When Anthony started developing sardines Cavella In 2023, an AI startup that helps brands automate supplier sourcing, doesn’t predict that the new tariffs will drive consumers to be increasingly wary of products being made in China.
“You don’t just go to Vietnam and build a supply chain,” Sardine told TechCrunch. Many companies locate a supplier and maintain that relationship indefinitely, as they are reluctant to let it go.
Cavela lands $6.6M to help brands
This is especially true for small and medium-sized companies that lack a dedicated, global sourcing department. Sardain claims that Cavela solves this problem with its AI agents, software tools that perform “Cavela lands” tasks autonomously and, in this case, act as a personal collection team. This agent can find potential suppliers in more than 40 countries and negotiate product specifications and pricing.
On Wednesday, Cavella announced it had raised $6.6 million in seed funding co-led by XYZ Venture Capital and Sousa Ventures, with participation from Crossover Capital.
Finding suppliers and negotiating “Cavela lands” pricing with them is an inherently arcane, time-consuming process, and would have been impossible to automate without generative AI, according to Sardine.
“Product creation involves a lot of text data, image data, diagrams, sketches, photos. It’s data that didn’t play well with technology until AI,” Sardine said.
The latest LLM and image models allow brands to upload their complete product information, including specifications, blueprints and all other details about the item they want to create, directly into the Cavellar AI agent. In light “Cavela lands” of this information, the agent discovers numerous possible manufacturers and promptly reaches out to those factories through WhatsApp, email, or messaging to gather insights on their production capabilities and timelines, as well as to obtain pricing information.
Sardine claims the entire process is seamless, preventing brands from sending hundreds of messages “Cavela lands” over and over again. “They log in a few days later, and they have the quote in their inbox,” he said. Companies typically ask a short list of potential suppliers to send product samples, which helps select one or more factories for final production.
Cavella estimates that its customers not only significantly reduce the time spent searching for manufacturing partners, but they also save an average of 35% on manufacturing costs.
According to Sardine, obtaining one hundred quotes will likely result in discovering a significantly lower cost, and you’ll probably identify a superior supplier along the way.
Cavellar customers, including fire-resistant clothing brand Western Welder Outfitting and men’s grooming brand The Longhairs, report “Cavela lands” that the startup has helped them find manufacturers who produce products at significantly lower costs — even below pre-tariff prices.
Sardine, the former data science lead at data analytics startup Tierra, traces his knowledge of the trade back three generations to his family. He grew up living throughout the Asian trade hubs, including Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore and mainland China, which gave him a valuable insight into how local manufacturers approach their work.
Cavela’s competitors include Alibaba, which connects brands with thousands of manufacturers in China, and Pietra, a brand operations startup that similarly helps businesses boost products with AI.