The ease of being able to shop online is an experience sought after by most modern-day consumers. Last year, online shoppers spent $870.78 billion with U.S. e-commerce merchants and an estimated 40 percent of those sales were through Amazon. With big deals like Amazon’s annual Prime Day and the general demand for online shopping, big and large online stores are working hard to keep up — which can yield a lot of waste and overproduction of goods.
To combat the growing concerns about overproduction, Syrup Tech, a local SaaS startup, is using predictive artificial intelligence to get online companies out of the sticky predicament.
On Wednesday, Syrup Tech gained Gradient Ventures, Google’s AI venture fund, as a lead investor in its recent $6.3 million funding raise. Additional angel investors included former executives from Adidas, ASOS, ThredUp and Stripe, among others.
“Inventory planning is such a critical function that drives any brand or retailers’ profitability and sustainability, and yet, it’s managed by spreadsheets and bad legacy software,” James Theuerkauf, CEO and co-founder of Syrup, said in a release. “Syrup provides predictive software that delivers AI-driven recommendations on orders and allocations directly to merchandise planners, driving full-price sell-thru, more efficient workflows and less waste.”
Syrup’s technology works by plugging into the internal systems of its e-commerce customers. Through AI, Syrup says it is able to predict which items its customers should produce more inventory of and which it should scale back. External sources like social media trends and the weather are also intermingled with the data to help Syrup provide inventory recommendations for its customers, which in turn reduces waste, according to a company statement.
With its fresh funds, Syrup will work to develop new models and features on its platform to better meet the needs of its existing and future customers.
“Today, it’s harder than ever to accurately forecast inventory demand due to macroeconomic factors like supply chain disruptions and labor shortages,” Zachary Bratun-Glennon, a partner at Gradient Ventures, said in a statement. “With Syrup, merchandisers and planners can easily access rich datasets to inform their inventory plans down to the SKU, which is critical for any company looking to optimize their business. We’re proud to back James and his team and look forward to what’s next.”
