This Startup's 'Shopping Passport' Just Landed $17 Million to Fix AI Commerce

Jan de Vries · 2026-08-25

You know that feeling when you walk into your favorite local store and the owner already knows what you like? They remember your size, your style, maybe even that weird thing you said about hating polyester last summer. Now, a Swedish startup called eComID just raised a $17 million Seed round to bring that exact feeling to every online shop you visit. And they're calling it your 'Shopping Passport.' Think about it for a second. Even the smartest AI shopping tools today start from scratch every single time you visit a new brand's website. It's exhausting. You're just another anonymous click. eComID's founder, Oscar Rundqvist, put it perfectly: "AI without context still starts from zero." His team is building the missing layer—the connective tissue that lets you, the shopper, carry your preferences with you. ### Who's Backing This Vision? The funding round wasn't just about the money, though $17 million is nothing to sneeze at. It was a vote of confidence from some serious players in tech and retail. The lead investor was Systemiq Capital, with others like Regeneration.VC and Course Corrected joining in. H&M Group, which first invested back in 2023, is sticking around as a strategic partner. But perhaps more telling is the list of individual founders and retail legends who piled in. - Alan Mamedi, co-founder of Truecaller - Sebastian Knutsson, co-founder of King (the folks behind Candy Crush) - Maria Raga, former CEO of Depop - Henrik Nordvall, former bigwig at H&M and Matalan When people who've built and run massive consumer companies open their checkbooks, you know they're seeing something special. ### So, How Does This 'Passport' Actually Work? Here's the simple version. Right now, when you shop online, your data is trapped in silos. One store knows your size, another knows you love the color green, but they never talk to each other. eComID's platform acts as your universal profile. You share your context once—your fit, your style, your preferences—and it works across all the connected brands that use eComID's system. Their AI agent, named Vera, uses that info right on a brand's own website. It powers smarter sizing recommendations, lets you search by chatting naturally ("show me a green dress for a summer wedding"), and surfaces products you'll actually like. It's not some creepy tracking tool; it's a tool you control, designed to make shopping less of a guessing game. The results they're sharing are pretty compelling. Shoppers using the platform see a 30% lower return rate. For brands, that's a game-changer in cutting costs and waste. They're also reporting a 10% boost in conversion rates. Not bad for a company that launched just last year and, get this, has grown to 60 partner brands and 20 million monthly shoppers without a dedicated sales team. Gemma Bloemen from Systemiq Capital summed up the investor excitement: "eComID is solving a structural problem... AI cannot personalise without context. This team has built a product that aligns a better shopper experience with stronger economics." ### What's Next for eComID? With this fresh capital, the plan is to move fast. They're looking to expand into new international markets, roll out the Shopping Passport more widely, and double down on improving their sizing and discovery tech. They're also building out their team and infrastructure to support more global brands. In a world where online shopping can feel impersonal and wasteful, eComID is betting on a more intelligent, connected, and frankly, more human future. One where the store remembers you, no matter which door you walk through. It's a big vision, and now they've got the fuel to really go for it.