When Anthony Sardain began to develop Kavela in 2023, an AI startup that helps brands automate supplier sourcing, did not predict that the new tariffs would lead customers to become increasingly wary of making products in China.
“You don’t just go into Vietnam and build a supply chain,” Sardain told TechCrunch. “A lot of brands find a supplier and stick with it for life, because they really don’t want to lose it.”
This is especially true for small and medium-sized companies that do not have specialized, global sourcing departments. Sardain claims Cavela solves this problem through its AI agents, software tools that perform tasks autonomously and, in this case, act as a personal procurement team. These agents can find potential suppliers in more than 40 countries and negotiate product specifications and prices.
On Wednesday, Cavela announced it had raised $6.6 million in seed funding, co-led by XYZ Venture Capital and Susa Ventures, with participation from Crossover Capital.
Finding suppliers and negotiating pricing with them is an inherently arcane, time-consuming process that, according to Sardain, was impossible to automate without artificial intelligence.
“Product creation involves a lot of text data, image data, diagrams, sketches, photos. This is the kind of data that didn’t play well with technology until AI,” Sardain said.
The latest LLM and image models allow brands to upload their full product information, including specifications, blueprints and all other details about the item they want produced, directly to Cavela’s AI agent. Based on this data, the agent identifies dozens of potential manufacturers and then immediately contacts these factories via WhatsApp, email or text messages to understand production capacity and delivery times and collate prices.
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Sardain claims the whole process is seamless, saving brands from sending hundreds of messages back and forth. “They log in a couple of days later and there are offers in their inbox,” he said. Companies then typically request a shortlist of potential suppliers to send product samples, which helps select one or more factories for final production.
Cavela estimates that its customers not only significantly reduce the time they spend looking for production partners, but also save an average of 35% on production costs.
“If you get 100 offers, you’re going to land, by chance, at a much lower price, and you’re also going to get a much better supplier in the process,” Sardain said.
Cavela’s clients, including fire-resistant clothing brand Western Welder Outfitting and men’s grooming brand The Longhairs, say the startup has helped them find manufacturers that produce products at significantly lower costs — even below pre-tariff prices.
Sardain, formerly head of data science for data analytics startup Tierra, traces his knowledge of trade and sourcing back three generations in his family. He grew up living in Asian commercial centers including Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore and mainland China, which gave him a valuable understanding of how local manufacturers approach their work.
Cavela’s competitors include Alibaba, which connects brands with thousands of manufacturers in China, and Pietra, a brand business startup that similarly helps businesses source goods with the help of artificial intelligence.
