Milan-based AI startup Cato has raised €6 million in a Seed funding round. The company helps businesses find, understand, and win public tenders more easily.
The funding round was led by Keen Venture Partners, an early-stage venture capital firm based in Amsterdam and London.
Several existing investors also joined the new round, including Vento, Heartfelt, Moonstone, BHeroes, Alecla7, and Nova Venture. New angel investors also took part, including the founders of Lexroom, Sibill, and Pillar.
“In this first phase we have already managed thousands of tenders. Our greatest satisfaction is hearing from our clients that they see our technology as a true ally: it helps them find the most suitable public tenders, understand the requirements and prepare their bid, increasing their chances of winning and growing,” said Andrea Zorzetto, CEO and co-founder of Cato.
Founded in 2025 by Zorzetto and Matteo Bossolini, Cato is Italy’s first AI-powered platform focused on the public sector, especially public procurement. It helps businesses find and compete for government contracts more easily.
According to the company, government contracts make up around 14% of the EU’s GDP, worth about €2.5 trillion every year. However, the bidding process is still mostly manual. Companies often have to check hundreds of tender notices, read long documents, and prepare bids by hand.
“Public procurement is one of the last giant unautomated workflows in the European economy: trillions of euros a year, and the supplier side has essentially had no software, let alone AI,” said Briehan Burke, General Partner at Keen Venture Partners.
Cato says it works with businesses of all sizes, from small and medium-sized companies to large corporations. Its customers come from industries such as medical devices, construction, IT, and other services. The platform has already processed thousands of public tenders, and most customers use it every day.
The company also says it is growing faster than 95% of B2B SaaS companies worldwide, based on ChartMogul’s 2025 subscription-business benchmark.
