Benedikt Nolte, Co-founder and CEO at Plato: Announcing their $14.5m seed after 10x growth last year

0:00Hello and welcome to the Scaling Europe show. I'm Seb Johnson. I'm joined today by Benedikt who's got some very exciting news. I wonder how you've been, Benedikt, what's the news? Hi, nice to be here. The news is that we just raised a round from Atomico, our seed round, double digit millions. And yeah, this is unlocking the next phase of growth at Plato. Amazing. Look, it's phenomenal news. Atomico are great partners, great to have on board. For those who don't know yourself or Plato, can you kind of touch on what it is that you've built? yeah so essentially plato is building the ai operating system for wholesale distribution so it's like a vertical ai opportunity targeted at one of the largest parts of the supply chain the industrial supply chain and what we do is essentially we are the revenue intelligence of sales intelligence for wholesale distributors where we take out legacy erp data then screen it for them and tell them where are our up and cross-selling potentials so that we raise their revenues and then at the same time we save their costs as we automate a lot of processes in the system and then directly ingest quotes and orders there so that we also take more like like free time for wholesale distributors so it's like at the same time lift revenues and reduce costs wholesale is a massive industry absolutely huge industry uh but it's not one that is often associated with being like a super high uh excitement crazy space like what drew you to this massive market that i guess has got a bit of a stigma for being old-fashioned yeah yeah i think it's it's very overlooked as a market in general and i think um like for me um that it's a personal story behind because i'm actually a third generation host i'm coming from a generation wholesale distribution family um my father had taken it over from his father and now my half brother is executing and managing our business in the third generation and because he is a bit older than me that was uh after i'm like studied business informatics um or like cs cs i was kind of the nerd of the family there was nothing else to do than at least build software for distributors that's what we are doing at at plato and this kind of what drew me to the industry and what is so interesting at the same time that it is much overlooked in its size because actually wholesale distribution touches every fifth dollar of the production of the global production so it really every little part in the building or the phone box that you're sitting in every little screw has been at some point moved assembled by a distributor then it's like repackaged and then eventually the chair or phone booth is brought to ikea that is then sent to you and in every single part there's a distributor kind of like waiting helping and moving this part of the economy so therefore a mega industry and it's kind of like if you don't have the personal connection because it's all b2b it's kind of hidden uh hidden in the dust um although it's like a foundational part pillar of the supply chain amazing and how are things going so far i mean i think you raised your pre-state at the end of 2024 was it six million dollars six and a half million dollars things have obviously been going well now that you're you're raising a much bigger round but can you touch a bit about your journey since that that last time that you raised yeah so So essentially, after the last race, when we initially felt a lot of traction after having built major connectors with the core ERP systems that we are surfacing or that are used in our industry, essentially, we started being much faster at the integration process, kind of overcoming these initial hurdles because it's really hard to integrate technically with ERP systems.

3:33and now like we have managed to secure some of the europe's largest wholesale distribution companies um that are now working with us across the dach region but also thinking of like a part pan-european rollout right now and um yeah we have like a 10x growth growth in in that period over the past year and um yeah now now really um looking to kind of expand this and i think also like a couple of really cool things is that we like partnering with some of the large wholesale distribution erps um in germany in europe for instance one of them would be sap um where we are like partnering across multiple customers and and have installed the software um yeah with these organizations um across europe amazing tennis growth is a the dream result i guess um is that what kind of gave atomico the conviction to invest was it the traction that you'd seen or or did they kind of recognize the size this market the problem were they was the team you know what about the the stage that you're at really kind of appeal to otomico and so i think that um from when we got into contact with otomico i think what really um made the match is that they had previously also invested in the in the distribution space in quite a different model but they understood the industry of technical wholesale distribution which is one of our the target icp at plato i think this was one thing and then um they they did understand that i think it's rare to have when you're building a vertical SaaS, essentially focusing on one customer group and building a product portfolio around multiple, around one vertical, but multiple products, you need to understand that industry really well, you need kind of this insider information.

5:15And I think this is what then convinced them about like me as a founder, but us also as a team, because I think what makes Plato unique is that we are like a bunch of SMB experts or wholesale aficionados that are connected And also at the same time, some tech nerds that are coming from big tech companies or top-tier startups. And this fusion, so to say, is a really neat combination to identify the process angle of your customer, but then also enabling to rethink processes with artificial intelligence and automation processes. Amazing. And looking forward, you've raised this money. How are you going to be deploying?

5:54How are you going to be spending it? yeah so the money majorly is now going into um yeah increasing capacity we're right now four people in the go-to-market team so like a really small team as of today now like really expanding uh this function on the one hand side but also a product and tech um where we have like a larger team um we are like a little bit less than 20 people right now and we intend to like uh grow to like 60 or 50, 60 people over the next year. So this is kind of the core focus and then really like building out our market leadership position in the DAH region, but also then moving beyond the DAH region, becoming like more a pan-European player.

