Apple, Nike, and Coca-Cola are some of the most universally recognized brands, partly because of their ubiquitous and iconic logos. So how can a fledgling company create a logo that can stand its own against highly recognized brands and logos? The world’s first automated branding agency, Tailor Brands, is giving companies of all sizes an opportunity they never had before. The company is stacked with creative and original tools for your new logo and brand assets, empowering you to take control of your brand at a reasonable cost.
AlleyWatch spoke with Yali Saar, cofounder and CEO of Tailor Brands, about how this recent funding is going to help with Tailor Brands growth.
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
Our current round is Series B and was led by Pitango Venture Capital Growth Fund and British Armat Group with participation from Disruptive Technologies L.P and Mangrove Capital Partners both of whom led previous rounds for us. This round we raised $15.5 million.
Tell us about your product or service.
Tailor Brands is the world’s first automated branding agency using AI to create all aspects of branding such as logos and copywriting to automate branding services for business of all sizes. We serve over 5 million businesses across the world and utilize our technology to teach robots how to design.
What inspired you to start the company?
We aim to democratize the creative industry by ensuring every business has the opportunity to stand out. As founder of a nonprofit that focused on branding education, my co-founders and I interacted with businesses everyday that didn’t necessarily have the budget to work with huge agencies to create their brand identities. We had an idea to create an algorithm that would allow these branding services to be accessible to everybody.
How is it different?
There is no other creative AI service out here that has such a breadth of services or at our quality.
What market you are targeting and how big is it?
We are targeting the branding market as a whole, which is a multi-billion dollar industry. We are working to make building a comprehensive and strong brand accessible to everyone, no matter what budget they might be working with.
What’s your business model?
Tailor Brands is a subscription-based service. Depending on the length of time that a user wants access to their logo and our additional products, they can pay monthly, annual, or biannual fees.
How has your business and industry changed since we last spoke in 2016?
When we last spoke, Tailor was really just an underdog. Since then we have really grown, but we are still trying to transform an industry, and in many ways, are still the underdog. In the same breath, Tailor Brands has become a market leader and is the leading platform for logo design and branding online.
What was the funding process like?
Like any other. It was tough at times and rewarding when done.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
Reminding myself to try, fail, and repeat. Even in an easy process there will be people that don’t share your vision. You need to keep reminding yourself to learn from these different views but to not let them deter you from your path.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
Tailor Brands is experiencing tremendous growth so it wasn’t very hard for investors to see the potential. I think that the combination of the growth and the understanding that we are trying to change something big- that we are chasing a vision that might not be fully completed in a year or even five- is what pushes people to be part of what we are doing.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
With our recent round of funding, we are hiring like crazy and looking forward to launching new services to really close the loop on our branding services. We are expanding our global presence in order to serve customers all over the world.
What advice can you offer companies in New York that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
Try. Fail. Repeat. Find a business model. Use outside capital for growth not for survival.
Where do you see the company going now over the near term?
We are excited for the future of Tailor Brands! We are continuing to expand and integrate new services into Tailor Brands to focus on any branding services our customers might need.
Where is your favorite bar in the city for an after work drink?
Wayland – It has crazy cocktails.
