"Plato, a Berlin-based startup, has raised $14.5 million in seed funding to bring generative AI into wholesale distribution, a massive industry that rarely makes tech headlines but quietly moves a significant share of the world's goods. The round was led by Atomico, with Cherry Ventures, Discovery Ventures, and D11Z joining in. Wholesale distribution accounts for roughly one-fifth of global production flows. Yet much of it still runs on aging ERP systems, Excel spreadsheets, and manual quoting workflows that haven't meaningfully evolved in years."
"While AI has flooded marketing, customer support, and coding, distribution sales teams are often still copy-pasting numbers between systems. Plato's thesis is simple: instead of adding another dashboard, embed AI directly into the operational core. The company connects to existing ERP systems and turns historical sales data into automated actions, flagging revenue opportunities, generating quotes, and identifying risks before they surface in quarterly reports."
"The idea grew out of lived frustration. Co-founder Benedikt Nolte experienced the inefficiencies firsthand in his family's distribution business. Generic CRM tools, he concluded, weren't designed for the complexity of distributor operations. Plato was built specifically for that environment, not retrofitted from SaaS templates designed for startups. Early traction suggests the industry is paying attention. Plato reportedly works with several large distributors on six-figure contracts,"
Plato raised $14.5 million in seed funding to bring generative AI into wholesale distribution. Atomico led the round with Cherry Ventures, Discovery Ventures, and D11Z participating. Wholesale distribution moves roughly one-fifth of global production flows but still relies on aging ERP systems, spreadsheets, and manual quoting workflows. Plato connects to existing ERPs, turns historical sales data into automated actions, flags revenue opportunities, generates quotes, and identifies risks before quarterly reports. The company was founded after co-founder Benedikt Nolte experienced inefficiencies in his family's distribution business and built tools tailored to distributor complexity. Early six-figure contracts with large distributors enabled expansion into procurement, customer service automation, and new markets.
Read at TNW | Startups-Technology
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