Peter Jeun Ho Tsang unpacks his top 5 key takeaways from the VC Series in conversation with Rohan Bansal. He unpacks:

1. No set path into fashion and retail tech venture capital – success requires building relevant experience and perspective rather than specific qualifications.
2. The power of networks and relationships, crucial for both founders and investors to opening doors for funding and partnerships.
3. Creating a winning pitch deck is essential when investors spend just three minutes reviewing it – clearly answer "why now" and "why you".
4. Despite $3 billion in equity financing in 2024, there's a surprising lack of specialized fashion tech VC funds and a $20-30 billion annual funding gap
5. Smart money versus hype – seek investors who provide strategic value beyond capital through connections to clients, experts and industry insights

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The show is recorded from Beyond Form, a fashion tech innovation platform. We build, invest, and educate fashion tech entrepreneurs and startups. We’d love to hear your feedback, so let us know if you’d like to hear a certain topic. Email us at podcast@beyondform.io. If you’re an entrepreneur or fashion tech startup looking for studio support, check out our website: beyondform.io

Lack of Fashion & Retail Tech Funds:

The fashion tech sector raised nearly $3 billion in 2024, yet there's a surprising lack of specialised VC funds focusing on this growing market despite proven exits and significant market potential. In this final guest episode with Rohan Bansal, he chats with Peter on what some of the blind spots are for many investors.

The Struggle with Specialised VC Funds:

• Generalist VCs lack specialised expertise in fashion industry dynamics and operations.
• Traditional investors struggle to build the right networks for strong deal flow and exit opportunities.
• An estimated $20-30 billion annual funding gap exists in fashion tech and closing this gap requires collaboration between corporate investors, government subsidies, accelerators and public funding.

Connect with Rohan on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rohan-bansal-50328179/

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The show is recorded from Beyond Form, a fashion tech innovation platform. We build, invest, and educate fashion tech entrepreneurs and startups. We’d love to hear your feedback, so let us know if you’d like to hear a certain topic. Email us at podcast@beyondform.io. If you’re an entrepreneur or fashion tech startup looking for studio support, check out our website: beyondform.io

The Perfect Investor Pitch Deck:

The perfect investor pitch deck combines storytelling, market understanding, and founder credibility to stand out in the competitive venture capital landscape. Venture capitalists typically spend just over three minutes reviewing each deck, with only 1% securing funding. In this episode Peter and Rohan breakdown what makes a great deck and the red flags that investors see.

Tips & Tricks Explored in this Episode:

• Storytelling is crucial as humans connect with narratives and founders must demonstrate how their experience is relevant to the problem they're solving.
• Market sizing should be realistic and calculated using a bottom-up approach.
• Red flags include co-founders with too-similar backgrounds and unrealistic growth projections
• A disorganised pitch deck often reflects disorganised thinking, and the questions "Why now?" and "Why you?" must be convincingly answered.

Connect with Rohan on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rohan-bansal-50328179/

Send us a text

Support the show

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The show is recorded from Beyond Form, a fashion tech innovation platform. We build, invest, and educate fashion tech entrepreneurs and startups. We’d love to hear your feedback, so let us know if you’d like to hear a certain topic. Email us at podcast@beyondform.io. If you’re an entrepreneur or fashion tech startup looking for studio support, check out our website: beyondform.io

The Lifecycle of Fashion Tech Startups:

This episode with guest speaker Rohan Bansal, he discussed with Beyond Form CEO Peter Jeun Ho Tsang the differences between early stage and growth stage companies and what it takes to secure funding at each level.

Early-stage v.s. Growth Stage Fashion Tech:

• The lifecycle: Pre-seed rounds typically fund companies with just an idea, while seed rounds support those with early traction and some revenue.

• Series A represents a critical graduation point where investor expectations significantly change and growth stage companies need to demonstrate not just revenue growth but also a path to profitability.

• Revenue expectations: European markets typically expect higher revenue thresholds (€150-200K) for seed funding compared to US markets. It's harder to get VC funding in 2025.

• The investment landscape has shifted from "growth at all costs" to "growth with profitable costs" and fashion tech startups need to build positive signals to investors before fundraising.

Connect with Rohan on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rohan-bansal-50328179/

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The show is recorded from Beyond Form, a fashion tech innovation platform. We build, invest, and educate fashion tech entrepreneurs and startups. We’d love to hear your feedback, so let us know if you’d like to hear a certain topic. Email us at podcast@beyondform.io. If you’re an entrepreneur or fashion tech startup looking for studio support, check out our website: beyondform.io

Rohan's journey into the VC industry:

Rohan Bansal shares his journey into the venture capital world, sharing how his nomadic childhood across eight countries equipped him with the global perspective crucial for successful investing in fashion and retail tech.

