Onton, the AI-powered shopping platform formerly known as Deft, just closed a $7.5 million funding round led by Footwork. The startup has exploded from 50,000 to over 2 million monthly users by using what it calls "neuro-symbolic architecture" to eliminate AI hallucinations in product search. The fresh capital will fuel expansion beyond furniture into apparel and consumer electronics.
Onton is riding the wave of AI-powered commerce at exactly the right moment. While OpenAI, Google, and Amazon pour billions into shopping assistants, this startup has quietly built something different - and the numbers prove it's working. The company announced today it raised $7.5 million in funding led by Footwork, with participation from Liquid 2, Parable Ventures, and 43. That brings total funding to around $10 million for the platform that's grown from 50,000 to over 2 million monthly users.
The growth coincides with a broader shift toward AI-driven product discovery. Competitors like Perplexity, Daydream, and Cherry have all launched AI shopping features, but Onton's approach stands out. Instead of relying purely on large language models, the company uses what co-founder Zach Hudson calls "neuro-symbolic architecture" - a hybrid system designed to eliminate the hallucination problems that plague traditional LLMs in e-commerce.
"Let's say you're looking for furniture that's pet-friendly," Hudson explained in an interview with TechCrunch. "Our tools know that if the item has polyester in it, it would be more stain and scratch-resistant, so it would be more pet-friendly. Our tools learn these things through every single search and become smarter at a faster rate."
This isn't just theoretical - Onton claims its approach converts customers 3-5 times more effectively than traditional e-commerce sites. The secret lies in how the platform handles the messy reality of online shopping, where the same product might have different names across different retailers or where key attributes aren't listed in product descriptions.
The company rebranded from Deft to Onton earlier this year, citing confusion around the original name and difficulty securing a premium domain. But the rebrand coincided with major platform upgrades, including what Hudson calls an "infinite canvas" for product discovery. Users can upload images of their spaces, generate AI-powered room designs, or simply describe what they want to achieve - and Onton matches them with actual purchasable products.
