Japan-based app developer Cinderella Shoes has won the grand prize and audience choice award at the demo day of telecommunications company KDDI’s accelerator, KDDI Mugen Labo, The Bridge reported on Sunday.
The demo day concluded the eighth cohort of the accelerator, which welcomes five startups each quarter for three-month incubator. The programme offers a range of services such as business mentorship from 15 corporate partners, assistance with legal and accounting, and weekly masterclasses.
Cinderella Shoes has developed an app that offers female users recommendations for shoes that provide the best fit, based on measurements the service extrapolates from a photo of the user’s feet.
The company was mentored by KDDI and Sumitomo Fudosan, a subsidiary of diversified conglomerate Sumitomo, which both assisted in the development of Cinderella’s image and voice recognition technology.
Other startups pitching at the demo day included beautician appointment booking app Oshareca, Bee Sensing, which uses artificial intelligence to remotely manage beehives, DIY information app SuperStudio and Lyncue, the developer of a two-way video communication device.
A total of 39 startups have now graduated from the accelerator, 29 of which have gone on to secure equity funding.
Beginning with the next cohort, KDDI will offer a six-month programme focused on manufacturing-related startups, all of which will gain access to mentorship from previous graduates.