Milan-based startup Cato has raised €6 million in seed funding, led by Keen Venture Partners, bringing its total funding to €7.6 million within a year of its founding. Cato uses AI to help companies navigate the complex Italian public procurement market, which was valued at €309.7 billion in 2025. While Italy's anti-corruption authority ANAC is digitising and simplifying procedures, Cato targets high-growth sectors like medical supplies and relies on local specificity to defend against better-funded European rivals.
Cato seed funding round
- ▪Milan-based startup Cato raised €6 million in seed funding led by Keen Venture Partners to expand its AI platform for Italian public tenders.
- ▪The €6 million seed round brings Cato's total funding to €7.6 million, less than a year after founders Andrea Zorzetto and Matteo Bossolini started the company.
- ▪Cato's seed funding round included participation from returning investors Italian Founders Fund, Vento, Heartfelt, Moonstone, BHeroes, Alecla7, and Nova Venture.
Italian public procurement market
- ▪Cato's AI platform tracks more than 27,000 public procurement sources to help companies monitor and bid on public tenders.
- ▪According to the Italian anti-corruption authority ANAC's 2025 report, the total value of Italian public contracts rose 13.9% to €309.7 billion across 287,421 contracts.
- ▪The Italian anti-corruption authority ANAC reported that €20.8 billion of Italy's 2025 public contract value came from the country's post-pandemic recovery fund.
ANAC digitisation programme
- ▪The Italian anti-corruption authority ANAC found that 95% of Italian acquisitions of services and supplies are direct awards with no competition.
- ▪The Italian anti-corruption authority ANAC's 2025 report shows analogue procurement procedures collapsed from 21% to 1% of the total over two years.
- ▪The Italian anti-corruption authority ANAC reduced the number of qualified contracting authorities in Italy from more than 20,000 to approximately 4,000.
Medical sector tender focus
- ▪The Italian anti-corruption authority ANAC's 2025 data shows that within public supplies, spending on pharmaceutical products rose 65.4% and medical equipment rose 10.1%.
- ▪Cato increased its customer base from 30 customers in April 2026 to more than 150 customers by September 2026.
- ▪Cato's public customer list leans heavily medical, including clients such as MOVI, Kaster Medical Technology, Favero Health Projects, Lionhealth, Respiraire, and AHSI.
Founder background
- ▪Cato hired Luisa Gamba from Amazon Business and absorbed the startup Avvista.ai in an acqui-hire during its pre-seed phase.
- ▪Andrea Zorzetto and Matteo Bossolini founded Cato in 2025, building a prototype in July 2025 and incorporating the company in September 2025.
- ▪Four of Cato's pre-seed investors had previously backed co-founder Andrea Zorzetto's failed LinkedIn reputation startup, Peoplerank, which closed in April 2025.
Competitive positioning risks
- ▪Cato's business model relies on national specificity as a moat, which remains a risk if rivals decide to localise for the Italian market.
- ▪Cato faces competition from better-funded European rivals, including Britain's Stotles, which raised a $13 million Series A, and the Netherlands' Altura, which closed an €8 million Series A.
Debatable claims
- ▪Italy should restrict the use of direct awards in public procurement
- ▪Digitizing public procurement reduces the administrative burden on bidding companies
- ▪AI-generated bids pose unacceptable risks in public procurement
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