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Onton is an AI-powered shopping platform that helps people discover, compare, and buy products from hundreds of online retailers in one place. It started with furniture and home décor and is expanding into categories like apparel and consumer electronics. Users can describe what they want in plain language or upload an image, and Onton shows matching items from millions of products from more than 100 brands. It also offers Imagine and infinite-canvas tools that use generative AI and vision tech to restyle rooms, create design ideas, and link directly to shoppable products. These features are powered by a neurosymbolic AI decision engine aimed at making the online shopping journey faster and easier. Onton’s goal is to shorten the typical 79-day shopping process to less than a day by streamlining discovery, comparison, and checkout in a single interface.
Industries
Data & Analytics
Consumer Software
AI & Machine Learning
Company Size
11-50
Company Stage
Seed
Total Funding
$9.4M
Headquarters
Los Angeles, California
Founded
2019
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Total Funding
$9.4M
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Funded Over
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Onton secures $7.5M to expand ai-powered shopping platform. News summary. Onton, an AI-powered shopping platform previously known as Deft, has successfully raised $7.5 million in a recent funding round led by Footwork, with participation from Liquid 2, Parable Ventures, and others. This new funding brings the company's total financial backing to approximately $10 million. Onton plans to utilize this investment to expand beyond its initial focus on furniture into new categories such as apparel and consumer electronics. The startup has experienced significant growth, increasing its user base from 50,000 to over 2 million monthly active users. Onton's core technology employs a neuro-symbolic architecture, which helps eliminate the common hallucination problems associated with large language models, offering more logical search results. This approach allows their AI to better understand consumer needs, such as identifying pet-friendly furniture based on material composition. The company has also introduced features that allow users to upload images or prompts to help find suitable products, enhancing the shopping experience by providing more accurate search results. Onton's expansion into apparel will place it in competition with companies like Daydream, Aesthetic, and Style.ai. The company has grown its team from three full-time employees in 2023 to ten, with plans to expand to fifteen by hiring additional engineers and researchers. Story coverage.
AI startup Onton raises $7.5M to reinvent the way the world discovers and decides what to buy. Onton to accelerate its mission of collapsing the 79 day shopping journey into under one day. Its novel neurosymbolic AI foundation - a next generation search and inspiration engine - now helps more than 2 million monthly users cut through complexity, find products they trust, and make confident decisions instantly. San Francisco, California - November 25, 2025; Shopping has quietly become one of the hardest problems on the internet. People spend a collective lifetime moving between tabs, filtering through over-SEO'd listings, comparing conflicting reviews, and trying to work out what is real and what is marketing. The average person takes 79 days to make a single purchase decision, and the number is growing. Onton was built to reset this experience by making every decision as informed as asking an expert and as easy as asking a friend. Onton has now raised $7.5 million in seed funding led by Footwork with participation from Liquid 2, Parable Ventures, 43 and others, bringing its total funding to approximately $10 million. The company will use the capital to expand its product, scale its team, and grow its global footprint as demand for trustworthy, intelligent search accelerates. The timing is significant. Traditional e-commerce is struggling under the weight of unstructured data and models that were never designed for the volume or complexity of information the modern web produces. Existing search engines rely on keyword matching, outdated filters, or advertising incentives that often push relevance to the background. Onton combines a new interface with a novel neurosymbolic AI foundation that learns more about the world with every search, dramatically increasing accuracy and enabling people to move from discovery to decision in minutes. "We are building the future of decision making online," said Zach Hudson, CEO and Co-Founder of Onton. "People deserve a way to shop that feels intelligent, transparent, and effortless. Onton is designed to remove the friction that slows everyone down and to give users absolute confidence in their choices." Onton allows users to search with natural language, images, or both. It aggregates information from across the web into a single product listing so people do not have to bounce across twelve sites to feel confident in what they choose. With new creative tools like Imagine and Surfaces, users can dream up the pieces they want and instantly see shoppable versions of those ideas. Onton is already delivering