Malaysian founder raises US$3mil for fashion tech startup Lekondo

KUALA LUMPUR: New York-based fashion technology startup Lekondo, founded by Malaysian entrepreneur Yeng Tan, has raised about US$3mil from investors including Verdict Capital, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) SR and DG Daiwa Ventures.

In a statement, the company said the funding would support the development and growth of its fashion platform, which allows users to post daily outfits, build digital closets and discover how people dress around the world.

Since its launch in January 2026, Lekondo has grown to more than 100,000 users across over 50 countries.

Tan, who is Lekondo's co-founder and chief executive officer, said the platform focuses on what people actually wear rather than relying solely on purchasing and browsing behaviour to understand fashion preferences.

“Most technology understands fashion through transactions: what you buy, search for, or click on,” he said.

“We think what people actually wear is a much richer signal of taste, especially as technology begins mediating more of how people discover products.”

Tan, who grew up in Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Kuala Lumpur, said his experience growing up in Malaysia's multicultural environment also influenced the idea behind Lekondo.

“The thing about growing up in Malaysia is that you are never uninspired. There is too much cultural entropy,” he said.

“You see it most clearly in food, where Malay, Chinese, Indian, Peranakan, colonial, and indigenous traditions have spent generations borrowing from one another. Fashion works the same way.”

Tan previously worked on artificial intelligence products at GoDaddy. His co-founder and chief technology officer Mitchell Overfield previously worked at Dropbox and Microsoft.

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吉隆坡：总部位于纽约的时尚科技初创公司 Lekondo 由马来西亚企业家 Yeng Tan 创立，已从包括 Verdict Capital、Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) SR 和 DG Daiwa Ventures 在内的投资者那里筹集了约 300 万美元。

该公司在一份声明中表示，这笔资金将用于支持其时尚平台的开发和发展，该平台允许用户发布每日穿搭、建立数字衣橱并了解世界各地人们的穿衣风格。

自 2026 年 1 月推出以来，Lekondo 的用户数量已增长至 50 多个国家/地区的 10 万多人。

Lekondo 的联合创始人兼首席执行官 Tan 表示，该平台关注的是人们实际穿着的服饰，而不是仅仅依靠购买和浏览行为来了解时尚偏好。

他说：“大多数科技都是通过交易来理解时尚的：你购买了什么、搜索了什么或点击了什么。”

“我们认为，人们实际的穿着更能体现他们的品味，尤其是在科技越来越多地影响人们发现产品的方式之后。”

在吉隆坡敦伊斯迈花园长大的谭表示，他在马来西亚多元文化环境中成长的经历也影响了 Lekondo 背后的理念。

他说：“在马来西亚长大的好处就是你永远不会感到灵感枯竭。那里文化上的熵太多了。”

“这一点在饮食方面体现得最为明显，马来、中国、印度、土生华人、殖民地和原住民的传统世代以来都在相互借鉴。时尚也是如此。”

Tan此前曾在GoDaddy从事人工智能产品方面的工作。他的联合创始人兼首席技术官Mitchell Overfield此前曾在Dropbox和微软工作。

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