[Funding alert] AI-led startup Fountain9 raises $1.9M in seed round led by 021 Capital, Y Combinator

AI-led startup in the predictive inventory planning space Fountain9 has raised a seed round of $1.9 million. Prominent investors include Binny Bansal-backed 021 Capital, Y Combinator, Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal-backed Titan Capital, US-based new-age VC firm Globevestor, Harvard Seed Fund, and climate change mission-driven German investment firm Blue Impact Ventures.

Marquee Angel Investors - Ex YC partners - Holly Liu, Tracy Young, and Carnegie Mellon Alumni were also part of the round.

Founded by two ex-Googlers Niki Khokale and Rajas Lonkar, Fountain9 is currently focusing on brands in the F&B, ecommerce, and retail space in India.

The startup said the funding will be used to enhance the intelligence of its demand sensing engine, strengthen its product offerings, and expand into global markets.

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Speaking about the new development, Niki Khokale, Co-founder and CEO, Fountain9, said,

“Globally, about $260 billion worth of food gets wasted because inventory decisions worth millions of dollars are still made using spreadsheets and heuristics. Inventory planning in the food space comes at an environmental cost and such wastage can be prevented with better prediction of future demand."

"Kronoscope’s state of the art demand sensing is capable of predicting short and long-term demands with great precision to ensure businesses generate maximum ROI with minimum stock wastage.”

Sailesh Tulshan, Founder, 021 Capital, said: “We are excited with the vision of Fountain9 and their execution abilities to create truly agile supply chains in the CPG space. Our partnership will support them to further innovate, expand to global markets, and create superior solutions that enable accurate decision-making and reduce environmental impact.”

Dr Rakesh Sinha, ex-Global Supply Chain Head at Godrej CP and a close advisor to Fountain9, said, “Most companies face stock out losses because they follow rigid inventory planning processes and that hampers their ability to adapt quickly to changes on demand or supply side. This is where Fountain9’s solution Kronoscope brings a very unique combination of best in class demand sensing and inventory planning using fundamentals of TOC principles to enable their customers to be more agile, plan frequently and adapt quickly”.