The digital backbone for B2B communication

As of today, most suppliers still deal with outdated manual processes. Being dependent on the supplier portal used by their customers, they have to log into dozens of different portals, navigating a variety of user interfaces, manually transferring order data between their own ERP system and supplier portals, correcting prices, or typing in invoices.

We at btov strongly believe it’s time for a change and are more than excited to lead Procuros’ EUR 1m pre-seed round.

Procuros is on a mission to build an integration hub that allows suppliers to easily integrate with their customers’ supplier portals and to fully digitally process any quotation, order and invoice document. The product is acting as a pure middleware platform which is not directly visible to the end-user who is now able to work frictionlessly out of the company’s internal ERP. Procuros facilitates the integration of a supplier’s ERP with the various procurement softwares, as illustrated below.

Suppliers only need to integrate with Procuros once to gain access to all the portals that the platform is integrated with, as opposed to integrating with each supplier portal individually. This results in large efficiency gains and cost savings for suppliers.

The company was founded by Patrick Thelen and Benjamin Wulff in early 2021. Both have a background in industrial engineering and have experienced the pain point of complicated business-to-business integration in corporate supply chains themselves. With Procuos, the team is tackling a significant problem in any kind of supply chain. Procuros’ initial target consists of medium-sized suppliers, with a focus on the manufacturing and food retail sector.

Here is why we are especially excited about Procuros:

1. Huge market ready for innovation: The B2B communication market is huge and the supplier side has mostly been untouched by incumbents. On the contrary, the latest wave of new supplier portals has even reinforced the existing pain point on the supplier side having to simultaneously work with dozens of procurement platforms. Moreover, the digitalization of European supply chains has accelerated due to macro effects such as COVID.
2. Strong and complimentary team: We believe that Patrick and Ben are a very strong founding team. Our first call with them was one of these magic moments where I’d have loved to send over a cheque via Zoom right away — I’m sure you will understand once you’ve talked to them. Both of them are exceptional communicators, very focused with great attention to detail and dedication to excellence. Through their previous experience at Alfa Laval and Airbus, respectively, they have experienced the pain point that Procuros addresses first-hand from both the supplier and buyer side. Furthermore, they complement each other very well. Ben has deep technical experience in building integrations and Patrick possesses the strategic mindset paired with exceptional sales skills to very concisely communicate the technical value proposition that Procuros offers. Furthermore, their operational achievements with no funding and team point towards their execution excellence and capital efficiency.
3. Strong value proposition: Ben and Patrick have identified a value proposition that is crystal-clear to suppliers and can rapidly deliver ROI for its customers. In fact, every single market reference we have obtained signaled an acute need for a solution such as Procuros.
4. Verticalized approach & virality potential: Given the founders’ operational background in the manufacturing sector, Procuros’ initial focus is on automotive and machinery supply chains, followed by food retail. This initial vertical focus will lead to multi-dimensional network effects in the adjacent networks, as Procuros’ customers will likely have overlapping buyer-side customers and thus portals. Additionally, suppliers can onboard their own suppliers to the platform via the self-service onboarding flow. This will enable Procuros to rapidly spread through verticals and along supply chains.

Given all these highlights, we are very excited to welcome Procuros to the btov family and to lead their EUR 1m pre-seed round. We are joined by carefully selected angels, including Beate Fastrich (former CEO Estee Lauder), sennder co-founders David Nothacker, Nico Schefenacker and Julius Köhler, Joachim Drees (former CEO MAN), Holger Hengstler (former CEO dress-for-less), Marcell Vollmer (former CIO SAP Ariba und Celonis), Norbert Winkeljohann (former Global Head PwC, Advisory Board Deutsche Bank und Bayer), as well as Doreen Huber (former COO DeliveryHero and CEO LEMONCAT/Caterwings).

To all suppliers that have to work with dozens of procurement platforms: Feel free to reach out if you want to learn more about Procuros — we are happy to tell you more and connect you with the team!

To all fellow investors and entrepreneurs: Feel free to reach out to us ([email protected] and [email protected]) if you are interested to learn more about our view on the market or if you would like to get in touch with the founders.

If you want to learn more about how to digitally connect to your trade partners with the Procuros Integration Hub, schedule a free consultation with one of our experienced digitization experts here or contact us at [email protected]

This post was first published on Medium https://medium.com/brains-to-ventures/building-the-digital-backbone-for-b2b-communication-supply-chain-operations-c3d9e5d94a8c