Niki Khokale

Co founder - Fountain9

Her Story

“After having worked at companies like Google, American Express and Sears, I wanted to do something where there is a chance of creating something bigger and better than what I had while working for other companies. And to achieve something bigger, you gotta take risks. Both me and my cofounder planned and saved for a few years while we were in the US and then jumped into the entrepreneurship world to start Fountain9. “says Niki.

Having worked at Sears and then at Google, I got first-hand experience of seeing companies at the extreme ends of technology adoption function. Sears was a big name in the history of retail, but they failed to keep up with changing trends and technologies. Google, on the other hand, has been at the heart of so many innovations and break-throughs of this century. Heavily inspired by the way Google functions and the level of importance they place on being data-driven, I wanted to do something to help the ‘Sears of the world’ by using what I learned during my time at Google.

Her Company

Building an AI based demand and inventory optimization solution to help retailers and CPG companies fight stock out losses and reduce inventory pileups.

Her Achievements

• We are backed by Y Combinator - were part of the W21 batch
• Closed our seed round of $1.6M post that from Binni Bansal backed 021 Capital, Titan Capital. We also have investors from US (Globevestor) and Germany (Blue Impact Ventures) and strategic angels that include YC partners and CMU alums.
• Working with several brands in India in the retail and CPG space and also have early traction in the US.