Israeli startup Nimble, the developer of a home robot for automatic nail polish application, has raised $10 million seed.
The round led by Entrée Capital and LionBird, Aristagora VC with participation from IBI Tech fund, and private investors including Yigal Yaakobi, founder of Allot, Ziv Elul, founder of InnerActive, which was sold to Fyber, and Nir Erez, founder of Moovit, which sold to Intel for close to $1 billion.
Nimble is a world-first device based on 3D image processing technologies, uses artificial intelligence to self-paint and dry nails.
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All the user has to do is select a color, insert the nail polish capsules into the machine, insert the palm and press the power button.
After the scanning phase of the user’s hand, a series of algorithms activates a tiny robotic arm that autonomously paints the nails in four coats: base, two coats of paint, and a topcoat, in parallel with the flow of hot air that dries the coats completely.
The device continues to receive automatic software updates while at home.
The company also launched a Kickstarter campaign with a goal of raising at least $25,000 for product production and speeding up growth.
Within 11 minutes of the campaign airing, it had completed the recruitment target with over 4,000 customers purchasing Nimble devices and capsules for more than $1.3 million.
The crowdfunding platform was to expose the device, feel the discourse in the community, get feedback and establish the business model.
Founded in 2016 by CEO Omri Moran, VP of Technology Ron Miller, and Avichai Mor-Yosef, VP of R&D.
Moran and Miller co-founded and sold a startup called KitLocate, which was acquired by the Yandex Corporation, a move that led to the establishment of Yandex Israel with the appointment of Moran as CEO and Miller as VP of R&D. Decade, where he developed products in various fields in the digital printing arena.
“Nimble’s idea came up following an endless wait for a date with whom, who later became my wife,” says Omri Moran, the company’s CEO. “When I asked why she arrived so late, she explained that her manicure was not complete.” The date conversation turned to a talk about the manicure market pain. In the end, he realized technology was missing for this market.
The company employs 12 people in its offices in Israel and New York. The company is recruiting additional employees to increase product marketing and development processes.
The business model is to sell the Nimble device and then also continue to provide customers with nail polish capsules. Similar to the sale of coffee capsules for coffee machines. This market rolls in about $120 billion worldwide with no technological innovation.
