By the time most teenagers are worried about getting their driver’s license, John Imah had already launched his first technology business at age 15 and sold it, followed by a second venture in mobile gaming at age 16. Two decades later, the Nigerian-American entrepreneur is running SpreeAI, a fashion-tech unicorn valued at $1.5 billion that’s tackling one of retail’s most persistent and costly problems: returns.
The premise is deceptively simple. Upload a photo, select a garment, and see yourself wearing it with photorealistic accuracy. But behind this seamless experience lies a sophisticated AI platform that’s convincing enough to earn SpreeAI partnerships with luxury designers, a board seat for supermodel Naomi Campbell, and roughly $70 million in funding by 2024, with subsequent rounds achieving a $1.5 billion valuation by 2025.
The Accidental Fashion Tech Founder
Imah’s path to fashion technology wasn’t exactly traditional. Growing up in a Nigerian household, his parents pushed him toward one of two career paths: lawyer or doctor. Tech wasn’t even on the radar. But at seven years old, he dismantled the family computer out of curiosity and reassembled it, signaling an aptitude that couldn’t be ignored.
Before he was 16, he had already launched two companies — a mobile game development company and one that offered solutions to 3D professionals — and sold them. These early exits gave him credibility that would later open doors at some of tech’s biggest names.
His corporate resume reads like a tour of Silicon Valley royalty: Samsung, Amazon’s Twitch, Meta, and Snap Inc. At Meta, he was honored as an Employee of Impact, and at Samsung, he was among the youngest employees ever hired. But throughout his career at these tech giants, fashion remained a persistent interest.
“I was always looking for a way to merge tech and fashion,” Imah told AfroTech. “There were tools and products out there. The challenge, it wasn’t necessarily up to par or the standard that I was looking for.”
Building SpreeAI: The Unsexy Solution to a Billion-Dollar Problem
When Imah co-founded SpreeAI in 2023, the AI hype cycle was reaching fever pitch. Investors were throwing cash at anything with generative capabilities. He could have built a chatty digital stylist or a virtual closet social network. Instead, he built a sizing tool.
The decision reflected hard-earned wisdom from his years in tech. Early pilots of the software revealed a stark truth: retail partners didn’t care about the bells and whistles. They didn’t want a virtual metaverse experience, they wanted to know if the pants would fit.
So Imah took a machete to the product roadmap. The company pivoted entirely to virtual try-on technology focused on photorealistic rendering and hyper-accurate sizing. According to Imah, the platform’s sizing tool is 99% accurate in predicting whether a piece will fit snugly or loosely.
The technology addresses fashion retail’s costliest pain points. Returns eat into retailer margins, disappoint customers, and create logistical nightmares. Conversion rates suffer when shoppers can’t visualize fit. SpreeAI attacks both problems simultaneously with technology so lifelike that the naked eye can’t distinguish it from real life.
The Naomi Campbell Effect
The company’s board is bolstered by legendary supermodel and fashion icon Naomi Campbell, alongside entrepreneurs Bob Davidson and Larry Ruvo. Campbell’s involvement is more than symbolic—it signals SpreeAI’s legitimacy in fashion circles where tech companies are often viewed with skepticism.
“It’s inspiring to be part of SpreeAI’s transformative journey under John’s visionary leadership,” Campbell said. “I’ve always believed in pushing boundaries and embracing innovation, and seeing John’s passion and determination firsthand makes me even more excited about the future we’re creating together.”
The fashion world took notice. In 2025, Imah became the first fashion tech AI startup CEO to be invited to the Met Gala, attending in a custom Sergio Hudson ensemble. The designer subsequently partnered with SpreeAI, as did London-based womenswear brand Kai Collective.
These aren’t just celebrity endorsements. The partnerships integrate real collections into SpreeAI’s platform, allowing customers to virtually try on pieces from designers who dress Michelle Obama and Beyoncé.
The Technical Moat
SpreeAI’s competitive advantage extends beyond flashy partnerships. The company has four issued patents and 23 more pending, creating intellectual property barriers around its core technology.
