Problem

Enterprise procurement is still a labor-intensive, fragmented process. A single purchase can require employees and buyers to move among ERP and e-procurement systems, contracts, supplier databases, compliance checklists, approval workflows, email, quotes, and supplier websites. The economics are significant: enterprises reportedly spend more than $180 billion annually on procurement talent versus roughly $10 billion on procurement software, suggesting that much of the work remains manual. The killer use case is turning an employee’s free-text request into a compliant purchase: what historically took weeks can be reduced to hours.

Product / Service

askLio, now branded Lio, provides an AI-native, multi-agent procurement workforce for large enterprises rather than another conventional workflow layer. An employee submits a request in natural language, after which specialized agents classify it, identify suppliers, refine specifications, find relevant contracts and pricing history, request and analyze quotes, check compliance, route approvals, negotiate terms, execute the purchase, and track delivery. The agents operate in parallel across existing ERPs, systems of record, inboxes, contracts, and the open web.

The value proposition is faster purchasing with less procurement headcount and better policy adherence. Lio reports that its agents perform 85% of procurement operations, generate about 10% additional savings through negotiation and spend optimization, and route more than 95% of requests through standardized compliant processes. The company says it can integrate in less than two weeks, including implementation, training, approvals, and hypercare.

Market

Lio competes in enterprise procurement software and the emerging category of agentic or AI-enabled source-to-pay automation. Its closest competitive set includes established procurement suites such as SAP Ariba, Oracle, Coupa, Ivalua, and JAGGAER, although Lio positions itself differently: as a virtual procurement department that executes work autonomously across existing systems. This puts it at the intersection of procurement orchestration, spend management, and enterprise AI, with the advantage of targeting labor replacement and execution rather than only workflow coordination.

The company is clearly commercial rather than pre-revenue. Founded in 2023, Lio says it has managed billions of dollars in enterprise spend and serves Global 2000 and Fortune 500 companies, including Munich Re, Brose, and Novozymes. Its website reports more than 1 million users across 150-plus enterprises and 100% customer retention, while the company announced a $30 million Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz in March 2026, bringing total funding to $33 million and supporting product development and U.S. expansion. These traction figures are company-reported, and public materials reviewed do not disclose revenue or pricing.