Milan-based Cato is an AI company focused on one of the largest but most complex markets in Europe: public procurement. Its platform helps businesses identify public tenders, analyse the requirements contained in tender documents and prepare bids. By automating parts of this process, Cato aims to make it easier for companies to compete for government contracts without having to manage the entire process manually.
Founded in 2025 by Andrea Zorzetto and Matteo Bossolini, Cato has positioned its technology around a specific business problem rather than general-purpose AI. The company says its platform tracks more than 27,000 sources, ranks relevant tenders, extracts requirements and evaluation criteria, identifies inconsistencies and helps companies prepare bid documentation using their own information. Its customers include businesses in sectors such as medical devices, construction, IT and services.
This post covers:
- Cato’s €6 million September 2026 seed round
- Its €1.6 million pre-seed financing
- The investors supporting the company
- How Cato plans to use its new capital
- The company’s funding roadmap
- What Cato’s funding journey shows entrepreneurs
Cato’s September 2026 funding round
In September 2026, Cato raised €6 million in seed funding, led by Keen Venture Partners. Existing investors Vento, Heartfelt, Moonstone, BHeroes, Alecla7 and Nova Venture participated again, alongside angel investors including the founders of Lexroom, Sibill and Pillar. The new financing brought Cato’s total funding to €7.6 million.
The round is significant because it comes only a few months after Cato’s pre-seed financing. The company intends to use the new capital to develop its public-tender platform, expand its commercial operations and team, and support customers in additional sectors and international markets.
Cato’s proposition is particularly relevant to the European market because public procurement represents a very large pool of potential business. The company cites European public contracts at roughly €2.5 trillion annually, while Italian public tenders reached around €309 billion in 2025. Cato is attempting to turn this complex market into a software opportunity by reducing the administrative and analytical work required from suppliers.
Cato’s funding roadmap
Cato’s funding history is still short, but its two rounds show a rapid transition from initial product development to a larger commercial expansion phase.
April 2026 — €1.6 million pre-seed: Italian Founders Fund led the round, with participation from Heartfelt, Vento, Moonstone, BHeroes, Alecla7, Nova Venture, Italian Angels for Growth and more than 20 business angels. The financing supported the company’s early development and growth.
September 2026 — €6 million seed: Keen Venture Partners led the new round, with several existing investors returning alongside new angel investors. Cato’s total reported funding reached €7.6 million.
The publicly available information reviewed for this article identifies private investment rounds for Cato but does not provide sufficiently clear evidence of a separate public grant, so no public funding amount is included.
What Cato’s funding journey shows
1. A clear problem can make an early-stage funding story easier to understand
Cato is not presenting AI as the product by itself. The company is applying AI to a specific and measurable workflow: finding and competing for public tenders. This gives investors a clear problem, customer and market to evaluate.
For entrepreneurs, this is an important distinction. A strong funding proposition needs to explain what problem is being solved, who pays for the solution and why technology makes the solution significantly better.
2. The second round can be about acceleration rather than experimentation
Cato moved from €1.6 million in pre-seed funding to a €6 million seed round within the same year. The stated purpose of the latest financing is broader commercial and international expansion rather than simply continuing early product development.
This illustrates how milestones between funding rounds can change the purpose of fundraising. Early capital can help establish the product, while a subsequent round can finance sales, hiring, geographic expansion and market penetration.
3. Existing investors can become part of the long-term funding strategy
Several of Cato’s early investors returned for the September round. At the same time, Keen Venture Partners joined as the lead investor.
For entrepreneurs, this combination can be valuable. Existing investors already know the company’s development, while a new lead investor can bring additional capital, networks and expertise.
4. Fundraising should support a measurable next step
Cato’s latest financing is linked to identifiable objectives: expanding the team, developing the platform, entering additional sectors and supporting international markets.
That provides a useful model for founders preparing their own funding strategy. Instead of simply deciding how much money they want to raise, entrepreneurs can work backwards from the milestones they need to reach and calculate the capital required to achieve them.
Building your own funding roadmap
Cato’s funding journey shows how an early-stage company can move quickly from validating a product to financing commercial expansion. The key is to ensure that each funding round corresponds to a new stage of company development.
For founders, that means understanding when pre-seed, seed and later-stage financing become appropriate, what investors expect at each stage and how to demonstrate progress between rounds.
FundingTrip can help entrepreneurs develop that knowledge before they start fundraising. Through its funding courses, founders can learn about different funding opportunities, financing strategies and how to prepare for the fundraising process. Explore the FundingTrip courses and start building your own funding strategy.
About the author of this post
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Sara Gavidia
Content Creator
Communications Manager & Content creator
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Hello! I’m Sara 👋🏻
I’m FundingTrip’s Content creator. I write posts about technology, funding and innovation. If you liked this one, subscribe to our newsletter to receive more updates!
Post reviewed by David Arias, funding expert.
