Sotira lands $ 2 million to help brands to download and monetize their surplus inventory

An estimated 20% to 30% of the entire inventory In the United States it is surplus, and much of that ends up in landfills. A startup called Sotir He wants to help address this problem: he takes advantage of ai to help companies download and monetize their surplus inventory. Sotira is associated with brands to download millions of pounds of surpluses of groceries, health and well -being, and cosmetic products throughout the United States.

To feed its mission, the company has closed a financing round prior to the $ 2 million seed. Sotira plans to use the new financing to expand its operations nationwide, specifically the west and southeast medium.

The startup, which exhibited in Techcrunch Disrupt Battlefield 200 2024, was founded by CEO Amrita Bhasin and CTO Gary Kwong. The couple met at UC Berkeley and joined their shared interest in the electronic and logistics space. Bhasin and Kwong were directing their own companies that focused on selling previously possessed, new or used products.

Then, the duo began to execute a liquidation business because they wanted to understand how space worked before jumping to start a company. They decided to launch a wide network before concentrating on their mission with Sotira.

“We learned that the market opportunity to monetize oversock is huge,” Bhasin told TechCrunch. “It is a billionaire market, and it is a manual space of the old school, such as the people we are talking about are doing things in pen and paper. They have never heard of chatgpt, they don't know what ai is. And so it was the catalyst for us starting the company. We were like, there is a market opportunity here. “

It will help download products that are approaching their expiration date, articles that face storage capacity problems and products that have been overloaded. The providers examined can register and link their storage or inventory capacity. It will then coincide with the products with a buyer who will then collect palettes from the supplier warehouse.

Buyers are verified, brick and mortar stores throughout the country. They can share the UPC codes of the type of inventory they buy, and Sotira will use ai to match the inventory. It will automates compliance and facilitates transactions and logistics with buyers, so suppliers are paid with collections. The objective of Sotira is to eliminate the surplus within a few days after the reception of inventory data.

In the past, the brands would have had to identify the actions that they could not sell to their main buyers, and then call different liquidators to compare offers and negotiate prices manually. Sotira has put this process online and allows suppliers to clarify the inventory much faster.

Sotira charges a monthly rate per access; It also requires a percentage of income of each transaction on its platform.

While it will support it is beneficial for suppliers and buyers, Bahsin says that it is also proud of its ability to open affordable access to premium products to which people otherwise could not access. For example, Sotira works with many CPG drinks brands that end up discharging their excess inventory to rule out groceries.

“In the economy at this time, where it is currently observed how fast the prices of grocers are increasing, these are the categories that consumers buy more,” Bahsin said. “There is a lot of value to open affordable access to these elements. Many of the buyers we work with are in rural areas. They are in areas where they can be more impoverished, where consumers really trust to buy in excessive stores, as if they don't buy at Whole Foods, they buy in a discount grocery store. “

Bahsin also pointed out that since California has approved legislation To prevent grocery stores from throwing food and drinks, it will now be able to approach these companies and inform them that there is a market for their surplus inventory.

Sotira plans to expand beyond food, drink, health and cosmetics in the future and move to clothing space. The company is receiving interest from brands that want help to move its excess clothes and shoes, Bhasin said.

Financing prior to the seed of Sotira included the participation of unusual ventures, Night Capital, K5 Global, Capital Ritual and others.