The company’s technical capabilities are anchored in research collaborations with MIT and Carnegie Mellon University, with CMU professor and computer vision expert Deva Ramanan among its academic partners. These relationships have produced features including an AI stylist offering personalized outfit suggestions and a virtual wardrobe that blends owned items with new recommendations.
The platform works both online and in physical retail environments, designed to transform how consumers shop across channels. For retailers, conversion rates have risen by up to 25% after adopting the tool.
The Unicorn Trajectory
SpreeAI recently achieved a $1.5 billion valuation after an undisclosed funding round led by The Davidson Group, cementing its status as one of fashion-tech’s most valuable private companies. The valuation reflects investor confidence in SpreeAI’s ability to address fundamental retail economics.
For context, product returns cost U.S. retailers over $800 billion annually. Even capturing a small percentage of this market represents enormous opportunity. SpreeAI’s technology directly reduces returns while simultaneously improving conversion—a rare double benefit that justifies the unicorn valuation.
Imah, now in his mid-30s, has built a personal fortune estimated near $400 million. He remains single, a status that seems less about circumstance and more about allocation of resources, visibly focused and by all accounts, “married to the work”.
What’s Next: Beyond Virtual Try-Ons
The company isn’t resting on its photorealistic try-on technology. The next phase for SpreeAI involves deeper enterprise integrations and wardrobe intelligence—AI that understands not just what fits your body, but what fits your life.
The vision extends to creating a platform ecosystem. Imah compares it to Instagram’s evolution: “It was a picture app, a photo app. You upload pictures, but now if you see how it’s basically evolved, you can send messages, you can upload stories, there’s shopping, etc. And that’s sort of the same way that I would view our product. It is going to be an evolution of a multitude of things that it can do based on how we see people shopping”.
Features in development include an AI stylist that could channel the sensibilities of designers like Pharrell Williams, Louis Vuitton’s creative director. “Not everyone in the world has worked with a stylist,” Imah explained, “but with AI, we can give you your own personalized stylist based on the data that we have on you.”
The Cultural Significance
Beyond the technology and valuation, Imah represents something larger: a Nigerian American and first-generation immigrant bringing innovation and diversity to the tech industry. In 2025, he was named to the Observer’s AI Power Index, recognizing 100 of the most influential leaders in artificial intelligence, and included in AfroTech’s Future 50.
His visibility at events like the Met Gala isn’t vanity—it’s strategic positioning at the intersection of technology and culture. “Cultural credibility is extremely important in fashion,” Imah explained. “Being visible at such events signals that we speak fashion’s language and respect its culture.”
Imah is a member of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, one of the few tech founders to earn that distinction. He’s also involved in philanthropy, serving as a strategic advisor to the Davidson Academy—a pioneering school dedicated to providing profoundly gifted students with educational opportunities tailored to their unique abilities.
The Reality Bet
In an era defined by metaverse promises and AI hype, Imah is making a contrarian bet: that people will always buy physical clothes, they’ll always hate returning them, and whoever fixes that friction will become very wealthy.
The math is on his side. While competitors chase elaborate virtual worlds and social shopping experiences, SpreeAI is solving the unglamorous problem of “will this fit?” The approach has attracted luxury partners, top-tier investors, and a supermodel board member.
It’s a strategy that mirrors Imah’s entire career: identify the inefficiency, build the system to fix it, then scale relentlessly. From dismantling computers at seven to selling companies at sixteen to building a unicorn in his thirties, he’s consistently chosen pragmatism over flash.
The question now isn’t whether AI will transform retail—it’s whether SpreeAI’s focused approach will dominate the category. With $1.5 billion in backing, partnerships across luxury fashion, and technology accurate enough to fool the human eye, Imah is betting that solving the fundamentals beats chasing trends every time.
For an industry that’s tried—and largely failed—to crack virtual shopping for decades, that might be exactly the unsexy solution retail needs.
