Freehand Raises $75M to Automate Enterprise Payments
Freehand raised $75 million to scale its autonomous artificial intelligence (AI) agents that manage supply chain spend for global enterprises.
These agents automate procurement, supplier management, invoicing and payments, the company said in a Wednesday (July 29) press release.
The agents can negotiate rates, enforce contracts, manage suppliers, process payments and reconcile data within enterprise systems, according to the release.
Freehand’s AI platform has already been deployed by companies such as Meta, Unilever, Johnson & Johnson, Dunkin’, Pfizer and Cardinal Health, according to the release.
In these deployments, the platform is delivering measurable improvements in savings and workflows, together with reduced reliance on outsourcing and legacy software. The results include recovering 5% to 10% of spend in complex categories, completing workflows five to seven times faster, shortening procure-to-pay cycles by more than 70%, and allowing companies to redeploy teams and wind down outsourcing, the release said.
Nitin Jayakrishnan, co-founder and CEO of Freehand, said in the release that the company’s AI agents “decide, act and take accountability for outcomes.”
Abhijeet Manohar, co-founder of Freehand, said in the release: “Shifting from building software for the user to building software that is the user meant we could drive far deeper transformation for our customers.”
Freehand’s latest funding round was co-led by Battery Ventures and NewRoad Capital Partners.
Battery Ventures General Partner Dharmesh Thakker said in the release that because Freehand’s agents have enterprise context, make decisions and take actions, they unlock “millions in savings for enterprises.”
Gregoire Lehmann, partner at NewRoad Capital Partners, said in the release that Freehand’s customers are achieving measurable business outcomes and that NewRoad believes the company is “well positioned to become the category leader in AI-native supply chain spend management.”
The PYMNTS Intelligence report “The Investment Impact of GenAI Operating Standards on Enteprise Adoption“ found that 73% of enterprises now use or are considering using generative AI to enhance procurement efficiency.
Larger enterprises, particularly those generating $10 billion or more in revenue, show the highest rates of exploring the technology, according to the report.
PYMNTS reported Monday (July 27) that procurement is leading enterprise AI adoption and that AI agents are already negotiating supplier contracts, processing purchase orders and closing deals on behalf of major corporations.
