Published: September 22, 2026-
Consumer technology startup Demoverse has raised $600,000 in pre-seed funding as it works to develop a new model for consumer product creation that brings customers into the design process before products reach manufacturing.
The round was led by Lumikai, an India-focused venture capital fund specialising in interactive media, digital platforms and gaming. Lumikai invested $500,000 through Pixels, its pre-seed programme for founders building next-generation interactive platforms.
The funding round also included participation from Marlan, a UAE-based deep-tech investor-operator, along with a group of angel investors.
Demoverse plans to use the funding to expand its early brand partnerships and develop its platform as it works toward scaling its model across consumer categories.
Turning Consumer Feedback Into Product Design
Consumer brands have traditionally relied on surveys, trend analysis, market research and historical sales data to estimate what customers will buy.
However, inaccurate demand forecasts can result in significant excess inventory. According to figures cited by McKinsey and BoF, the global fashion industry alone generated an estimated $70 billion to $140 billion in excess inventory in 2023.
Demoverse is attempting to address this challenge by involving consumers earlier in the product-development process.
Instead of asking customers what they might purchase, the platform allows them to actively participate in shaping the product before a brand commits to production.
How Demoverse Works
The platform allows brands to upload a product concept or design direction, while defining boundaries around which elements consumers can and cannot modify.
Consumers can then use AI-powered tools to:
- Modify and refine product concepts
- Explore different visual directions
- Develop alternative designs
- Share ideas with the wider community
- Vote on potential product directions
The resulting engagement can give brands both a potential product direction and an early consumer demand signal before committing resources to large-scale production.
Demoverse also introduces an economic incentive for participants. Consumers whose ideas contribute to a winning product can receive royalties when the product is commercialised.
The company describes this transition as moving from User Generated Content (UGC) to User Generated Products (UGP).
From Content Creators to Product Creators
The concept builds on the evolution of digital platforms, where consumers have moved from simply consuming content to creating and sharing it.
Demoverse believes AI can take that participation a step further by allowing consumers to influence the physical products they eventually purchase.
Founder Akshay Mehta said the combination of social media’s culture of participation and AI’s ability to make visual creation more accessible could open product design to a much wider audience.
“Two decades of social media have trained people to form and express opinions on everything they see. Two years of AI have given the masses the ability to express what they want in a visual format.”
According to Mehta, the company wants to give consumers a larger role in designing products and allow them to benefit when those products achieve commercial success.
Akshay Mehta Brings Deep-Tech and Investment Experience
Demoverse was founded by Akshay Mehta, whose previous experience includes working on the development of the UAE’s first commercial-scale satellite manufacturing facility.
The experience contributed to his interest in whether AI could make product creation accessible to a significantly larger group of people.
Before launching Demoverse, Mehta spent eight years across investing, consulting and operating roles, including positions and experience associated with Bain, Z47 (formerly Matrix Partners India), Asia Alternatives and the UAE’s Royal Group’s deep-tech investment platform.
Fashion Is Demoverse’s First Market
The startup is initially focusing on fashion, where visual design and consumer preferences can play a particularly significant role in purchasing decisions.
Demoverse plans to expand its model into other consumer categories, including:
- Beauty
- Consumer packaged goods (CPG)
- Other consumer products
The company has already conducted early trials with Indian consumer brands. Following the funding round, it plans to convert those early relationships into paid campaigns while continuing to develop the platform.
Why Lumikai Invested in Demoverse
For Lumikai, the investment fits its broader thesis around interactive consumer platforms and the changing relationship between consumers and technology.
As AI reduces the cost and complexity of creating new products and content, the venture capital firm believes consumers could increasingly become active participants in product development.
Salone Sehgal, Founder and Managing Partner at Lumikai, said AI could enable brands to create an increasingly large number of products, but that increased supply does not necessarily answer the fundamental question of what consumers actually want.
She described Demoverse as a platform that allows consumers to participate directly in shaping products rather than relying solely on traditional surveys or trend reports.
The Emerging UGP Model
Demoverse’s approach reflects a broader shift in how consumer brands could use AI and digital communities.
Traditional UGC allows consumers to create content around existing products and brands. Demoverse’s proposed UGP model moves participation further upstream — into the actual creation of products.
If the model scales, brands could potentially use community participation to identify product preferences before production, while consumers could gain greater influence and potentially share in the commercial value created by their contributions.
For Demoverse, the immediate challenge will be converting early experiments into repeatable paid campaigns and demonstrating that consumer-led product development can translate into measurable commercial outcomes.
The $600,000 pre-seed round gives the startup capital to test that model as it expands beyond its initial fashion focus.
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Ruchi Kumar is the associate editor at Entrepreneur News Network and TVW News India, where she leads editorial strategy, brand storytelling, and startup ecosystem coverage. With a strong focus on innovation, business, and marketing insights, he curates impactful narratives that spotlight India’s evolving entrepreneurial landscape. She has written extensively on fintech, AI and emerging startups.