What you'll hear about VC investing:

• Living in different countries provided Rohan with unique insights into market idiosyncrasies and consumer behaviours.
• VC roles are highly competitive: over 450 applications for each associate position and 40% of new VC hires in 2024 came from startup or tech backgrounds.
• Key technologies transforming fashion retail include: AI for shopping personalisation, demand forecasting, and smart factories with IoT solutions for sustainable and cost-efficient production.
• Emerging VCs should focus on long-term trends rather than following hype cycles and being a sector specialist could help outperform generalists in terms of investment returns.

Connect with Rohan on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rohan-bansal-50328179/

Send us a text

Support the show

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The show is recorded from Beyond Form, a fashion tech innovation platform. We build, invest, and educate fashion tech entrepreneurs and startups. We’d love to hear your feedback, so let us know if you’d like to hear a certain topic. Email us at podcast@beyondform.io. If you’re an entrepreneur or fashion tech startup looking for studio support, check out our website: beyondform.io

As we close out 2024, this year's final episode is joined by Yoobin Jung, a VC at Plug and Play, where she along with our host Peter break down the fashion tech booms and busts that happened throughout the year. They discuss:

• AI's transformative impact on fashion design: Generative design tools are accelerating prototyping and reshaping brand identities, but raise ethical concerns about potentially replacing junior designers.

• The sustainability challenge: AI could help align production with demand, potentially addressing the persistent issue of overproduction in the fashion industry.

• Luxury brands and AI adoption: High-end fashion houses are cautiously approaching AI, grappling with complexities of clothing structures and concerns about AI-driven overconsumption.

• Recommendation algorithms: Effectiveness varies between Europe and South Korea, prompting questions about enhancing consumer experiences versus fuelling overconsumption.

• Regulatory landscape: EU policies like Extended Producer Responsibility aim to promote circularity, yet industry readiness is questionable, as evidenced by Renewcell's bankruptcy.

• Future of luxury e-commerce: The resale market is gaining prominence, with potential lessons from South Korea's Kakao platform on integrating digital and physical retail experiences.

Contact Yoobin on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/yoobinjung

Send us a text

Support the show

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The show is recorded from Beyond Form, a fashion tech innovation platform. We build, invest, and educate fashion tech entrepreneurs and startups. We’d love to hear your feedback, so let us know if you’d like to hear a certain topic. Email us at podcast@beyondform.io. If you’re an entrepreneur or fashion tech startup looking for studio support, check out our website: beyondform.io

We wrap up our 'Build It' podcast series with a reflective finale. Host Peter Jeun Ho Tsang tell us his top 5 key takeaways from navigating business growth, how to get through challenging times as a fashion tech startup, through to tech and humans coming together. This episode highlights the passionate voices featured throughout the series and how the call for a strategic collaboration between brands, investors, and innovators to not only sustain emerging technologies but to also foster their growth.

Connect with Peter on LinkedIn.

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The show is recorded from Beyond Form, a fashion tech innovation platform. We build, invest, and educate fashion tech entrepreneurs and startups. We’d love to hear your feedback, so let us know if you’d like to hear a certain topic. Email us at podcast@beyondform.io. If you’re an entrepreneur or fashion tech startup looking for studio support, check out our website: beyondform.io

Setting Up a Fashion Store in the 90s:
Today's episode we're with Afsal Koya, CEO of Raza Clothing which is a fashion store and label in the USA that uses AIMIRR's virtual try-on technology. Afsal's transformation from a computer scientist to a streetwear brand founder is an unusual one. We hear his journey that started in a small Ohio store back in 1992, Afsal shares how he navigated the evolving landscape of fashion trends to launch his own brand, emphasising the importance of learning and teamwork in driving retail innovation.

AIMIRR and Virtual Try-On:
AIMIRR's AI-powered magic mirror is currently installed at Castleton Square Mall, Indiana and we hear how Afsal worked with AIMIRR CEO Pritesh Kanani to get the technology up and running. This episode unpacks the insights collected to date, in particular how it's been a hit with the younger crowd and how the seamless AR shopping experience has boosted the store's foot traffic. Does that mean in-store VTO technology is ripe for mass adoption?

Find out about Raza Clothing: razaclothingstore.com
Find out about AIMIRR's technology: aimirr.com

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The show is recorded from Beyond Form, a fashion tech innovation platform. We build, invest, and educate fashion tech entrepreneurs and startups. We’d love to hear your feedback, so let us know if you’d like to hear a certain topic. Email us at podcast@beyondform.io. If you’re an entrepreneur or fashion tech startup looking for studio support, check out our website: beyondform.io