ET BureauIf you have ever wished you knew how a new haircut would look before taking it, then a startup in Chennai is here to help. Through its apps, 1000Lookz allows users to upload their own pictures, or choose one of models already provided, and try out various hairstyles, makeup and sunglasses, among other things.
Vasan Sowriraja, 35, founded 1000Lookz in 2011. The startup in its initial stages bagged clients such as Wella Professionals and Schwarzkopf, well-known international beauty brands, to develop hairstyling apps for both. Currently, it has about a dozen clients in the beauty, e-commerce, eyewear and jewellery spaces such as Lakme, Nykaa, Purplle, Snapdeal and Lenskart. The startup’s makeover applications, which is based on a patentpending facial image processing technology, works across platforms such iOS, Windows and Android.
“Initially, we were a bit skeptical ourselves if users would be willing to upload their pictures but all doubts have been laid to rest now,” said Sowriraja.
Back-end intelligence is another place where 100Lookz scores. “We provide statistics on how many users are viewing the website or mobile apps, how many are viewing which products more, how many are buying and how much time is a user spending on a particular page or product,” said Jayashankar VS, delivery director at 1000Lookz.
Chennai-based GRT Jewellers tied up with 1000Lookz about three months ago for an app with which users can check out jewellery online. “We were looking for someone to create such an app for us. We found their product to be very good,” said Purushotham MS, manager-ecommerce at GRT Jewellers.
Purushotham said online sales in the past two-three months have gone up 30% when compared to the previous quarter. The company says it is evaluating options to work with 1000Lookz on similar initiatives but did not provide further details. 1000Lookz is also talking with Jazz Up Salon, a chain of unisex salons in Mumbai and Pune.
“We observed that a gap existed between the hair stylists’ recommendations and the guests’ imagination. While most of the times the guests liked the hairstyle given, we thought why leave this to chance,’’ said Konark Gaur, founder and director of operations and marketing at Jazz UP Salon.
The startup has two kinds of revenue streams: a licensing model where the client has a fixed monthly or annual contract and renews it periodically, and a variable model where 1000Lookz gets a percentage of the sales generated by its apps. Sowriraja said the company is self-funded but may get investors on board sometime next year.
1000Lookz is now in talks with companies in Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, The Philippines, Indonesia and Europe to create virtual makeover apps for them. Sowriraja refused to provide further details as the negotiations are in the early stages.
Vasan Sowriraja, 35, founded 1000Lookz in 2011. The startup in its initial stages bagged clients such as Wella Professionals and Schwarzkopf, well-known international beauty brands, to develop hairstyling apps for both. Currently, it has about a dozen clients in the beauty, e-commerce, eyewear and jewellery spaces such as Lakme, Nykaa, Purplle, Snapdeal and Lenskart. The startup’s makeover applications, which is based on a patentpending facial image processing technology, works across platforms such iOS, Windows and Android.
“Initially, we were a bit skeptical ourselves if users would be willing to upload their pictures but all doubts have been laid to rest now,” said Sowriraja.
Back-end intelligence is another place where 100Lookz scores. “We provide statistics on how many users are viewing the website or mobile apps, how many are viewing which products more, how many are buying and how much time is a user spending on a particular page or product,” said Jayashankar VS, delivery director at 1000Lookz.
Chennai-based GRT Jewellers tied up with 1000Lookz about three months ago for an app with which users can check out jewellery online. “We were looking for someone to create such an app for us. We found their product to be very good,” said Purushotham MS, manager-ecommerce at GRT Jewellers.
Purushotham said online sales in the past two-three months have gone up 30% when compared to the previous quarter. The company says it is evaluating options to work with 1000Lookz on similar initiatives but did not provide further details. 1000Lookz is also talking with Jazz Up Salon, a chain of unisex salons in Mumbai and Pune.
“We observed that a gap existed between the hair stylists’ recommendations and the guests’ imagination. While most of the times the guests liked the hairstyle given, we thought why leave this to chance,’’ said Konark Gaur, founder and director of operations and marketing at Jazz UP Salon.
The startup has two kinds of revenue streams: a licensing model where the client has a fixed monthly or annual contract and renews it periodically, and a variable model where 1000Lookz gets a percentage of the sales generated by its apps. Sowriraja said the company is self-funded but may get investors on board sometime next year.
1000Lookz is now in talks with companies in Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, The Philippines, Indonesia and Europe to create virtual makeover apps for them. Sowriraja refused to provide further details as the negotiations are in the early stages.
( Originally published on Jul 25, 2014 )
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