Lio raises $30M from Andreessen Horowitz and others to automate enterprise procurement | TechCrunch

"When we were selling enterprise software, we had to go through procurement ourselves and saw how manual and fragmented the process still is. Even with modern eProcurement software, most of the real work is still done manually. Companies are left to build large internal teams or outsource this work, resulting in a slow, expensive process."

"Procurement is at the heart of enterprise spending, where companies look to buy everything from raw materials to professional services. Each purchase order requires focus and commitment: One usually has to open some type of Enterprise Resource Planning, or ERP, software, check contract management systems, search the supplier database, run compliance checks, cross-reference budgets, dig through emails, and so on."

"If the procurement process is largely unstructured data and repetitive workflows, then surely this is the type of task an AI agent is well-equipped to handle. The fresh capital will be used to expand the company throughout the U.S. and increase the capabilities of Lio's AI agents, which aim to complete the entire procurement process for enterprise customers."

Lio addresses enterprise procurement inefficiencies by deploying AI agents to automate the complex, manual purchasing process. Procurement involves multiple fragmented steps including ERP software access, contract management, supplier database searches, compliance checks, budget verification, and email review. Despite modern eProcurement software, most work remains manual, forcing companies to maintain large internal teams or outsource at significant cost and time expense. Lio's AI agents handle these unstructured data tasks and repetitive workflows, completing entire procurement processes for enterprise customers. The company raised $30 million in Series A funding led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from SV Angels, Harry Stebbings, and Y Combinator, bringing total funding to $33 million.

Read at TechCrunch