Building on the launch of BEYOND: The Future of Luxury Retail, a start-up incubation program, the co-hosts The Dubai Future Foundation and Richemont Middle East, India & Africa (Richemont) are proud to announce the six start-ups that will move to the prototyping phase. Selected from over 250 applications from the brightest minds around the world, the six finalists will spend two months at the Dubai Future Foundation where they will benefit from expertise and a unique innovation ecosystem, as well as from bespoke coaching and insight from executives at Richemont Maisons in the region.

"We are looking forward to welcoming the teams to Dubai! During this next phase of the project, they will be paired with talents from our different Maisons that will work with them on a proof of concept". (Jules Robert Le Hérissé, People Experience Senior Manager, Richemont)

The six finalists are:

1. Livecrew: a retailtech SaaS, LiveCrew helps retailers understand why their customers are buying and why they're leaving stores empty-handed, both on and off-line. LiveCrew was born at Station F, the world's largest start-up incubator.
2. Emperia: led by 3D/VR expert developers, fashion and art industry veterans and branding executives, Emperia develops immersive tailored virtual stores and galleries for luxury fashion and premium art.
3. Spaycial: enabling better relationships between people and brands, Spaycial turns payment data into cutting edge insights for bespoke marketing activations and personalized customer engagement.
4. Segmenta: with more than 35 years of customer intelligence experience, Segmenta enables brands to collect consensual self-reported data to deliver best-in-class customer experiences.
5. Q Emotion: using advanced emotional analytics, Q Emotion simplifies the setup of a Customer Experience Management System to better leverage emotional insights for an enhanced customer experience.
6. WANNA FASHION: Providing augmented reality try-on experiences, WANNA FASHION is revolutionizing shopping particularly in the field of luxury goods and footwear.

Bringing together the world's brightest minds, through a dynamic collaboration between start-ups, private entities, and government to design and test innovative solutions for the future, participants were invited to submit proposals to two challenges:

2 challenges were proposed:

Challenge 1 – Interactive Product Experience: How can Richemont engage customers through new and immersive in-store activations?

Challenge 2 – Data-Driven Personalisation: How can Richemont leverage customer insights to strengthen relationships between customers and Maisons across both digital and physical channels

About Dubai Future Foundation

Dubai Future Foundation (DFF) is an economic development agency based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Established in 2017, the purpose of the Dubai Future Foundation is to build a cohesive innovation ecosystem that includes, accelerator programs, incubators, labs, regulatory sandboxes, and knowledge platforms – all with the purpose of challenging the status quo and designing a future-ready city powered by future leaders and disrupters. Find out more at: https://www.dubaifuture.ae

About Richemont

At Richemont, we craft the future. Our unique portfolio includes prestigious Maisons distinguished by their craftsmanship and creativity, alongside Online Distributors that cultivate expert curation and technological innovation to deliver the highest standards of service. Richemont's ambition is to nurture its Maisons and businesses and enable them to grow and prosper in a responsible, sustainable manner over the long term.

Richemont operates in four business areas: Jewellery Maisons with Buccellati, Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels; Specialist Watchmakers with A. Lange & Söhne, Baume & Mercier, IWC Schaffhausen, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Panerai, Piaget, Roger Dubuis and Vacheron Constantin; Online Distributors with Watchfinder & Co., NET-A-PORTER, MR PORTER, YOOX, THE OUTNET and the ONLINE FLAGSHIP STORE division; and Other, primarily Fashion & Accessories Maisons with Alaïa, AZ Factory, Chloé, Delvaux, dunhill, Montblanc, Peter Millar, Purdey and Serapian. Find out more at https://www.richemont.com/.

Media enquiries

Dubai Future Foundation
Hind Al Sumaiti, Project Manager
hind.alsumaiti@dubaifuture.gov.ae

Richemont MEIA
Natali Betabdishoo, Internal Communication MEIA
natali.betabdishoo@richemont.com

Future Foundation
https://www.dubaifuture.ae/about/