Didero Leverages AI to Revolutionize Supply Chain Management for Mid-Market Companies

Supply chain management poses significant challenges for many mid-market companies, often due to the high costs of comprehensive solutions like SAP or the lack of robust IT infrastructure.

Didero, an innovative early-stage startup, aims to address these issues with an AI-driven tool designed to streamline supply chain processes for these businesses.

Today, Didero announced a $7 million seed investment, marking its emergence from stealth mode and the general availability of its product.

“We are building an end-to-end suite that enables procurement teams to manage their suppliers across various existing point solution markets,” said Tim Spencer, product lead and co-founder, in an interview with TechCrunch.

Didero’s solution encompasses finding suppliers, negotiating contracts, managing purchase orders, generating invoices, and processing payments, all while offering detailed analysis and managing supplier background tasks.

Spencer explained that the use of AI is pivotal in helping mid-market companies, which often lack the resources that larger companies possess to enforce supplier compliance. AI can automate many of the tasks that would otherwise be time-consuming and resource-intensive.

“One of the huge unlocks here, particularly for our segment of mid-market manufacturers, is AI. In the pre-AI world, automating many of these tasks was essentially impossible,” Spencer noted.

Didero employs a variety of AI models, including those from OpenAI and Google Gemini, tailoring the choice of model to the specific task. The company continuously experiments to determine the most effective models for their needs.

“We’re utilizing a range of foundational models and APIs available in the market. While we’re not developing our own foundational models, we fine-tune existing ones extensively,” said CEO Tom Petit.

In addition, Didero has developed specialized models to handle specific tasks like extracting data from tables, purchase orders, and price lists—critical documents in the procurement process.

Spencer and co-founder Lorenz Pallhuber bring substantial supply chain expertise to the table. Spencer previously led procurement at Markai, a startup he co-founded, while Pallhuber spent seven years at McKinsey advising Fortune 500 clients on supply chain and procurement software.

Petit, who co-founded Landis—a startup that raised over $200 million and assisted renters in securing mortgages—contributes his technical expertise in AI and machine learning.

Didero was launched in December and has been refining its product since then. The $7 million seed round, closed last month, was led by First Round Capital with participation from Construct Capital, AI Grant, Box Group, Company Ventures, and Conviction, along with contributions from industry angels.

With this funding, Didero is well-positioned to transform supply chain management for mid-market companies, leveraging AI to provide a scalable, efficient solution that meets their unique needs.