Ukrainian-founded e-procurement platform Crown has raised €2 million in a pre-seed funding round led by HEARTFELT_, the startup told Vestbee. We spoke with founder Mykyta Voytenko to learn more about Crown's solution and what new it brings to the e-procurement industry.
About Crown
Founded in 2024 in Paris by Mykyta Voytenko, Crown is a B2B procurement technology company that simplifies the buying process with its online auction platform. The startup’s solution replaces outdated methods like spreadsheets and emails, enabling faster, more transparent, and efficient negotiations and allowing businesses to complete deals in just 20 minutes.
“Regular negotiations usually yield 3-4% savings, but an auction allows you to cut prices by 10%, which is 6% more. This directly impacts procurement teams' KPIs, motivating them to use the platform because it delivers real results,” Voytenko explains.
Referring to the Ukrainian public e-procurement system Prozorro, Voytenko argues that Eastern European countries, along with India, Turkey, and China, have made the most effective use of auctions. In contrast, he notes, there is no established culture of B2B online auctions in Western Europe and the US: “Europe and the US have not widely adopted auctions, perhaps due to a perception that they can be unethical or aggressive. My goal is to introduce auctions to these regions more ethically and transparently.”
To date, Crown’s platform has conducted over 200 successful auctions. The startup says its platform helped clients route nearly 50% of their spending through e-auctions. “Supermarket prices have risen significantly in recent years, partly due to COVID-induced shortages. As a result, prices are still 20-50% higher than pre-pandemic levels. This is where auctions play a key role. At Crown, we go beyond just price in our auctions. Leveraging AI, we evaluate various criteria, such as quality and delivery terms, ensuring the entire package aligns with the company’s needs,” he told Vestbee.
Details of the deal
HEARTFELT_, a Berlin-based VC firm that backs pre-seed startups founded in Europe and by European founders globally, led the pre-seed round.
"By reimagining negotiation through technology, Crown is not just optimizing processes but fundamentally changing how procurement teams deliver value. We're excited to support their mission to reshape the future of procurement," Founding Partner at HEARTFELT_, Joerg Rheinboldt, commented in a statement.
The investment also came from Kima Ventures, Backbone Ventures, Another.vc, Apok Invest, ZAS Ventures, Prequel VC, and Bpifrance. Notable business angels, including Dr Marcell Vollmer, ex-SAP Ariba COO, Christophe Villain, and Mario Götze, the World Cup-winning footballer, contributed to the round.
What’s next for Crown
Crown will use the €2 million to scale its electronic auction platform, enhance its AI technology, and expand its team. The funds will help accelerate growth, improve user experience, and drive the company's mission to modernize procurement.
“The procurement process involves launching tenders, evaluating them, analyzing, negotiating, signing contracts, and making payments. Traditional tools cover this process, but not very well. I want to focus on revolutionizing one key area, the negotiation, which is the core of procurement. From there, we’ll gradually add more features. Next, we're looking to use LLM technology to help analyze tenders. So, we’ll introduce it in a way that feels right for them. The goal is to help procurement teams use AI properly,” Voytenko says.
