SaaS Startup Samya.ai Raises $6 Million From Sequoia India

Samya.ai — a SaaS-based platform that helps the consumer packaged goods industry to optimise supply chain inefficiencies and scale revenue, has raised $6 million (₹ 42.6 crores) from Sequoia India.

Junglee.com founder Ashish Gupta, G100 Companies partner and P&G ex-group president Deb Henretta, Kradle Ventures and Antuit founder Arijit Sengupta, former COO of Antuit Deborah Kops and MarketsAndMarkets founder Sandeep Sugla also participated in the round.

Samya.ai is focused on solving the supply-demand equation in the volatile and complex consumer goods industry using technology. These businesses are losing at least 8-9% of the revenue, amounting to $150 billion annually in the US alone, according to Gartner.

Samya has been founded by Shailendra (Shelly) Singh, Deepinder Dhingra and Pavan Palety, who had previously held leadership positions at organisations including IBM, Noodle.ai, Mu Sigma, and MarketsandMarkets.

“Our research showed that the global consumer packed goods (CPG) industry is losing 8-10% revenue growth potential due to complexity and volatility at the intersection of demand and supply operations which amplifies with scale,” said co-founder and chief executive Shailendra Singh.

Most of this loss is due to inefficiencies at the intersection of the core sales and distribution, pricing, promotions, and inventory operations, he said. The impact of external factors such as evolving weather conditions, macroeconomics and consumer preferences further escalates the problems.

Samya uses deep learning, probabilistic machine learning and reinforcement learning to help the sector deal with such challenges.

“AI/ML-powered learning and recommendation systems that augment frontline decision-makers are needed to plug revenue leakage”, said operating chief Deepinder Dhingra.

Samya is currently running proof of value engagements with a few Fortune 100 companies in Europe and the US, with its technology team based out of India. “Our goal here is to help build one of the leading cross-border AI SaaS companies out of India,” Sequoia Capital (India) Singapore managing director Shailendra Singh said.

“In the long term we want to build a large and diverse ecosystem of partners and advisors who can help us drive customer success globally”, said Pavan Palety, Samya’s third co-founder and Chief Customer Officer.