Jayadeep Shitole

Jayadeep Shitole is a machine learning leader and entrepreneur with over a decade of experience building large-scale pricing and demand forecasting systems. He served as Principal Data Scientist of Applied AI and Machine Learning at Walmart Global Tech, where he led the Applied AI Lab for demand forecasting. He holds a degree from Cornell University. In 2025, he co-founded Lantern, an AI-powered demand forecasting platform for the distribution industry, alongside Stanford MBA graduates Matt Rojas and Conor Leen. At Lantern, Jay serves as CTO, bringing enterprise-grade AI forecasting capabilities to distributors of all sizes.

Lantern is an enterprise demand forecasting platform that uses cutting-edge machine learning to help distributors forecast demand and optimize purchasing decisions. The platform enables distributors to buy the right items, in the right quantities, at the right times, and in the right places. Lantern's AI system learns from each distributor's historical sales and purchasing data, blending it with external inputs such as weather, regional demand shifts, and regulatory changes to deliver daily purchasing recommendations. Unlike traditional solutions relying on rolling averages or static ERP rules, Lantern uses advanced machine learning to recognize cross-SKU and regional dependencies. The platform includes demand forecasting, lead time prediction, order frequency optimization, safety stock allocation, and bulk buying decision-making capabilities.