Lio, an AI-native company building an agentic AI platform for enterprise procurement, announced that it has raised $30 million in Series A funding. The round was led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) with participation from SV Angels, Harry Stebbings, and Y Combinator. With this investment, Lio’s total funding now reaches $33 million, and the company plans to use the capital to accelerate product development and expand its presence in the United States.
Procurement remains one of the largest spending categories in enterprise operations, yet many organizations still rely on manual processes. Companies collectively spend more than $180 billion annually on procurement talent compared to about $10 billion on procurement software. As a result, many workflows remain slow and fragmented, with requests moving through multiple systems, approvals, and manual decision-making steps. Even companies that invest heavily in eProcurement systems often find that procurement still scales primarily through headcount or outsourcing.
Lio aims to change this model by introducing what it calls Agent Operating Procedures (AOPs) for procurement. The platform uses AI agents designed to autonomously execute complex enterprise workflows, enabling organizations to automate procurement tasks end to end.
Rather than acting as another layer of procurement software, Lio’s platform creates a virtual procurement workforce composed of specialized AI agents. These agents replicate the standard operating procedures followed by experienced procurement professionals and shared service teams, but operate at machine speed and scale. They are capable of triaging requests, analyzing quotes, comparing suppliers, negotiating with vendors, onboarding suppliers, and completing purchases across enterprise systems, contracts, and the open web.
This approach enables procurement teams to reduce manual tasks and focus on strategic decision-making, compliance, and cost savings. According to the company, customers using its platform have reported adoption rates exceeding 95%, an 85% reduction in manual procurement work, and approximately 10% incremental savings through improved sourcing and negotiation capabilities.
Since launching in 2023, Lio’s AI agents have managed billions of dollars in enterprise spend. The platform is currently used by dozens of Global 2000 and Fortune 500 companies. Customers include Munich Re, automotive supplier Brose, and biotechnology company Novozymes, along with enterprises across industries such as chemicals, logistics, retail, transportation, medical technology, and pharmaceuticals.
In one example cited by the company, a global tier-one industrial manufacturer automated 75% of previously outsourced procurement work within six months, freeing capacity equivalent to 10 full-time employees.
The investment highlights growing interest in autonomous AI systems capable of executing enterprise workflows rather than simply assisting human users. Lio’s approach positions AI agents as an operational workforce capable of handling complex procurement processes across large organizations.
KEY QUOTES:
“The procurement organization of the future will look fundamentally different from today. Teams won’t scale through headcount or more tools, but through AI agents that execute work end-to-end. Procurement teams will shift from doing manual work to directing and supervising an AI workforce. Lio was built to create virtual buyers that work alongside human teams, together shaping the procurement workforce of the future.”
Vlad Keil, Founder And CEO Of Lio
“Leading organizations are transitioning to AI augmented procurement operating models, and they are doing so quickly. Agentic AI systems for procurement, such as Lio, will be pivotal in that shift. What sets Lio apart is the level of innovation and creativity its founder has applied to solving one of the hardest challenges in this space: serving the enterprise customer. They are reimagining how procurement can operate in a wide range of environments and the technology is fundamentally different from anything I have used in my career. The impact is real, and the ROI is compressed from years to weeks.”
Jared Petras, Senior Director Of Global Procurement Digital Transformation At Walmart
“In collaboration with Lio, we are redefining the future of Purchasing at Schaeffler. The rapid progress and measurable outcomes underscore the transformative potential of agentic AI. This collaboration strengthens our AI-driven capabilities, increases efficiency at scale, and underlines our ambition to be a pioneer in innovation and operational excellence.”
Andreas Schick, COO At Schaeffler
“We’re entering a phase in the enterprise where AI moves beyond workflow co-pilots to autonomous, multi-agent execution. Lio is applying that shift to procurement – one of the largest and most operationally complex functions in the enterprise.”
Seema Amble, Partner At Andreessen Horowitz
