Onton, formerly known as Deft, has raised $7.5 million in a funding round led by Footwork, bringing total investment to approximately $10 million. The AI-driven product discovery platform has grown from 50,000 to over 2 million monthly active users, providing millions of searches and AI-generated images for furniture and home setup.
The startup plans to expand into apparel and consumer electronics, leveraging its neuro-symbolic AI architecture to improve search accuracy and reduce hallucinations. Onton’s model learns from real-world data and product characteristics, helping users find items that meet specific requirements, such as pet-friendly furniture. Users can input text or images, upload room photos, and utilize an infinite canvas to ideate and discover products.
Onton reports that its approach converts users 3–5 times more effectively than traditional e-commerce platforms. The company has grown its team from three to 10 full-time employees since 2023 and plans to expand to 15, adding engineers and researchers to support new category launches and platform improvements.
This funding positions Onton to compete with startups like Daydream, Aesthetic, and Style.ai as AI continues to transform online shopping experiences.
AI‑powered shopping tools are also expanding across other platforms, including ChatGPT’s new holiday shopping feature and similar AI‑checkout tools from Google.