a conversion rate three times higher than the industry benchmark and over 20% of users are weekly active. The company's momentum has been fueled by a clear need and a long list of shared frustrations. Alex, Onton's co-founder, spent 30 hours looking for a mid-century gray couch with wood trim and realized everyone around him had been through similar pain. Zach had been building Rcmmd and studying trust in online reviews for years. When the two met at a YC Startup School event, they recognized they were approaching the same problem from different angles. They teamed up, built the earliest versions of the product, won Pioneer, were accepted into the fifth On Deck Fellowship, and began scaling what would become Onton. The team scaled monthly active users to over 1 million with just four employees at the start of 2025 to ten today and expects to add five more soon. Across the industry, the forces shaping shopping are shifting fast. The internet is filled with unverified, automatically generated content and the burden is landing on consumers to separate signal from noise. Brands are becoming walled gardens and long trusted sources for product recommendations are disappearing. At the same time, people are rapidly adopting AI first interfaces and expecting search to behave more like an intelligent assistant than a filterable list. These shifts are reshaping expectations for relevance, accuracy, and trust. Onton's users describe the impact directly. One recently explained that Onton helped him find quality products that matched his passions without wasting hours on research. Another said the platform confirmed that items she was considering were truly unique, giving her the confidence to move forward instead of continuing to shop endlessly. Others shared that Onton cut months off their decision cycles and helped them restyle or furnish their homes with products they could immediately purchase. Power users are doing over 100 searches and generations a month. Looking ahead, Onton plans to expand beyond home decor and furniture into new categories like apparel and electronics, guided by the demand it already sees from users. The company will continue refining its knowledge graph, scaling its data pipeline, and preparing to introduce a customizable search engine that adapts to each individual. Over time, Onton aims to become a global decision making tool that supports any product, in any category, in any country About Onton. Onton is a search and discovery engine for products. Our mission is to help people make decisions they love, instantly. The average shopping journey takes 79 days, and we're taking that to less than 1. Since our public launch in late 2023, we've grown exponentially to guide millions of users to their perfect product.
The tech jungle: AI shopping, driverless taxis, and the great ChatGPT exodus. Welcome to the latest episode of "Tech Unraveled," where BestTechie Holdings, Inc. dive into the most recent developments from the bustling bazaar of technology. It's like the Wild West out here, folks, but with fewer cowbo... Welcome to the latest episode of "Tech Unraveled," where BestTechie Holdings, Inc. dive into the most recent developments from the bustling bazaar of technology. It's like the Wild West out here, folks, but with fewer cowboy hats and more VR headsets. Grab your virtual lassos because BestTechie Holdings, Inc. is about to wrangle some wild tech stories. AI shopping: Onton goes beyond furniture. Onton, formerly known as Deft, raises $7.5M. Onton is like that friend who just discovered the magic of AI and now won't stop talking about it. Formerly known as Deft, this AI-powered shopping platform is expanding its horizons beyond furniture thanks to a fresh $7.5 million injection. The company's secret sauce? An infinite canvas of AI-generated images nudging users towards quicker purchase decisions. It's like Pinterest and a used car salesman had a very persuasive baby. Key takeaways: * Onton secured $7.5M to expand its AI capabilities. * The platform encourages faster purchasing decisions with AI-generated visuals. * Previously focused on furniture, Onton is now aiming to conquer broader retail sectors. Uber's driverless dream: robotaxis in Abu Dhabi. In the UAE, Uber and WeRide have officially launched driverless robotaxis. Yes, you read that right. The safety driver is now a thing of the past, at least in Abu Dhabi. As the taxi industry steps into the future, Uber is handling fleet operations, leaving BestTechie Holdings, Inc. wondering if BestTechie Holdings, Inc.'ll ever have to endure awkward small talk with Uber drivers again. * Uber's robotaxi service in Abu Dhabi is now fully driverless. * Operates in a 12-square mile area on Yas Island. * Uber plans to expand this service to 15 more cities. The great ChatGPT and Copilot exodus from WhatsApp. Ah, WhatsApp - the digital watering hole of modern society. But as of late, it's become a bit exclusive. OpenAI's ChatGPT and Microsoft's Copilot are packing their bags, thanks to new terms of service that favor Meta's homegrown AI. It's like being kicked out of the club for not wearing the right logo. * WhatsApp's new terms prohibit AI chatbots not made by Meta. * OpenAI and Microsoft are exiting WhatsApp. * This shift highlights the ongoing battle for AI dominance. YouTube's