askLio

askLio, which now operates as Lio, provides an AI-powered procurement workforce designed to automate and streamline procurement processes for large enterprises. The company was founded in 2023 by Vladimir Keil, Lukas Heinzmann, and Till Wagner. The founders' collective background in AI engineering, procurement consulting, and product development, including experience at SAP and a startup acquired by Audi, informed the creation of Lio.

The company's core offering is a multi-agent AI system that functions as a virtual procurement team. This system manages purchase requests from start to finish by deploying specialized AI agents that work in parallel to handle tasks such as researching vendors, negotiating terms, managing approvals, and tracking deliveries. The platform is designed to integrate with existing enterprise resource planning (ERP) and procure-to-pay (P2P) systems like SAP, Coupa, and Ariba, operating within familiar environments such as Microsoft Teams. This allows employees to submit procurement requests using natural language. The AI then processes these unstructured, free-text requests, refines specifications, ensures compliance with company policies, and structures the information for back-end systems.

The business model targets global enterprises, aiming to reduce manual work, accelerate procurement cycles from weeks to hours, and generate cost savings. Lio reports significant efficiency gains for its clients, including an 85% reduction in manual procurement operations and an average of 10% in additional cost savings through automated negotiations and spend optimization. The company emphasizes its enterprise-grade security, with GDPR compliance and hosting on Microsoft Azure's European data centers. After participating in the Y Combinator accelerator program in Summer 2023, the company secured a Series A funding round.

Keywords: AI procurement, agent operating system, procurement automation, enterprise procurement, strategic sourcing, spend analysis, natural language processing, procure-to-pay, P2P automation, AI copilot, digital procurement, vendor management, contract negotiation, compliance automation, purchase requisition, supply chain AI, enterprise AI, workflow automation, cost reduction, procurement analytics