Tenkara, a company developing operational agents for U.S. manufacturers, announced it has raised $7 million in funding led by True Ventures, with participation from HF0, WndrCo, Articulate Capital, Night Capital, SF1, Transpose, early Flexport employees, and other investors.
Founded in 2024, Tenkara is focused on building software infrastructure to automate critical back-office functions for manufacturers, including supplier discovery, procurement, compliance, and freight management. The company aims to address inefficiencies faced by mid-market manufacturers, where small procurement teams are often responsible for complex supply chain operations.
There are approximately 600,000 manufacturing firms in the U.S., with 98% classified as small businesses. Many of these companies lack the internal resources to efficiently manage sourcing, logistics, and compliance, leading to higher material costs, project delays, and costly regulatory gaps. Tenkara’s platform is designed to alleviate these challenges by enabling lean teams to operate with the efficiency of much larger organizations.
The company reports that within its first 18 months, it has already secured multiple seven-figure contracts with U.S. manufacturers, signaling strong early demand for its solution.
Founder and CEO Benjamin Stern brings firsthand experience to the problem. After starting his first company in high school and appearing on Shark Tank—where he secured a deal with Mark Cuban—Stern spent a decade building factories and managing production for consumer brands. A 2020 Thiel Fellow, he launched Tenkara to address systemic inefficiencies he experienced on the factory floor.
Stern is joined by co-founders Evan Adkins, who leads engineering, and Jonah Stillman, who leads commercialization. Both are serial entrepreneurs. The team is building the company out of HF0, a highly selective startup residency program.
Tenkara’s broader mission is to strengthen domestic manufacturing by modernizing supply chain infrastructure and enabling smaller manufacturers to scale more effectively.
KEY QUOTES:
“American manufacturing doesn’t have a talent problem. It has an infrastructure problem. A three-person procurement team at a $50 million factory is expected to do the same job as a 50-person department at a Fortune 500. We’re building the software that closes that gap.”
Benjamin Stern, Founder & CEO, Tenkara
“For the past 20 years, True Ventures has backed founders with a visceral belief in building something from nothing – founders who live the problem before they set out to solve it. This is Ben. He spent a decade building vertically integrated manufacturing plants, developing deep empathy for the customers he now serves with Tenkara. This kind of customer understanding is rare, and as domestic manufacturing becomes increasingly important, it’s exactly what this market needs. We believe Tenkara is foundational to how the next generation of American factories are built.”
Phil Black, Co-Founder And Managing Partner, True Ventures