home feed: finally getting a facelift. YouTube is experimenting with a new feature that allows users to customize their home feed. It's about time, considering the current feed feels like a never-ending buffet where you're forced to sample everything from cat videos to conspiracy theories. Now, you can finally curate your digital diet. * YouTube is testing a customizable home feed feature. * The aim is to enhance user experience by allowing personalized content selection. * Could potentially reduce the clutter and overwhelm of the current feed. The metaphorical forest of Tech. Navigating today's tech landscape is a lot like exploring a dense, enchanted forest. Every path leads to new wonders and, sometimes, unexpected dangers. From the towering AI trees that promise to revolutionize industries to the murky swamps of terms and conditions that might hold you back, it's a place where the brave and curious thrive. But, like any good adventurer, you need a map - or at least a decent Wi-Fi connection. A dash of humor. Conclusion: the future of Tech is now. As BestTechie Holdings, Inc. continue to forge ahead into the future, it's clear that the tech industry is not just evolving; it's metamorphosing. Whether it's AI shopping platforms, driverless taxis, or the ongoing clash of tech titans, each development is a step towards a world that feels increasingly like science fiction. The only constant is change, and while that might sound like a cliché, it's a reality that keeps BestTechie Holdings, Inc. on its toes and its screens refreshed. So, keep your eyes peeled for the next big thing - because, in the tech world, tomorrow is always just around the corner. And remember, sometimes the best way to predict the future is to invent it - or at least invest in it. Happy tech adventuring!
Onton raises $7.5 million to reinvent how people discover and buy. Onton is accelerating its mission to cut the 79-day shopping journey to under a day with its neurosymbolic AI engine, now helping over 2M monthly users find trusted products instantly. Shopping has quietly become one of the hardest problems on the internet. People spend a collective lifetime moving between tabs, filtering through over-SEO'd listings, comparing conflicting reviews, and trying to work out what is real and what is marketing. The average person takes 79 days to make a single purchase decision, and the number is growing. Onton was built to reset this experience by making every decision as informed as asking an expert and as easy as asking a friend. Onton has now raised $7.5 million in seed funding led by Footwork with participation from Liquid 2, Parable Ventures, 43, and others, bringing its total funding to approximately $10 million. The company will use the capital to expand its product, scale its team, and grow its global footprint as demand for trustworthy, intelligent search accelerates. The timing is significant. Traditional e-commerce is struggling under the weight of unstructured data and models that were never designed for the volume or complexity of information the modern web produces. Existing search engines rely on keyword matching, outdated filters, or advertising incentives that often push relevance to the background. Onton combines a new interface with a novel neurosymbolic AI foundation that learns more about the world with every search, dramatically increasing accuracy and enabling people to move from discovery to decision in minutes. "We are building the future of decision making online," said Zach Hudson, CEO and Co-Founder of Onton. "People deserve a way to shop that feels intelligent, transparent, and effortless. Onton is designed to remove the friction that slows everyone down and to give users absolute confidence in their choices." Onton allows users to search with natural language, images, or both. It aggregates information from across the web into a single product listing so people do not have to bounce across twelve sites to feel confident in what they choose. With new creative tools like Imagine and Surfaces, users can dream up the pieces they want and instantly see shoppable versions of those ideas. Onton is already delivering a conversion rate three times higher than the industry benchmark, and over 20% of users are weekly active. The company's momentum has been fueled by a clear need and a long list of shared frustrations. Alex, Onton's co-founder, spent 30 hours looking for a mid-century gray couch with wood trim and realized everyone around him had been through similar pain. Zach had been building Rcmmd and studying trust in online reviews for years. When the two met at a YC Startup School event, they recognized they were approaching the same problem from different angles. They teamed up, built the earliest versions of the product, won Pioneer, were accepted into the fifth On Deck Fellowship, and began scaling what would become Onton. The team scaled monthly active users to over 1 million with just four employees at the start of 202,5, to ten today and expects to add five more soon. Across the industry, the forces shaping shopping are shifting fast. The internet is filled with unverified, automatically generated content and the burden is landing on consumers to separate signal from noise. Brands are becoming walled gardens; long-trusted sources for product