Curated For You (CFY), a fast-growing retail technology startup, has secured $8.3 million in seed funding to accelerate its mission of redefining personalized shopping experiences. The round attracted backing from Florida Funders, Mudita Venture Partners, Stage 2 Capital, Acronym VC, Dynamism Capital, and Dundee Ventures.

Co-founded by Katy Aucoin and Mary Brendza, CFY helps brands and retailers create hyper-personalized shopping journeys that align directly with customer passions. With this raise, CFY is now positioned to become a leader in the next wave of customer experience-driven retail innovation.

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What Curated For You Delivers

CFY solves a problem that has plagued retailers for years: how to make shopping feel personal at scale.

Their platform enables brands to:

• Match products to customer passions in real time.
  
• Boost conversions by turning browsing into curated experiences.
  
• Build long-term loyalty by delivering experiences that feel tailor-made.
  

Unlike generic recommendation engines, CFY is designed to create shopping that feels authentic, relevant, and emotionally resonant.

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Why This Funding Matters Now

The retail and e-commerce landscape has changed dramatically in recent years. Shoppers are no longer satisfied with generic “customers also bought” suggestions- they want brands to anticipate their needs and understand their preferences.

The numbers prove it:

• 71% of consumers expect companies to deliver personalized interactions, while 76% get frustrated when this doesn’t happen (McKinsey).
  
• Personalization leaders generate 40% more revenue from personalization activities than their peers (McKinsey).
  
• The global personalization software market is projected to grow at over 23% CAGR, hitting nearly $2.7 billion by 2027.
  

But here’s the deeper insight founders should take from this: personalization is not about collecting the most data- it’s about translating that data into experiences that feel human.

Too many companies believe the key is building massive customer databases. But customers don’t care how much you know about them- they care about how well you use that knowledge to make their choices easier and their interactions smoother. CFY recognized that personalization isn’t just algorithmic- it’s a trust-building mechanism.

That’s the ultra value drop for founders: if you want to build loyalty, stop treating personalization as a backend function and start treating it as an emotional product feature. The faster you collapse the gap between customer insight and customer experience, the more defensible your business becomes.

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Backing from Strategic Investors

The investors behind CFY are bringing more than money- they’re providing credibility, growth strategy, and networks:

• Florida Funders is known for fueling fast-scaling consumer and tech startups.
  
• Stage 2 Capital brings deep expertise in go-to-market strategies.
  
• Mudita Venture Partners, Acronym VC, Dynamism Capital, and Dundee Ventures add diverse experience across SaaS, consumer markets, and enterprise growth.
  

This group strengthens CFY’s ability to execute quickly and expand its reach.

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Market Relevance and Outlook

CFY’s raise comes at the perfect time:

• E-commerce sales hit $6.3 trillion in 2024 and are projected to exceed $8 trillion by 2027 (Statista).
  
• Customer experience management is expected to grow into a $32.5 billion market by 2029 (Fortune Business Insights).
  
• Deloitte research shows 1 in 5 customers is willing to pay more for personalized experiences, proving personalization directly drives revenue.
  

In such a massive market, the real differentiator is not access to customers, but the ability to make them feel individually understood. CFY is positioning itself as the platform that turns that expectation into an operational reality.

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The Vision of Katy Aucoin and Mary Brendza

CFY’s founders believe the future of shopping won’t be about offering more options- it will be about curating the right ones. Their vision is to transform shopping into a personalized journey where every recommendation feels relevant, eliminating the fatigue of endless scrolling and irrelevant results.

By blending data-driven intelligence with human-centered design, Aucoin and Brendza are showing that personalization done well isn’t just a conversion tactic- it’s the foundation of long-term customer loyalty.

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Lessons for Other Founders

CFY’s raise delivers lessons that cut across industries:

1. Emotional resonance matters. Customers don’t just want accuracy- they want to feel seen.
   
2. Personalization is a moat. The better your system gets at tailoring interactions, the harder it is for competitors to displace you.
   
3. Investors back traction + insight. CFY demonstrated early proof points and a clear vision, which attracted a strong investor lineup.
   
4. Speed is power. Real-time personalization is the difference between serving a trend and missing it.
   

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What’s Next for Curated For You

With $8.3 million secured, CFY is expected to:

• Expand its personalization platform with more robust AI-driven features.
  
• Scale its customer base among mid-market and enterprise retailers.
  
• Grow its team across engineering, product development, and go-to-market.
  
• Deepen brand partnerships, embedding its solutions into mainstream retail.
  

If successful, CFY could emerge as one of the category-defining personalization platforms, alongside retail technology giants that shape the way people shop.

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Final Thoughts

Curated For You’s $8.3 million seed round is more than just a startup funding milestone- it’s a statement about the future of commerce. In a marketplace overwhelmed by choice, personalization is the filter that creates clarity, trust, and loyalty.

For founders, the biggest lesson is this: don’t chase data for its own sake- chase the ability to turn insight into experience. That’s how you win customers not just once, but for life.

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