Ex-EventMobi, Voiceflow leaders secure $2 million to tackle retail merchandising with Merchkit
Startup aims to help retailers cut product launch timelines, operational costs via AI.
Former leaders from technology companies like EventMobi and Voiceflow have closed $2 million CAD ($1.4 million USD) in pre-seed funding to help retailers manage product listings more efficiently.
Vancouver and Toronto-based Merchkit aims to tackle manual retail merchandising and product catalogue management with the help of artificial intelligence (AI).
The startup is building an AI-powered software platform designed to help retailers, marketplaces, and brands onboard, launch, and optimize product listings at scale through automation.
“Our history and ability to execute in this is unmatched.”
Bijan Vaez, Merchkit
Raised via simple agreement for future equity in Q4 2024, Merchkit’s pre-seed round marks the startup’s first financing to date. It was led by San Francisco’s Afore Capital and Antler Canada, with support from undisclosed strategic angels from the retail and tech sectors.
CEO Bijan Vaez, who founded Merchkit in 2022, is the co-founder and former CTO of Toronto event management software company EventMobi and former CTO of Toronto e-commerce startup Browze. He currently works as a venture partner with Antler.
Vaez told BetaKit that he launched Merchkit after experiencing the challenges of manually managing over 300,000 stock keeping units at Browze.
“I saw how our merchandising processes were not only inefficient but also stifling innovation, so I set out to harness AI to automate these time-consuming tasks,” he said. “This shift allows teams to focus on strategic growth rather than being bogged down by routine grunt work.”
Through its software, Merchkit aims to eliminate manual bottlenecks in merchandising and automate product data entry, content creation, and catalogue management, so as to help retailers reduce product launch timelines and operational costs.
Vaez said Merchkit’s main competition is traditional product information platforms that serve as “static data repositories.” He views the startup’s use of AI to automate and optimize product catalogue management as a differentiator.
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According to Vaez, Merchkit’s platform allows customers to review “the confidence levels and rationale” behind AI-driven decisions, and the company continuously monitors and fine-tunes its algorithms based on customer feedback to ensure that its systems are effective, reliable, and secure.
Merchkit’s founding team is rounded out by two other people who previously held leadership roles at AI startups with close ties to Toronto, including Rob Hayes—formerly head of product for Voiceflow and Ada—and ex-ContentFly CTO Vasil Damyanov.
Vaez noted that this trio brings experience delivering AI solutions for Fortune 500 organizations and working for marketplace and retail firms. “Our history and ability to execute in this is unmatched,” he said.
Merchkit, which counts Lowe’s among its customers, has landed a handful of enterprise contracts to date and begun establishing a presence with furniture, appliance, and apparel retailers.
The startup says it plans to use this capital to accelerate product development and add five more employees in AI development, data engineering, and customer success roles to its three-person team.
Feature image courtesy Merchkit.