recommendations are disappearing. At the same time, people are rapidly adopting AI first interfaces and expecting search to behave more like an intelligent assistant than a filterable list. These shifts are reshaping expectations for relevance, accuracy, and trust. Onton's users describe the impact directly. One recently explained that Onton helped him find quality products that matched his passions without wasting hours on research. Another said the platform confirmed that items she was considering were truly unique, giving her the confidence to move forward instead of continuing to shop endlessly. Others shared that Onton cut months off their decision cycles and helped them restyle or furnish their homes with products they could immediately purchase. Power users are doing over 100 searches and generating a month. Looking ahead, Onton plans to expand beyond home decor and furniture into new categories like apparel and electronics, guided by the demand it already sees from users. The company will continue refining its knowledge graph, scaling its data pipeline, and preparing to introduce a customizable search engine that adapts to each individual. Over time, Onton aims to become a global decision-making tool that supports any product, in any category, in any country Why this announcement matters. Online shopping is causing a lot of problems - Onton is the one who is solving it. Consumers are simply drowned by unverified listings, SEO noise, and conflicting reviews, and as a result, the average time of their decision for only one purchase is 79 days. Onton changes that path to less than a day, thus giving shoppers clarity and confidence right from the beginning. A completely new AI base, which is created for decisions, not ads. In contrast to keyword search and ad-driven rankings, Onton's neurosymbolic AI deals with real product attributes and user intent - thus, the answers given are more like an expert guiding you than just a list of links. The user signals to the consumer platform indicate a market turning point. Onton is on its way to success, evidenced by more than 2 million monthly users, 20% of weekly active users, and conversion rates that are three times higher than normal benchmarks. The company has demonstrated that customers are seeking a smarter, trusted way to shop. Intelligent search is what venture capital is betting on. The seed round of $7.5M (approximately total funding of $10M) is going to be a major factor in product expansion, global reach, and AI continuing breakthroughs - all these moves show that the investors are very confident that Onton will reshape the future of commerce. Preparing the world's first shopping engine that is completely personalized. Onton is not only fast-moving to cover areas like home décor, apparel, and electronics but is also very clear about its long-term vision of becoming a worldwide platform that helps each individual and every category make decisions. 1. What problem is Onton solving? With people online shopping more than ever, the whole process has gotten so complicated that, on average, a consumer takes 79 days to decide on a single purchase. Onton is simplifying this process by giving users a mode of shopping which is as informed as consulting an expert and as simple as asking a friend. 2. What makes Onton different from traditional search engines and e-commerce platforms? Onton is not dependent on keywords or ads. Its neurosymbolic AI roots continually discover new products and user intents, thus gathering trustable information from everywhere on the internet and offers it in one single correct product listing. 3. How is Onton able to achieve dramatically higher conversion rates? They do it by completely cutting down the time for research, removing the misinformation, and providing trust in each and every result. Hence, users quickly find what they want, become more confident in their choices, and are saved from the hassle of comparing prices on different websites, thus resulting in 3x higher conversions than industry benchmarks. 4. How will the new funding be used? With this $7.5M seed round, Onton will be able to expand its product, hire more people, and go global. It means not only scaling up the knowledge graph, perfecting the data systems but also moving into new verticals such as Apparel and Electronics. 5. What is Onton's long-term vision? Onton is dreaming of laying the foundations of an intelligent decision-making engine, capable of helping anyone find and buy the right product in any category, any format, and any country via a fully adaptive and personalized AI search experience.
Onton, formerly known as Deft, has raised $7.5 million in a funding round led by Footwork, with participation from Liquid 2, Parable Ventures, and others, bringing its total funding to approximately $10 million. The AI-powered furniture shopping platform has grown its user base from 50,000 to over 2 million monthly active users. Onton plans to use the funds to expand into new categories like apparel and consumer electronics.
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Industries
Data & Analytics
Consumer Software
AI & Machine Learning
Company Size
11-50
Company Stage
Seed
Total Funding
$9.4M
Headquarters
Los Angeles, California
Founded
2019
Find jobs on Simplify and start your career today