'We had thousands of suppliers, and we were distributing products into dozens of countries around the world,' Spencer (pictured left) told TechCrunch. His staff was overwhelmed by the manual complexity of sourcing suppliers, negotiating pricing, tracking orders, and managing payments. 'I found myself running this big team that was not really set up for success,' he said. He sold Markai in 2023, just as it was becoming clear that generative AI could streamline the most time-consuming procurement hurdles for manufacturers and distributors. Didero, whose mission is to automate many of the complexities of global procurement, just raised a $30 million Series A co-led by Chemistry and Headline, with participation from Microsoft's venture fund M12. Until the advent of generative AI, these fragmented pieces had to be tracked by humans who spent their days chasing suppliers and manually updating systems of record. Didero claims its platform can ingest that communication, putting a significant portion of the procurement workflow on autopilot....

Founded in 2024, San Francisco-based Coverbase aims to reinvent how enterprises vet and manage vendors in a 'security-first' manner. Specifically, it uses artificial intelligence to automate and secure how large, regulated companies onboard new vendors and suppliers, such as software providers, consultants, contractors and service firms. Co-founders CEO Clarence Chio and CTO Kao Zi Chong have impressive backgrounds. Chio also co-founded Unit21, a startup that helps businesses monitor fraudulent activities with its no-code software that has raised $92 million from the likes of Tiger Global Management. Chong is a former engineering manager at fintech giant Stripe. The pair started Coverbase to automate the procurement process 'by weaving risk, security, and compliance decision-making directly into every stage of intake, due diligence, contracting, and ongoing monitoring.' Most competitors, he claims, build tools that help humans move through manual approval steps. (Competitors include the likes of Zip, Coupa, Ariba and Archer.) By being 'AI-agents-first' instead of 'workflow-first,' Coverbase allows customers to onboard vendors faster, with less friction and stronger security outcomes, according to Chio....

Parspec, a startup using artificial intelligence to improve efficiency in the construction industry supply chain, has raised $20 million in a Series A funding, the company told Crunchbase News exclusively. The company aims to help sales agents and wholesale distributors 'efficiently bid and supply' construction products. The company claims its key differentiator is its ability to 'instantly identify products available in the market that satisfy complex specifications provided by the customer' using artificial intelligence. 'This enables customers to cut time and cost to bid in half, while simultaneously improving bid quality and compliance, enabling them to bid and win more projects,' CEO and co-founder Forest Flager said in an interview. Threshold Ventures (formerly DFJ) led Parspec's Series A financing, with participation from existing backers including Innovation Endeavors, Building Ventures, Heartland Ventures and Hometeam Ventures. The funding brings San Mateo, California-based Parspec's total raised to date to $31.5 million....

Levelpath, a procurement software startup founded by the duo behind Scout RFP, has raised $55 million in Series B funding led by Battery Ventures as the company looks to quadruple its revenue this year. The funding round also saw participation from existing investors, including Benchmark, which led Levelpath's $14.5 million seed round, and Redpoint, the lead investor in the $30 million Series A round announced in 2023. The startup was founded by Stan Garber and Alex Yakubovich (pictured right), whose previous startup, Scout RFP, was acquired by Workday for $540 million in 2019. During the three years Yakubovich and Garber spent working at Workday, the two identified persistent procurement challenges that motivated them to build a mobile-first, user-friendly platform. Levelpath's timing proved fortuitous; launching right as ChatGPT debuted has enabled the startup to integrate AI capabilities from its inception. This includes reviewing unstructured data in contracts and recommending less expensive, similar products and services. The company now counts Ace Hardware, Amgen, Coupang, and SiriusXM as customers....