Sotira raises $2M to revolutionize overstock industry

I’m excited to announce that Sotira closed $2 million to revolutionize the $500 billion overstock procurement industry. See coverage in TechCrunch. 

‍

As many of you know, Gary and I spent years operating our own e-commerce businesses. When we first faced the problem of surplus, we thought it was due to our inefficiencies around forecasting and ordering. We quickly realized surplus is a costly and consistent problem that affects every level of the supply chain: from farms to restaurants to manufacturers to retailers to brands. 

‍

The US has $800 billion of surplus inventory, and 25% of all inventory is unsold. Surplus procurement is a multibillion-dollar industry that relies on pen, paper, and spreadsheets to communicate, transact, and coordinate logistics. 

‍

Gary and I turned down our FAANG offers to dive head first into the reverse logistics space, an antiquated industry that is underserved by technology but is so incredibly important for a functioning and sustainable supply chain. Logistics and supply chains desperately need innovation and more environmentally sustainable options for problems like surplus. As the older generation of warehouse operators transitions out, there is a pressing need for solutions like Sotira that leverage AI to transform convoluted manual workflows on which the status quo is so reliant.

‍

Gary and I have spent the last year in warehouses and distribution centers throughout the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic to understand the surplus problem better.

‍

Sotira is the end-to-end workflow and compliance automation software for surplus inventory offloading, transacting, and logistics. Sotira leverages AI to enable businesses to offload and monetize their surplus inventory and cut the time spent negotiating and reviewing inventory by more than half. Customers save five figures a month on shrink reduction, earning up to 10x the financial return and recouping up to 50% of costs using Sotira over traditional liquidation solutions. This is significant in an industry where most overstock ends up in landfills, and few sustainable solutions are available to facilitate overstock logistics.

‍

To date, we’ve launched with the leading players in instant commerce in the US, grocery delivery companies, and enterprise CPG brands. We’ve been awarded grants from the State of California and are working with Alameda County to tackle the surplus problem in an environmentally conscious way, per legislation like SB 1383. 

‍

Most people have no idea how the overstock industry functions and what contributes to its growth. For decades, the overstock industry has lacked transparency, with many of the country's biggest retailers, brands, and grocers dumping or destroying unsold products by the truckload every day. Companies are only now beginning to evaluate sustainable options for overstock. Our team is proud of the work that Sotira is doing to reroute perfectly consumable products from landfills to price-conscious consumers in need. 

‍

We’re grateful to be supported by top funds including Unusual Ventures, Night Capital, K5 Global, Ritual Capital and others with previous participation from Soma Capital. 

‍

If you know any companies facing overstock and replenishment challenges, please reach out! We’re also hiring. See open positions here.