SaaS-Based Startup Infilect Raises $1.5 Mn In Pre-Series A Round The investment round was led by Mela Ventures and 1Crowd along with participation from The Chennai Angles

Bangalore-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) startup Infilect has raised USD 1.5 million in Pre-series A round. The investment round was led by Mela Ventures and 1Crowd along with participation from The Chennai Angles.

The startup said it will utilize the fresh capital to scale its go-to market programs and will continue to invest in the areas of Image Recognition (IR) for retail execution, supply-chain optimization, store personalisation and category planning.

Started by Anand Prabhu Subramanian and Vijay Gabale, Infilect is an enterprise SaaS provider for retail manufacturers, retail brands and retailers. It leverages artificial intelligence (AI) and image recognition (IR) to help the retail industry obtain better visibility into store operations, omni-channel sales and in-store merchandising. The startup claims to have helped retail brands, consumer electronics, food and beverages, among other sectors.

Commenting about the product, Vijay Gabale, chief technology officer and co-founder of Infilec, said, "InfiViz, our flagship product, leverages IR and AI to process pictures of retail shelves from thousands of retail stores in Modern Trade and General Trade markets. InfiViz instantly generates revenue optimising action plans, reduces stock-outs and consequently, improves same-store sales by 2-5 per cent."

"We are excited to be partnering with Mela Ventures, 1Crowd, and TCA. The investment and mentorship will help us build cutting-edge Deep Technology products and boost our enterprise sales in global markets," Gabale added.

Speaking on the investment, Mela Ventures' Parthasarathy N.S said, "Infilect's products automate traditional retail processes with speed, accuracy, and on a large scale. Thereby, Infilect empowers decision makers in the entire organization, from associates to category owners to sales leaders, with unprecedented insights and actions. We see a great potential in "team Infilect' to build a world-class Enterprise SaaS company out of India, and we are thrilled to be partnering with Anand and Vijay through our maiden investment."

As part of the investment, Rostow Ravanan, an IC Member of Mela Ventures, will join Infilect's board of directors.

Girichandra Kuchangi, Partner, 1Crowd, said, "Computer vision technology has the potential to unlock significant value in the retail sector in the areas of retail execution, customer insights and marketing. We are pleased to see Infilect gain the confidence of Indian as well as global consumer brands. We are excited to be supporting Anand and Vijay in their quest to digitally transform retail operations worldwide."

Lakshmi Narayanan, co-founder, Cognizant and a Chennai Angel investor said, "For superior delivery of retail products across multiple channels, Retail Brands need deep insights from visual data in offline stores. Infilect's founders have a unique research and technology background to create magical experiences and extract meaningful actions from visual data captured in diverse retail environments."