Highstock Raises $5.5M to Help Brands Connect Their Unsold Inventory with Wholesale Buyers Who Need It
Camille van Horne (CEO) & Ashish Sinha (President)
Co-Founders, Highstock
Managing inventory is a growing challenge for brands. Unexpected shifts in consumer demand, supply chain dynamics, changes in branding, and market conditions often leave companies holding on to products they’re motivated to sell. The challenge is finding the right buyers — quickly and efficiently.
That’s where Highstock comes in.
Highstock gives brands more opportunities to find a home for unsold inventory. We use technology to discretely connect brands with wholesale buyers — from retailers and distributors to small business owners across the globe — who are actively looking for high-quality products at competitive prices. Whether it’s a beauty brand clearing seasonal collections or a personal care company streamlining its product lines, Highstock helps move inventory seamlessly and strategically, creating value for both sides.
Brands struggle with unpredictable demand, tying up cash in unsold inventory. Traditionally, brands discount unsold items, sell them through sample sales or off-price retailers like TJ Maxx, and eventually offload them to distributors or donate them. Even with these steps, over $160B in products end up in landfill annually, as brands sell less than half of their unsold inventory—often at steep discounts. Outdated, manual systems and multiple intermediaries make it harder to transact efficiently, despite strong buyer demand for high-quality branded products at competitive prices worldwide.
Highstock bridges this gap, creating a clear pathway for transactions. Our platform offers a modern solution for moving available inventory:
- Brands list their unsold inventory on Highstock.
- A network of vetted wholesale buyers places bids on those listings
- Brands choose the offers that work for them, and Highstock supports logistics — including shipping, compliance, and payments.
We’ve designed the platform to be simple, transparent, and efficient, helping both sides of the market transact with ease.
After listing $100M of inventory, we’ve raised $5.5M in seed funding
In just a few months, Highstock has helped over 50 brands in categories like beauty and personal care list $100M worth of available inventory to buyers. Our platform has also helped reduce waste, with over 1M pounds of product redirected to new markets instead of being discarded — showing that smart inventory management can also drive positive environmental outcomes.
To scale this work, we’ve raised $5.5 million in seed funding, led by Greylock, with participation from Max Mullen, co-founder of Instacart. This piece from our lead investors at Greylock, Mike Duboe and Christine Kim, dives into what got them so excited about our business and why they led our round.
Why we built Highstock
Our personal experiences have shaped the way we think about inventory challenges. Ashish’s family owned a shoe business in India for 30 years, where managing unsold inventory was part of the day-to-day operation. Ashish learned the ins and outs of the trade and how opacity led to inadvertent power-dynamics. During India’s six month pandemic lockdown, the buyers who previously purchased and distributed their business’s products at wholesale pricing realized they had leverage. They purchased the same inventory, worth millions in inventory value, for close to nothing. This experience inspired Ashish to level the playing field in global trade with technology.
Camille’s background comes from leading Instacart’s next generation fulfillment team. Camille worked directly with thousands of brands and retailers and, in warehouse visits, consistently observed high quality products being cordoned off for landfill. She witnessed first hand how inefficient distribution systems could prevent brands from realizing the full value of their inventory leading to unnecessary waste.
This is the right moment for a solution like Highstock because brands need to be more agile in managing their inventory, and buyers are constantly searching for opportunities to access premium products at the right price. The supply and demand are there — Highstock ensures they’re connected in a way that’s efficient, transparent, and mutually beneficial.