Wholesale distribution has a well-known sales problem. Field reps spend most of their time on admin – preparing quotes, logging call notes, sorting through ERP data – rather than actually selling. Plato, a Berlin-based ai sales intelligence platform founded by Benedikt Nolte, Matthias Heinrich Morales, and Oliver Birch, is tackling this with agent-based AI that plugs directly into existing ERP systems.
The company recently closed a $14.5 million seed round led by Atomico, with Cherry Ventures, D11Z Ventures, and Discovery Ventures joining in. The timing matters. The wholesale AI software market is moving fast, and Plato’s vertical focus on distributors puts it in a specific, underserved niche.
The Sales Problem:
The distribution sector faces compounding pressure – labor shortages, thin margins, a stagnating economy, and rising digital expectations from modern B2B buyers. Most wholesalers still run sales teams reactively. A customer calls, the rep responds. There’s little time left for proactive outreach when a significant portion of a rep’s day goes to administrative tasks.
This is the exact gap Plato targets.
How Plato Works:
Plato connects to a company’s existing ERP as a sales intelligence add-on. It doesn’t replace the ERP – it layers AI analysis and automated workflows on top of it. The platform processes thousands of customer signals to surface the most relevant sales opportunities, flagging which accounts are at risk of churn, which are ready for upsell, and which products fit each customer’s purchase history. Sales teams get an AI copilot that proactively identifies risks and opportunities using agent-based AI that unlocks data already sitting inside the ERP but rarely acted on.
For inside sales teams, Plato automates quote generation and order proposals. For field reps, it reduces pre- and post-visit admin so more time goes toward customer conversations. The platform claims up to 15% revenue uplift through AI-driven recommendations, 5 hours saved per week per employee, and 8x ROI after implementation.
The Founder-problem fit:
CEO Benedikt Nolte co-founded Plato alongside Matthias Heinrich Morales and Oliver Birch after experiencing these inefficiencies firsthand in his family’s distribution business. That context shapes how specifically the product is scoped. It’s not a generic CRM or a repurposed sales tool. It’s built around how wholesale actually operates – SKU complexity, multi-location inventory, and high-volume orders included. Andreas Helbig, Partner at Atomico, noted that the team’s combination of deep industry knowledge and technical execution is what stood out most during the investment process.
Where this Fits in a Broader Shift:
In the 2025-2026 period, several funding rounds have gone into AI-enabled trade, wholesale, and B2B operational platforms across Europe, with Germany emerging as one of the active hubs in this segment. Plato’s wholesale-specific focus, combined with deep ERP integration, separates it from general sales automation tools like Salesforce or HubSpot add-ons that don’t account for the specific complexities of distribution. Wholesale distribution handles roughly one-fifth of global production flows yet still runs largely on aging ERP systems and manual quoting workflows that haven’t meaningfully evolved in years. Vertical AI – software built specifically for one industry’s workflows rather than adapted from a horizontal tool – is filling that gap.
What’s next for Plato:
With $14.5 million in seed funding and Atomico on the cap table, Plato’s next phase is international expansion. The product roadmap extends beyond sales intelligence into customer service and procurement automation, broadening the platform’s role across the wholesale value chain. For those exploring AI-powered ERP integrations or wholesale sales automation, Plato’s approach to layering intelligence on top of existing systems – rather than requiring a full stack replacement – keeps the barrier to adoption low. The company plans to expand first across Europe and then into the US market.
