Benedikt Nolte, Co-founder and CEO at Plato: Announcing their $14.5m seed after 10x growth last year episode artwork

EPISODE · Feb 19, 2026 · 21 MIN

Benedikt Nolte, Co-founder and CEO at Plato: Announcing their $14.5m seed after 10x growth last year

from Scaling Europe · host Sebastian Johnson

Wholesale distribution is one of the largest parts of the economy, and much of it still runs on manual sales processes inside legacy ERP systems.Plato is building AI software that helps distributors spot missed sales in their own data and automatically turn emails and PDFs into quotes and orders.The company grew 10x over the past year across the DACH region and I sat down with Benedikt Nolte, Co-founder and CEO at Plato, to talk about building in the industry he grew up in.The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel – check them out here:https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjkTimestamps:0:13 - Plato raises seed round from Atomico2:12 - Personal connection to wholesale distribution4:21 - 10x growth since last funding round7:02 - Current economic situation in Germany8:11 - Optimism for growth in Germany10:28 - Government funding boosting the economy12:01 - Defense spending and its impact on growth14:07 - Increasing average basket value for customers15:00 - Expanding to international markets17:00 - Exploring distribution opportunities in the US19:00 - Transitioning from VC to founding a startup

Wholesale distribution is one of the largest parts of the economy, and much of it still runs on manual sales processes inside legacy ERP systems.Plato is building AI software that helps distributors spot missed sales in their own data and automatically turn emails and PDFs into quotes and orders.The company grew 10x over the past year across the DACH region and I sat down with Benedikt Nolte, Co-founder and CEO at Plato, to talk about building in the industry he grew up in.The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel – check them out here:https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjkTimestamps:0:13 - Plato raises seed round from Atomico2:12 - Personal connection to wholesale distribution4:21 - 10x growth since last funding round7:02 - Current economic situation in Germany8:11 - Optimism for growth in Germany10:28 - Government funding boosting the economy12:01 - Defense spending and its impact on growth14:07 - Increasing average basket value for customers15:00 - Expanding to international markets17:00 - Exploring distribution opportunities in the US19:00 - Transitioning from VC to founding a startup

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Benedikt Nolte, Co-founder and CEO at Plato: Announcing their $14.5m seed after 10x growth last year

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Wholesale distribution is one of the largest parts of the economy, and much of it still runs on manual sales processes inside legacy ERP systems.Plato is building AI software that helps distributors spot missed sales in their own data and...

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