AI startup Demoverse raises $600K to let consumers co-create products with brands

AI-powered co-creation platform Demoverse has raised $600,000 in a pre-seed funding round led by Lumikai, as the startup looks to help consumer brands test and shape products with consumers before putting them into production.

Lumikai invested $500,000 through Pixels, its pre-seed programme for founders building interactive consumer platforms. The round also saw participation from UAE-based investor-operator Marlan and a group of angel investors.

Demoverse is starting with fashion and uses AI to let consumers modify and refine product concepts shared by brands. The wider community can then evaluate and vote on the ideas, giving brands an early indication of what consumers want before committing to manufacturing.


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Consumers whose ideas make it into the final product can also earn royalties when the product is commercialised.

The startup describes the model as a shift from user-generated content (UGC) to “user-generated products” (UGP), where consumers move beyond creating content around brands to having a role in creating the products themselves.

The idea is aimed at tackling a long-standing problem for consumer brands: predicting demand before production. McKinsey and the Business of Fashion estimated that the fashion industry generated $70 billion-$140 billion in excess inventory in 2023.

Founded by Akshay Mehta, Demoverse is using AI to make product design more accessible to consumers. Mehta previously worked across investing, consulting and operating roles at Bain, Z47 (formerly Matrix Partners India), Asia Alternatives and the UAE’s Royal Group’s deep-tech investment platform. He was also involved in helping build the UAE’s first commercial-scale satellite manufacturing facility.

“Two decades of social media have trained people to form and express opinions on everything they see. Two years of AI have given the masses the ability to express what they want in a visual format,” Mehta said.

The startup has already conducted early trials with Indian consumer brands and plans to use the new funding to convert these partnerships into paid campaigns.

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Demoverse plans to expand beyond fashion into categories such as beauty and consumer packaged goods.

Lumikai founder and managing partner Salone Sehgal said AI could make it possible to create an almost infinite number of products, but brands would still need to know what consumers actually want.

“Instead of asking consumers what they might buy through a survey or trend report, it gives them the tools to actually shape the product before it gets made,” Sehgal said.