Trendsi secures $25M to help sellers and manufacturers predict demand

With Trendsi influencers, creators, and more can sell via social networks without worrying about sourcing products, managing warehouse, packaging and shipping, etc., so that they can focus on what they love: their brand and customers.Zhang came from the venture world, serving as an investment director at Kleiner Perkins after stints at Google, Tencent and Binance (where she founded the startups investment arm, Binance Labs). Xia was one of the first employees at e-scooter startup Lime and previously worked as an analyst at a16z (Andreessen Horowitz).Zhang, Xia and Trendsis third co-founder, Maddie Davidson, sought with Trendsi to build a service that applies AI and machine learning to streamline tasks like inventory and sales forecasting. Using data collected on the platform and from third parties, Trendsi attempts to predict sales down to the SKU level, so that sellers can reduce excess inventory and ideally prevent out-of-stock issues. The original upfront risk of buying inventory is now shared among retailers, Trendsi platform and the manufacturers.Despite competition from inventory optimization startups like Flieber, Syrup Tech and Black Crow AI, business has been robust over the two years since Trendsis founding, Zhang claims, with new user growth up 10x year-over-year. Over the next year, the company plans to expand its work with sellers and manufacturers in industries where it sees strong upward momentum, specifically home decor, accessories and makeup.For both our suppliers and retailers, especially in fast fashion, overstock means locked-in capital, wastage of storage space, increased inventory holding costs and unnecessary losses, Zhang said.