Crest, an Inventory Planning Tool Gets Funding from Its first 2 Customers, Sirona Hygiene and Samosa Party

Crest, a Bengaluru-based D2C inventory planning software, received an undisclosed amount of fresh capital on Tuesday from Deep Bajaj, Co-founder of feminine hygiene brand Sirona and Diksha Pande, Co-founder of the leading QSR brand Samosa Party.

Founded in January 2022, Crest is a fully automated inventory planning software focused on helping D2C brands and SMBs with their supply chain requirements. Crest helps brands by eliminating out-of-stock and improving serviceability from the first month of implementation. Both Sirona and Samosa Party have been using the platform and have seen remarkable improvement in their serviceability levels. Deep and Diksha, believe that the solution Crest is developing has the potential to change the way D2Cs handle their operation, having closely seen the problems and complexities in managing their own supply chain.

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Crest intends to use the new funds to broaden its reach to D2Cs across the country and expand its feature offering, to address D2C-specific issues. With the rise in the number of upcoming D2C’s and increasing competition across all segments, effective supply chain management will give these companies an edge over their competition and enable rapid growth and expansion.

“Rahul and team have built a fantastic product which solves a very pressing problem for all D2C brands – right inventory planning! Here more than planning, it’s the ‘right planning’ component which is critical to avoid excess inventory or out-of-stock situations. We have used many platforms in the past but always found some element missing, until we used Crest! For me, it was ‘a happy end-user experience’ which was followed by a decision to invest. The team also brings vast experience from the same industry which is an icing on the cake. I am sure Crest is here to disrupt this category for the better! ” said Deep Bajaj, Co-founder, Sirona Hygiene.

“D2C brands face issues with supply chain management and high growth startups are not equipped to run their demand forecast manually. Crest automates all the workflows and helps brands predict high demand periods and be ready to cater to customer demands. It has a direct impact on the revenue readiness of a company and that’s the value we see Crest unlocking for many companies in the future. Rahul and team have built a robust product with years of their experience distilled into the workflows,” said, Diksha Pande, Co-founder, Samosa Party.

“Within just 5 months of launch, we have seen remarkable growth and received phenomenal feedback for our platform from customers who are pleased with the increase in their key supply chain efficiency measured in fill-rates. Deep and Diksha have both been enthusiastic supporters of our vision to empower the D2C space in India, and we are delighted to have them both strengthen this partnership,” said Rahul Vishwakarma, Co-founder & CEO, Crest.

Crest has customers from industries such as cosmetics, organic foods, QSRs, mobile accessories, agri-tech, and feminine hygiene. These customers have put their trust in the platform to help them with solutions like – automated inventory planning, automated demand forecasting, purchase planning, replenishment planning and new warehouse planning. These solutions have improved their serviceability across channels, helped them escape out-of-stock and streamline their supply chain operations.

The pandemic accelerated the growth of many D2C brands. Companies with their own websites experienced a 88% rise in consumer demand in 2020 compared to the previous year. According to a recent report by Avendus Capital, the Indian D2C market is estimated to grow to 100 Bn USD by 2025. Crest is at the forefront of this growth and is helping to improve how D2C brands can capture the growing demand.