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.
This visual approach reflects Hudson's belief that chat-based interfaces aren't enough for complex shopping decisions. "Rather than stick to a chat-only approach, these features give consumers more options to get to what they want, even if they don't know how to describe it perfectly," he noted.
The funding comes as Onton prepares to expand beyond its furniture roots. The company is building out an apparel catalog and plans to launch that vertical soon, putting it in direct competition with fashion-focused AI platforms like Daydream and Aesthetic. Eventually, consumer electronics will follow.
Timing could be crucial here. While the AI shopping space is heating up, most players are still figuring out the conversion puzzle. Amazon's AI shopping assistant launched with mixed reviews, while Google's AI-powered shopping features are still rolling out gradually. Onton's team of 10 - up from just three in 2023 - believes their head start in conversion optimization gives them an edge.
The company plans to use the new funding to hire five more engineers and researchers, bringing the team to 15 people. That's still tiny compared to the AI shopping investments at Big Tech, but Hudson argues that's actually an advantage. "We can move faster and focus specifically on the conversion problem rather than trying to be everything to everyone."
Whether Onton can maintain its growth trajectory as it expands into new categories remains to be seen. The furniture vertical has specific advantages - high consideration purchases where visualization really matters. Apparel and electronics present different challenges, from sizing and fit to rapidly changing inventory and pricing.
But with 2 million users already engaged and conversion rates that significantly outpace traditional e-commerce, Onton has proven there's real demand for AI shopping experiences that go beyond just chatbots. The question now is whether they can scale that success across multiple product categories before the tech giants catch up.
Onton's rapid user growth and impressive conversion rates suggest there's real appetite for AI shopping tools that go beyond simple chat interfaces. The $7.5 million funding gives the company runway to prove its neuro-symbolic approach can work across multiple product categories, not just furniture. But with Amazon, Google, and OpenAI all investing heavily in AI commerce, Onton's window to establish itself as a major player may be narrowing. The next 18 months will likely determine whether this startup can scale its early success or become another cautionary tale about competing with Big Tech.
