The AI startup Tendos has closed a 12 million euro seed financing round. US investor Insight Partners is leading the round. The founders of the unicorns Personio, Forto, Flix, and Sumup are also participating. Other investors include Stephan Tahy, former CEO of sanitaryware manufacturer Duravit.
Tendos is developing an AI platform for manufacturers in the building materials industry. With it, the company primarily aims to automate time-consuming tasks in sales. At many manufacturers, employees still handle tenders, customer inquiries, and quotes largely manually. They have to review technical requirements, select matching products from extensive catalogs, and transfer information between different software systems.
Tendos offers specialized AI agents for this use case. The platform identifies relevant tenders, analyzes incoming documents, and matches requirements with manufacturers’ product catalogs. The software then creates draft quotes and processes orders in existing CRM and ERP systems. For decisions that require domain expertise, sales teams remain in control. Through automation, Tendos aims to shorten response times and enable employees to handle more customer inquiries.
Tendos aims to expand internationally
Several major industrial companies are already using the platform for central sales processes. Customers include Wilo, Grundfos, Hansgrohe, Spelsberg, KSB, and Kermi, among others. According to its own figures, Tendos has so far processed a quote volume in the double-digit billions of euros via its software.
Christian Sedlmeier, co-founder and CEO of Tendos, explains:
“The building materials industry is one of Europe’s largest and least digitized markets. Its sales teams are highly qualified, but drowning in paperwork and repetitive work. The technical product expertise and customer relationships of these teams are the decisive competitive factor for manufacturers. Our goal is to channel this expertise into the work that wins contracts.”
Tendos now plans to use the 12 million euros to drive its international expansion. Until now, the company has focused primarily on Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Additional markets are set to follow in the future.
In addition, the startup plans to expand its AI platform with additional applications. In doing so, Tendos not only aims to automate further tasks in sales, but also to tap into additional areas along the building materials industry’s value chain.
