Cavela gets $6.6 million to help brands overcome pre-tariff manufacturing costs

When Anthony Sardin began to develop Cavella In 2023, an AI startup that helps brands automate supplier sourcing, he did not anticipate that the new tariffs would prompt customers to become increasingly wary of having products manufactured in China.

“You don’t just go into Vietnam and build a supply chain,” Sardin told TechCrunch. “A lot of brands find one supplier, and they hold on to it for the rest of their lives, because they don’t really want to lose it.”

This is especially true for small and medium-sized companies that lack dedicated global sourcing departments. Sardain claims Cavela solves this problem through AI agents, which are software tools that perform tasks autonomously and, in this case, act as a personal procurement team. These agents can find potential suppliers in over 40 countries and negotiate product specifications and prices.

Cavela announced Wednesday that it has raised $6.6 million in seed funding led by XYZ Venture Capital and Susa Ventures, with participation from Crossover Capital.

Finding suppliers and negotiating prices with them is an inherently ambiguous and time-consuming process, and according to Sardin, it was impossible to automate without generative AI.

“Making products requires a lot of text data, image data, charts, drawings, and photographs. This type of data was not relevant to the technology until the advent of artificial intelligence,” Sardin said.

LLM’s latest models and images allow brands to upload their full product information, including specifications, schematics and all other details about the item they want to produce, directly into Cavela’s AI agent. Based on these details, the agent identifies dozens of potential manufacturers and then immediately contacts these factories via WhatsApp, email or text to understand production capacity, lead times and collect quotes.

Sardin claims that the entire process is seamless, saving brands from sending hundreds of messages back and forth. “They log in a few days later, and there are quotes in their inbox,” he said. Companies then typically ask a shortlist of potential suppliers to send product samples, which helps in selecting one or more factories for final production.

Cavela estimates that its customers not only significantly reduce the time they spend searching for manufacturing partners, but also save an average of 35% on production costs.

“If you get 100 quotes, you will, coincidentally, get a much lower price, and you will also get a much better supplier in the process,” Sardin said.

Cavela’s clients, including fire-resistant apparel brand Western Welder Outfitting and men’s grooming brand The Longhairs, report that the startup has helped them find manufacturers that produce goods at a much lower cost — even below pre-tariff prices.

Sardin, a former data science lead at data analytics startup Tierra, traces his knowledge of business and sourcing back three generations within his family. He grew up in Asian trade hubs, including Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore and mainland China, giving him a valuable understanding of how local manufacturers approach their work.

Cavella’s competitors include Alibaba, which connects brands with thousands of manufacturers in China, and… to forbida brand operations startup that similarly helps companies source goods with the help of artificial intelligence.