Cato, an AI platform that helps companies find and win public tenders, has raised a €6 million Seed round led by Keen Venture Partners. The Milan-based startup plans to use the funds to strengthen its platform and expand its team.
TL;DR
- Cato raises €6M Seed round led by Keen Venture Partners to automate public procurement processes.
- The startup aims to expand its platform and team, having already processed thousands of tenders.
- Cato's technology helps companies identify, analyze, and win public tenders, increasing their chances of success.
What happened
Cato, a Milan-based AI platform, has secured a €6 million Seed round led by Keen Venture Partners. The round also saw participation from existing investors such as Vento, Heartfelt, Moonstone, BHeroes, Alecla7, and Nova Venture, along with new angel investors including the founders of Lexroom, Sibill, and Pillar.
The funding comes just months after Cato raised a €1.6 million pre-Seed round led by Italian Founders Fund. The startup was founded in 2025 by Andrea Zorzetto and Matteo Bossolini and is Italy's first AI-native platform targeting public sector procurement.
Cato's technology tracks over 27,000 sources to surface and rank tenders, extracts requirements and evaluation criteria, and pre-fills administrative and technical bid sections using a company's own materials. The platform aims to automate the manual process of competing for government contracts, which account for roughly 14% of EU GDP or about €2.5 trillion a year.
Why it matters
This funding round underscores the growing interest in AI solutions for public procurement, a largely unautomated workflow in the European economy. Cato's technology has the potential to significantly streamline the tender process for companies, increasing their chances of winning government contracts.
For developers and startups, Cato's success highlights the opportunities in automating complex, manual processes using AI. The startup's rapid growth and substantial funding raise the bar for competitors in the public procurement space.
Investors should take note of the substantial market size and the lack of AI-native software in public procurement. Cato's expansion plans and the addition of experienced leaders like Luisa Gamba from Amazon Business indicate a strategic move to capitalize on this market opportunity.
Key facts
- Cato raised a €6 million Seed round led by Keen Venture Partners.
- The startup has raised a total of €7.6 million less than a year after its founding.
- Cato's technology tracks over 27,000 sources to surface and rank tenders.
- Government contracts account for roughly 14% of EU GDP, or about €2.5 trillion a year.
- In Italy, public tenders were valued at €309 billion in 2025, up 13.9% year on year.
- Cato has processed thousands of tenders and is growing faster than 95% of B2B SaaS companies worldwide, according to ChartMogul's 2025 subscription-business benchmark.
- The company plans to expand its platform into additional sectors and beyond Italy's borders.
Context
Public procurement is a critical but often overlooked sector for AI innovation. The process of competing for government contracts has remained largely manual, requiring firms to screen hundreds of tender notices daily and draft bids by hand. Cato's AI-native platform aims to automate this process, making it more efficient and accessible for companies of all sizes.
The €6 million Seed round led by Keen Venture Partners highlights the growing interest in AI solutions for public procurement. This investment underscores the potential of Cato's technology to streamline the tender process and increase the chances of success for companies competing for government contracts.
Cato's rapid growth and substantial funding raise the bar for competitors in the public procurement space. The startup's expansion plans and the addition of experienced leaders like Luisa Gamba from Amazon Business indicate a strategic move to capitalize on the substantial market opportunity in this largely unautomated workflow.
