France's LVMH announces 2022 innovation awards at Viva Technology

Six other startups were awarded in specific categories: 3D/virtual product experience and metaverse, employee experience and CSR, media and brand awareness, omnichannel and retail, operations and manufacturing excellence, and sustainability; and one received a special mention in the data and artificial intelligence field.

More than 950 startup applications were received from 75 countries for the 2022 LVMH innovation award. A total of 21 startups from 10 different countries were selected as finalists, 48 per cent of the finalists have a female founder or co-founder.

"At LVMH, Innovation is our lifeblood. It’s what allows us to continually increase the desirability of our Maisons’s products and services. The finalists of the 2022 innovation award will bring us their capacity to nourish the encounter between luxury and technology even more, as their entrepreneurial spirit joins and inspires our own," said Bernard Arnault, CEO and chairman, LVMH.

London-based startup, Toshi, won the 2022 innovation award. The company was founded in 2017, bringing humanised standards to the delivery of luxury goods. It brings in-store services directly to the customer at a time and location that suits the customer best. Toshi also offers a sustainable approach to its logistics, using public transportation to avoid cities’ congestion, as well as an electric vehicle fleet to achieve carbon neutral deliveries. Its employees are all salaried. The startup’s clients include Berluti, Christian Dior Couture and Rimowa.

“We are so thrilled and grateful to win the LVMH Innovation Awards. Brands are swiftly adapting to the new consumer lifestyle, which has already geared to the on-demand economy in all other elements of their lives, with convenience at its core. Brands must be omnichannel, sustainable and focus on customer service/experience. We believe that these at-home services that Toshi provides will become standard, the new norm of shopping in the near future,” said Sojin Lee, founder and CEO Toshi.

Marqvision won in the data and artificial intelligence special category. The company was founded in 2019 in Los Angeles and detects counterfeits to remove them from online sales. With AI image recognition and semantic analysis, Marqvision allows brands to detect and remove counterfeit sales at scale. The ability to capture and process high volume data allows to generate comprehensive analysis of the counterfeit landscape. The startup’s clients include Bulgari and Tiffany&Co.

Bitski won in the 3D/virtual experience and metaverse category. San Francisco-based Bitski was founded in 2018. Brands use Bitski as their enterprise management layer to create, sell NFTs and embed them on their websites, metaverse apps or games. They also allow users to store their NFTs in secure and compliant wallets for them to connect their wallets to different metaverses.

Gamino won in the employee experience and CSR category. The company was founded in 2020 in Nanterre, France and offers digital trainings to raise awareness on disabilities. With Gamino, disability awareness is entirely digitalised and is done by resemblance. It is accessible on all types of media and 24 hours a day. Awareness by resemblance allows them to put the participating employees in concrete disability situations during a one-week event.

Seenthis won in the media and brand awareness category. The Stockholm-based Seenthis was founded in 2017 and offers streaming technology that speeds up the display of video ads and content. All ads are instant loading, optimised to a user’s internet connection and are environmentally friendly. Seenthis transforms digital advertising by streaming HD quality video and content via display without file size restrictions.

The Showcase won in the omnichannel and retail category. Created in 2021 and based in Geneva, The Showcase enhances the presentation of watches and jewellery product through live videos. It offers a hardware device to be used in stores, enabling sales associates to give a personalised remote presentation of the product, all while simultaneously maintaining a close contact with their client. The startup’s clients include Chaumet, Louis Vuitton and TAG Heuer.

Weturn won in the sustainability category. Founded in 2020 in Paris, Weturn transforms unsold goods and textiles into new recycled yarns and qualitative fabrics. This 100 per cent close loop is traceable and impactless. The startup’s clients include Christian Dior Couture for which they recycled their iconic Toile de Jouy fabric into a new collection of yarn.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (HO)