Bengaluru-based automated inventory planning SaaS start-up Crest raised Rs 6.5 crore in its pre-seed funding round, led by IAN and IPV (Inflection Point Ventures), along with founders of enterprisess like Delhivery, Shiprocket, Pickrr, Smytten, Samosa Party, and Sirona among others.

The funds will be deployed to broaden Crest’s product offerings and scale its operations. Furthermore, in light of the current global economic slowdown, the company seeks to assist brands in maintaining their financial stability by implementing efficient inventory practices to optimise their working capital.

Launched in March 2022, Crest claims to be an automated inventory planning tool, designed to help D2C (direct-to-consumer) brands and SMBs in eliminating stockouts. It aims to help brands by providing answers to four questions, i.e. what to order; when to order; how much to stock and where to place. 

“In less than 12 months, Crest has already onboarded numerous customers from various industries, improving serviceability by up to 95%, reducing out-of-stock situations by up to 90 per cent and automating supply chain operations. Notable customers include Samosa Party, Wow Skin, Swiss Beauty, Pro Nature, and Sleepwell, among others,” said Rahul Vishwakarma, co-founder and CEO (chief executive officer), of Crest.

“Crest is built for D2C e-commerce and is focused on solving the fundamental issue of those businesses, i.e. reducing lost sales opportunities by increasing fill rate and helping optimise inventory through real-time demand forecasting. By impacting the core of the business, Crest becomes a CXO priority and is not just another enabling software. In the fast-evolving e-commerce and multi-shop retailing real-time demand forecasting and inventory management is the need of the hour,” said Shantanu Ghosh and  Vidit Nagory, lead investors at IAN.