6:35And then of course, also like building the groundwork so that we can also secure the first customers in the US. So like having like a baseline where we are like building out the software for international growth while always staying with our roots, staying rooted in Europe, where we believe we want to build the next tech champion that is coming from Germany, but yeah, for the world. Amazing. What's it like building in Germany at the moment? So I think in Germany right now, I think it's a special situation when you look at our market specifically, because the economy is not doing well. I think in the past 10 years, we've been growing like the US, do you know, like in less than a year.

7:16And I think it's like obviously like a miserable situation for many of the companies and it's regulation, it's bureaucracy, but it's also mindset. And I think what is really interesting in these times when things are going like are really tough, I think specifically in distribution where 60 or 50 percent of the workforce is essentially sales representing suppliers to the retailer and then trying to sell. it's really important that you kind of try to secure and ensure top line and in times of crisis therefore people are looking for sales software specifically i think this is like a neat time for us to have started later but now with like a lot of funding also government funding and public spending increasing with specifically focus on industry and infrastructure in germany i think we are like at the end uh like of a of the valley and like now seeing again that there's economic growth and i think this is like a perfect time for a company like platio to scale up because we've kind of been uh yeah developed in the ashes helping people to kind of come out of it in a stronger position now seeing traction and i think this is like a great time also like when you think about building in germany that you now like take the cycle where the construction industry and specifically industrial companies are now like really like peaking slowly or like moving again in the right direction after such a long decline or stagnation period.

8:40It's amazing. Is there a sense of optimism in Germany? Or I guess, is there still a sense that things are not going well? So, I mean, I think out of like the perspective from like a founder that decided that Europe is the right place to build a company and that also like lived and studied also abroad in the US. I mean, I personally decided to come back because I wanted to build for the European economy so i personally i'm a i'm an optimist maybe also a hopeless optimist but i really believe in in in like europe as as one of the core hubs to to build uh modern like ai software um but i think on our customer side i think people are still like in this feeling where they feel like a certain lethargy and like also feel a little bit hopeless in terms of how slow politics are moving and i think with a geopolitical crisis which is specifically touching wholesale right with the US, like their new tariff policies, but at the same time also like lingering war within Europe.

9:42I think that makes it hard for distribution companies to look ahead. But I think now, like with the government funding, I think there's always also like a good part because I think given that there's such a high amount of spending, which then will also like fuel the economy, I think there is some people that in our industry are at least like seeing some light at the end of the tunnel. because of a long-term German debt break, how we call it. People didn't actually want to invest in Germany. I think this has now changed and specifically the government giving a push. And I think there, a lot of industrial players will really see an uptake in sales again.

10:22I think it's something that the German economy really needs right now. And this is actually the perfect moment also to be thinking of like, how can I improve top line? How can I use a software that helps me identify sales potential and identify new customers within my european system to reach out to cool i mean it sounds like an exciting time i know that um the chancellor has been uh i know quite quite a big figure across european tech at the moment he's been quite bullish on europe and he's been pushing for things like a single european uh stock exchange and things like how is he viewed in the market i mean i i think uh when when we're when we're talking about it like out of like for i'm speaking for like the SMB industry or specifically wholesale distribution.

11:03I think that in the beginning it was like a relief after we went from a more center-left government to like a more center-right government. But I think then again, like in terms of, yeah, bureaucratic changes where he promised a lot, I think that there is a certain element of over-promising where people are like kind of losing hopes that he will actually like change everything within four years. But I think it's the normal cycle where you believe that there's loads of reforms. So like last autumn was the autumn of reforms, as we called it in Germany. And then fewer things actually happen. But I do think that we seem to be moving in the right direction.

11:44That we kind of lifted the debt break now that we decided, okay, we must invest now. and it is irresponsible for the third largest economy in the world to not continuously increase spending on defense because I think this is something that has been outsourced for too long to the US and I think there he is taking responsibility and although spending has not been allocated in the best possible ways according to or in the most efficient way because there's a lot of social spending where the government is now moving back into old traps where there's not a lot of scrutiny and where it flows and how bureaucracy is kind of refinanced.

12:27But I do think that we will see with this significant spending amount now that Germany is moving in the right direction, specifically also on the defense side with loads of startups that are popping up and that are flourishing. And I think this is something where specifically technical distribution companies that eventually are the pillar of also our defense industry will again see a peak where there's now, with the government developing certain platforms where there's huge mega projects that they are offering publicly so that there's some cooperation on a European level. And I think this is fueling growth across Germany and the epicenter of Europe in general.

13:13nice and it feels like that's a real sense to be optimistic about the german market then i mean i i would hope so that we are like at least moving i think this year um after all the years where we have been like really um stagnating or slowly declining i think it's um there's a there's a change ahead and at least for for the industries that that we are working with and and yeah i'd hope that that this is actually manifesting for for all of us amazing all right looking forward you know you've now raised this money what are you gonna what have you got to achieve in the next year next 18 months to kind of make this a success to get to that next level of your journey yeah um so i i think right now like the the the platform um that that we've developed is essentially like around uh the piece of of sales intelligence where we help you identify okay i'm i all my customers that are buying like this 30 percent we identify of of tools they they will eventually lead to like this motor being manufactured or this house being built but actually of the it's only 30 that you offer um and in on portfolio we could offer up to 70 of all the spare parts that are delivered to the customer and i think this is like the product where we like increase the average basket value of our customers and then like also help them to strategically enlarge their portfolio so that they know how can i like develop or like deliver the full product portfolio so that I can be like the full system delivery for my customer.

