generation solving new problems.
Portal BX
The first commercial model. Compact single-sensor design. Proved the concept could work outside the lab. First international sales.
Portal MX
Rated Top-3 globally. Multi-sensor array, full-colour 3D capture in 30 seconds. 200+ body measurements. The workhorse deployed in M&S, museums, and research facilities worldwide.
Portal RX
Next-generation architecture. Improved speed, accuracy and form factor. Designed for high-traffic retail and fitness environments.
Portal FX
The latest evolution. Compact footprint, fastest scan time, highest resolution. Built for scale deployment across retail chains.
Enterprise Case Studies
VISA — FIFA World Cup 2018
3D avatar activation at the FIFA World Cup. Fans scanned and turned into personalised animated avatars. Ultra-personalized content driving brand engagement at scale.
Marks & Spencer — Virtual Fitting
300K customers in A/B test. 3x conversion uplift. 8% higher average order value. From in-store scanner pilots to e-commerce widget deployment.
Product Evolution: Hardware → SaaS → AI → Hardware
The scanner was just the beginning. We turned hardware data into software products — then brought the technology full circle, back into physical retail.
Step 1 · Hardware → SaaS
AI Size Advisor & Virtual Try-On Widget
The key business pivot. Instead of selling scanners to stores, we built a lightweight widget that plugs into any e-commerce site. A customer answers 4 questions → gets a personalised size recommendation with 90% accuracy. Plus GAN-based virtual garment transfer using existing product photos — no digital blueprints needed.
1,100+ organic Shopify merchant installs. M&S A/B test: 3x conversion uplift, 8% higher AOV.
Step 2 · SaaS → Open AI
Virtual Try-On on HuggingFace
We open-sourced a diffusion-based virtual try-on model and published it on HuggingFace Spaces. Upload a person photo + a garment photo → the AI generates a realistic image of the person wearing the garment.
This drove 1.8M+ monthly active users and validated the technology with the global AI community — a developer activation signal that the core tech has real demand beyond enterprise fashion.
Step 3 · AI → Back to Hardware
Texel Smart Mirror
The full circle. We took the virtual try-on AI that proved itself online and put it back into physical hardware — an interactive mirror for retail stores and shopping centres. Customers stand in front of the mirror and see themselves wearing different outfits instantly, without changing clothes.
The recommendation engine helps stores maximise basket size while customers discover more items that fit. Launched at Kornit London Fashion Week 2022 and V&A Museum during London Design Festival.
The Data Moat
Every product above is powered by the same proprietary dataset — the world’s largest collection of colour 3D human body scans.
150K+
3D Body Scans
30M+
Data Points
30+
Countries
3
US Patents
Scaling: From Prototype to 30 Countries
Instead of relying on existing body measurement approaches, I bet on building a direct 3D capture system that would create the world’s largest proprietary dataset. The data advantage compounded: more scans → better algorithms → more accurate fitting → more customers.
The key pivot was moving from hardware-only sales to a software-first model. The scanner was our identity, but the e-commerce widget became our business model.
Raised £2.34M in venture capital including a strategic investment from Founders Factory alongside Marks & Spencer.
Milestones
First prototype. £20K personal investment.
First international customers.
Founders Factory + M&S. VISA World Cup.
eTail UK Dragon’s Den winner. M&S pilot: 3x conversion.
3 US Patents. Best Startup — Retail Week Live.
Board Member. Company cash-positive.
Pitching & Fundraising
From early investor meetings to international stage — how the pitch evolved as the company grew.
Founders Factory Investor Showcase
2019
Pitched to Founders Factory investors and M&S executives. The pitch that secured the strategic £250K investment and M&S partnership. Demonstrated product-market fit with pilot data showing 3x conversion uplift.
Texel.Moda — WebSummit Startup Showcase
2021
Showcased the SaaS pivot — from hardware 3D scanners to the Texel.Moda virtual try-on widget. Presented the AI-powered garment transfer technology and the Shopify integration strategy to a global audience.
Retail Week Live — Winner
2022 — Best Startup Winner
The culmination of the pitch journey. Won Best Startup at Retail Week Live UK — the leading retail technology competition. The pitch showcased the full evolution: from hardware prototype to AI-powered SaaS with proven enterprise traction.
Building the Team
Recruited the co-founding team (Chief Science Officer, CTO) from early prototyping days and grew the company to 25 people across product, engineering, marketing and sales. Attracted world-class talent in computer vision and AI — researchers and engineers who could have worked anywhere but chose to build something from zero.
We collaborated with leading research labs in computer graphics and computer vision, and presented at academic conferences including IEEE. Co-authored the IEEE Standard for 3D Body Processing — helping to transition the industry from 2D measurements to 3D body representation.
Top 50 Global Digital Retail Leaders
Retail Week
3 US Patents
AI Virtual Fitting
eTail UK Dragon’s Den Winner
Next Best Thing in Retail Tech
IEEE Standard
3D Body Processing Co-Author
Press & Media
1,000+ articles about Texel across global media. Selected coverage:
The Times
Body scanner is a perfect fit for M&S
Retail Week
M&S seeks to end “it doesn’t fit” worries with digital investment
M&S Corporate
M&S and Founders Factory invests in 3D digital fit company
Drapers
M&S focuses on fit
Retail Gazette
M&S invests in online fitting technology to combat returns
RB.ru
Texel at Seedstars
What I Learned
Interested in the full story?
Let’s talk about venture building, AI products, or how to turn a wardrobe rail into a business.