Alt by Rashida Bohra: Using AI to Innovate Fashion Tech and Ecommerce

Discover how Rashida Bohra’s fashion tech startup, Alt, is transforming ecommerce through AI-powered shopping and personalized experiences.

Entrepreneurship wasn’t in the cards for Rashida Bohra when she first started her engineering degree. It wasn’t until she started her own company in 2014, and got into the thick of things, that a mindshift happened for the first time.

Soon after she completed an MBA, she began pursuing stints with ecommerce players like Nykaa and Amazon. In hindsight, Rashida says that while her experience with ecommerce companies taught her a lot, it also reminded her that the technology surrounding ecommerce was great ten years ago. The problem isn’t access anymore; it’s overload.

“There’s so much clutter—tons of private labels, dated collections, and brands I like are hard to find. I might bump into them on Instagram, but I can’t always find them when I’m ready to buy. That’s when the seed of the idea came in,” Rashida remarks.

It’s been about 4 years now since that idea turned into a viable business. “Today, Alt is a personalized discovery engine. People come to us for the love of the collection—we keep it super simple and highly curated. We launched the app a year ago and already have over 200,000 users.”

Standing tall among the ecommerce marketplaces

Part of the bargaining chip that Rashida has in the market is that Alt isn’t just a marketplace, it’s a fully optimised artificial intelligence-powered search engine. “Our goal is to get users exactly what they’re looking for—even if it’s across 20 niche brands. Marketplaces can’t do this because they need brand listings and inventory. Plus, most marketplaces don’t get new collections—they’re often delayed. That’s not good for fashion-forward users,” she says.

That’s where being a first-mover gives Rashida an edge. “What sets us apart is how we design around AI—our UX is different. We’re not trying to sell; we’re helping you discover. Think of us as the Google of fashion, not the Amazon of fashion.”

Building the Amazon of fashion meant that Day Zero for Rashida looked starkly different from most traditionalists. Along with her brother, she started small with the hypothesis that by getting the right set of brands together to be discovered it could work well. “We built a web app in under a month—users could select from 20 brands and buy. We gave it to 50–60 people, and when 50% came back without us nudging them, we knew we had something. That was our "Eureka moment." It showed us that people were discovering and returning because they genuinely found value. That led to raising our pre-seed and building the full app.”

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Making her own space work for her

The journey from taking her idea to a workable prototype and then to a business, had Rashida burnout in less than a year. That’s when she realised she needed to move into a more structured environment which gave her the opportunity to grow her mindset and find a support system. “At WeWork, you’re surrounded by people on similar journeys—it gives you emotional support, exposure, and community,” she says, adding that over time she viewed her investment into a space not as an expense but a necessity as a solo founder.

It’s been a few months since Alt began her journey with WeWork Labs, but nonetheless, has found the program to be extremely valuable, and is keen on exploring further. “Just being part of the ecosystem has opened up access to resources, support, and a great network,” she adds.

Riding through the fashion-tech wave

To know what to build for the future, Rashida says it’s important to look at past patterns and assess what hasn’t worked, particularly for a field like fashion tech and artificial intelligence where trends are usually in flux. “There’s no truly "new" idea—what matters is understanding what’s changed. Buying behavior, tech, and consumer psychology have evolved. As Jeff Bezos says, don’t just ask what will change—ask what will stay the same and build on that,” she says.

And as Rashida continues to build from the ground up—working out of flexible spaces, leaning into founder communities, and staying close to her users—it’s clear that Alt’s biggest differentiator may not just be its technology, but the relentless clarity of the mission behind it: to bring joy back into the act of discovery.