14:37And I think this is the product that we have like shipped. And what now needs to happen beyond the sales intelligence side is first that we like deliver the experience, like fuel the team so that we like scalably deliver the process across like multiple industries and like secure the product assist. Second, that we manage to also become multi-product. So the next thing that we want to do is more on the sales execution slash sales automation side, where like already today, you can create quotes and orders in your ERP system. But it's basically like an inside sales rep. So you have to imagine he's typing everything into the ERP.

15:14There's loads of like emails coming in PDFs and basically typing in the Bible of technical spare parts into their ERP system. And what Plato now does is scanning these documents, these texts, matching them with the ERP catalog, and then automatically ingesting them as quotes and orders. So this is kind of like the second thing where we become a multi-product offering. And this is something where we're currently also enlarging and expanding our team. And then third, as I said, like landing the first customers outside of the DAC region so that we expand on a pan-European and even international level across Europe and also the US.

15:50And what markets do you think are going to make the most sense outside the DAC region? I think in distribution for us that are really interesting. things of course the u.s market is like one of the largest markets um as an interesting uh beach head that you start having the first couple of customers there and then like growing so that you kind of prove that it's possible to sell the software and that your model is proven also abroad and i think they're like having the first couple of customers that are time zone wise um like close um closer to uh to our like um the yeah closer to to to europe where you have like the first couple of customers probably more on the east coast and then um once you've landed there that you are able to actually build a team and i think that you first like prove um uh prove the value and then at the same time i think what makes a lot of sense for us is that you stay within the european union so there's like france and and um and spain that are large wholesale distribution companies with like pretty uh pretty decent europe markets which are not too segregated because there's loads of different ERP providers in Germany.

16:59And I think there's some interesting market pieces in France and Spain. And then let's see, maybe also one day the UK, which is big on wholesale because it's an island. Although right now with Europe, it's probably one of the markets that we tackle later because it's like our customers, they're acting on a European level. And it's usually that from the dark region, like geographically, you usually move closer to like Poland or France, which are like more connected and closer. Yeah, it makes sense. And there's a lot to go after, right? So you're kind of spoiled for choice, I guess. Yeah, I mean, distribution is like a global place.

17:35So basically anywhere in the world, whether South America or Asia, it's everywhere. Yeah, you just got to follow the transit routes, I guess, and it'll take you to all the other big hubs. To finish up, I also wanted to ask a bit about your own career, right? Because you've had an interesting career. You've worked in your family business. You also seem to work a bit in VC as well. how did you find you know the different experiences that you've had so let's start with vc like how did you find being an investor for a short period of time versus being a founder um so yeah like the my vc times i essentially like um studied at a fairly entrepreneurial university technical university munich and there um is like a program cdtm which is like basically taking like a few students from different like different backgrounds usually like computer science management and then like a mix based on the projects that they have.

18:23So it could even be veterinarians, doctors, lawyers. And there I think I fostered like, or like I kind of became very entrepreneurial. I knew I'd be entrepreneurial for my family background, but I could have also been going like maybe in the old economy. And there I really learned, I wanted to build tech products and this kind of like drew me naturally into VC. And I think this was kind of like more me being curious is how kind of you start building companies, but still with already the long term idea to kind of understand what it means to be on the other side of the table. So I think I wanted to learn what it means to pick great business ideas and kind of learn what it takes to be a founder.

19:04So I think it was never like, what is it to be like a VC versus a founder? It was like the intention to become a founder and then learn from one of the best VCs in Germany, Cherry Ventures, what it takes actually to like fit this profile. and this is why also like after after i worked there um like we discussed whether i wanted to start and be an investor and i i kind of really like this the the people the the skill set also of like being like selective understanding what what could be a big company but then i immediately said okay i really liked it here but instead of offering me a job why don't we switch sides and kind of like uh yeah realize the the long-term idea that after after uh after my my time as an intern there said let's stay in contact i'm now ideating and then like a couple of months later essentially one friday i've called my my ex-boss and said hey should we have a coffee chat and this is what we are building we've been like locked up with my two co-founders in our family business and i kind of realized that this is a great idea like you know in like uh 23 uh like in the middle of the year the the beginning of like generative ai and then i said i think we we have a really cool idea and yeah we are building like an ai operating system starting with sales um are you in and i think one week later like they were like i mean um this sounds super interesting like let's let's discuss this a bit further and i think then from the beginning they've been involved in the journey until then it led to the round sometime later amazing it's a great story you know it speaks to the power of um like brand and network you know you must have impressed them having got a job there and working with them for a period of time so it's probably a much easier decision to make than somebody who's going in kind of new uh but look benedict thank you so much for joining me congratulations on the round again it's amazing news uh wishing you the best of luck for 2026 and 2027 and i'll be uh keeping an eye on how you do perfect thank you so much it was a pleasure speaking have a good one