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🦄 Unicorner Startup of the Week:
Arcade AI
✍️ Notes from the Editors
Calling San Francisco-based startup founders! 🌉
 | We’re bringing together 20 seed to Series A+ founders from our community on Wednesday, Feb 19 for dinner in SF. Come join us and the Fidelity Private Shares team for some great conversations. We’re looking forward to seeing you there! |
P.S. If you’re a founder looking for cap table software (or switching from your current provider)—we should talk. Swing by our event, or reply to this email for more info!
AI-Powered Product Creation Marketplace
Arcade is an AI-powered platform and marketplace that enables customers to design and create custom products, such as jewelry. The platform simplifies the product creation process, allowing for personalized and intricate designs. Once a customer decides on a design (Arcade calls them “dreamers”), they’re connected to a “maker” who will craft the product from the designs. After a quality review by Arcade and approval from the dreamer, the finished product is shipped and can be listed on Arcade’s marketplace for other customers.
🔗 Check it out: arcade.ai
💰 Business Model
Arcade operates on a B2C model, offering its AI-driven design platform directly to consumers. Dreamers can create custom designs, with pricing varying based on the complexity of the product. For instance, designing intricate custom jewelry can cost $1,000 or more, but simpler designs can cost around $100.
📈 Traction and Fundraising
Raised $17 million from Ashton Kutcher (Sound Ventures), Offline Ventures, and Reid Hoffman (LinkedIn co-founder), among others
Launched beta in September 2024, with a public launch shortly thereafter
📖 Founder Story
 Founder & CEO | Mariam Naficy’s career has been defined by ventures at the intersection of creativity and technology. She first gained recognition as the co-founder of Eve, an early online cosmetics retailer. Following Eve’s success, she founded Minted, an online design marketplace that uses crowdsourcing to connect independent artists with customers seeking unique, custom designs. Building on this experience, Naficy began working on Arcade AI in 2023. |
💼 Opportunities
🔮 Our Analysis
A prerequisite for any successful business is to understand your customer. For a craft seller, such as someone who operates a store on Etsy, this means designing and creating a product that people want to purchase. Customers looking to purchase these types of products might spend a lot of time browsing seller listings, trying to find the perfect product. Other times, they’re looking for inspiration.
Arcade is a unique solution that solves both of these problems. From the perspective of a prospective customer, or dreamer, all one has to do is provide a text description to Arcade about the product they are looking for, and its AI will design the product and source a seller who can make it a reality. For the seller, or maker, they are guaranteed to create a product that will sell.
To take the innovation further, should a dreamer choose to publish their design with the rest of the community, they can earn a commission on future sales. This encourages customers to contribute to a budding marketplace of products.
At the moment, Arcade AI is offering rugs and jewelry. However, there is much room for expansion. Just as Amazon began as a bookstore, Arcade has the seeds sown to become the go-to market for unique products.
📚 Further reading
Written by the editors
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