John Lewis’ JLAB innovation partner, L Marks will also match the retailer’s investment, bringing the total startup funding to £200,000. Those set to receive financial support, in addition to contracts to work with John Lewis are:
DigitalBridge
Receiving £100,000 investment.
Solves the problem of the imagination gap by allowing customers to visualise new home furnishings using Computer Vision and Machine Learning technology.
Wedding Planner
Receiving £50,000 investment.
Combining technology, industry expertise and creativity to help brides and grooms to-be plan their wedding from their phone and online.
Link Big
Receiving £50,000 investment.
A tool that turns Instagram to a social checkout by allowing customers to buy products seamlessly from their Instagram feed shop.
The three startups chosen for investment fought off competition from 280 applications, as well as navigated intensive pitch and demo days in front of a senior judging panel. The John Lewis Buying teams will continue working with the two other startups on JLAB 2016, Ding Labs and Robotical, with a view of helping to bring their products to market.
Five startups – Ding Labs, Digital Bridge, Link Big, Robotical and Wedding Planner – were part of JLAB 2016 which saw them spend ten weeks fully immersed in the operations of one of the UK’s leading omnichannel retailers.
Paul Coby, CIO, John Lewis Partnership, said: “JLAB was inspired by our founder Spedan Lewis’ ideas about bringing innovation to the retail industry. The three startups we have invested in have the potential and the technology to really excite John Lewis shoppers. We are delighted to continue working with every one of the startups on JLAB 2016. This has been JLAB’s most successful year so far, because everyone involved, us included, have seen it as an opportunity to learning process.”
Stuart Marks, technology entrepreneur and Chairman of L Marks, said: “JLAB 2016 has built on the successes of the two previous cohorts. The five finalists have all made fantastic progress over the last 10 weeks, helped by engagement from buyers, merchandisers, strategists, innovation and IT experts and many more at John Lewis and our team of first class external mentors. We’ve seen some great results with JLAB 2016 so far and I am looking forward to seeing this continue in the future.”
The key focus for JLAB 2016 was on the value that start-ups get when working on the programme – a total immersion into John Lewis’ entire business as well as access to insight and data to senior-level mentors. In addition to three JLAB startups securing funding, all five on the accelerator programme developed their business more rapidly than they would have done by operating on their own.
DingLabs
A doorbell that taps into the smart home revolution by enabling homeowners to talk to the person at their front door from anywhere in the world.
Outcome: Created a working prototype with the John Lewis Buying team for their kickstarter campaign launching in October.
Digital Bridge
Fills the imagination gap by allowing customers to visualise new home furnishings using Computer Vision and Machine Learning technology
Outcome: Held an in-store trial at John Lewis Cheadle. 100 per cent of those customers trialled said they would use the product in store, 82 per cent said it would convince them to purchase a product in store, demonstrating customers attraction and a potential sales funnel for retailers. Digital Bridge also won the Partners’ Favourite Award which saw John Lewis Partners vote for their favoured JLAB startup.
LinkBig
A tool that turns Instagram to a social checkout by allowing customers to buy products seamlessly from their Instagram feed shop.
Outcome: A live trial with John Lewis’ Instagram feed which resulted in x4 uplift in traffic tojohnlewis.com in week one and x29 per cent increase in organic traffic in the first month.
Robotical
The creators of Marty the Robot. A fully programmable, customisable walking robot to help kids learn about coding, 3D printing and robotics.
Outcome: A greater understanding of market positioning and by a working with the John Lewis buying team, a route into retail procurement.
Wedding Planner
Combining technology, industry expertise and creativity to help brides and grooms to-be plan their wedding from their phone and online.
Outcome: Launch a co-branded website with John Lewis within one month of being on JLAB. This led to an 10% increase in suppliers on the site since being on the programme. Wedding Planner also had a record month in August which saw a 30 per cent increase in revenue in August.
