AI is helping consumer brands create product concepts faster. The harder problem is deciding which ideas should actually move into development, especially when those decisions are still spread across design systems, planning tools and disconnected documents.
Boston-based VibeIQ is building around that gap. Its AI-native product decision platform gives merchandising, design and product development teams one live view of a product line, connecting creative intent with commercial factors such as margin, regional adoption and downstream status.
The company has raised $22.5 million in growth financing to accelerate product development and market expansion. Volition Capital led the financing, with existing investor Venture Guides also participating.
Led by founder and CEO Brian Lindauer, VibeIQ is positioning its platform around decisions made before development begins, when brands still have room to change, refine, or remove products before additional cost and complexity enter the process.
That timing defines the product.
VibeIQ’s embedded AI helps teams identify assortment gaps, duplication, trade-offs, and margin risk, supporting decisions about what moves forward, what changes, and what gets cut. The platform works alongside existing PLM, planning, and enterprise systems, carrying approved decisions into execution while preserving the context behind them.
VibeIQ names New Balance, Vera Bradley, Converse and Kizik among companies using the platform. The company says customers have reduced planned SKUs, gained visibility months earlier and eliminated thousands of hours of manual work, although customer-level results were not disclosed.
The new financing will support continued product investment, deeper integrations, team expansion and growth across apparel, footwear, consumer goods and private-label retail.
