Cato raises $7M seed to automate public tender bids
What's the deal? Italian AI company Cato Networks has raised €6 million ($7 million) in a seed round to expand its platform that helps businesses find, analyse and compete for public tenders. Keen Venture PartnersDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → led the round, with participation from VentoDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Heartfelt, MoonstoneDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, BHeroes, Alecla7Dealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and Nova Venture, alongside angel investors including the founders of Lexroom, Sibill and Pillar.
The round follows a pre-seed led by Italian Founders FundDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and brings Cato's total funding to €7.6 million.
What's the endgame? Cato's platform supports companies across the tender process, from spotting opportunities to analysing requirements and preparing bids. It monitors more than 27,000 sources in real time, ranks tenders by relevance, extracts requirements from documents and pre-fills bid materials using customer data — while leaving the final submission in the customer's control.
Why now? Public procurement accounts for roughly 14% of EU GDP, or about €2.5 trillion a year across more than 250,000 contracting authorities. In Italy alone, public tenders were worth €309 billion in 2025, according to ANAC.
Six months after launch, Cato has processed thousands of tenders for customers ranging from SMEs to large firms in sectors including medical devices, construction, IT and services.
"It helps them find the most suitable public tenders, understand the requirements and prepare their bid, increasing their chances of winning and growing," said Andrea Zorzetto, chief executive officer and co-founder.
The funding will develop the platform, expand commercial operations and grow the team. Cato also plans to enter new sectors and support existing multinational customers with tenders outside Italy as it begins expanding internationally.
The signal: The round sits in the top 3% of all-time seed deals for its sector and geography, a sign of investor appetite for AI tools that tackle the paperwork-heavy world of public procurement.
Read more: Tech.eu
Image credit: Cato Networks
