Lebanese web startup ikimuk goes live
ikimuk is a Seeqnce Startup that launched to the public on December 10.
Similar to successful US-based Threadless, ikimuk lets users buy t-shirts featuring designs from leading artists.
How it works:
1. Favorite Designs Are Chosen
Users preorder the designs as part of bimonthly themed competitions.
2. Designs With the most Preorders Win
Winning designs get printed on high-quality t-shirts.
3. T-shirts Get Shipped Within a Week
ikimuk delivers the requested t-shirt sizes to their buyers.
“The response from the artist community so far has been phenomenal, with over 70 already on board from across the Arab World. It’s really cool, everyone wants to be part of it!” said Carl Halal, one of the 5 ikimuk cofounders.
The first competition was themed “Fruits vs. Vegetables”, and 8 designs were featured, ranging from quirky to geeky to downright funny.
According to Sevag Malkedjian, results have “exceeded our expectations”, with hundreds of T-shirts preordered, all within a week.
“I'll wear @IkimukTweets for life!”
-- from @patrikabs, designer
Artists whose designs win an ikimuk competition receive a large cash reward upfront as well as a percentage of each T-shirt sold, in addition to being featured on the website’s catalogue and on the hundreds, if not thousands, of shirts people wear every day.
ikimuk is one of 8 Startups that were selected for the 2012 Seeqnce Accelerator Program, a year-long program that invests in web & mobile startups in Lebanon. Each Startup received an investment of 76,500 USD. Demo Day is in March 2013.
The Entrepreneurship Section is curated and edited by Seeqnce, a Beirut-based internet startup accelerator.
Thank you so much. It's almost been three months since our beta launch, and we've seen great success since then, via high numbers of sales and increasing enthusiasm from regional designers. We appreciate your support and hope you're keeping up with us.