acto raises EUR 3.7M seed to build the gold standard for active decision intelligence, starting in B2B sales

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Paderborn, Germany, 15 March 2024 – acto, which is at the forefront of active decision intelligence for B2B sales teams, has raised €3.7 million in seed funding. The round, led by 468 Capital and Cusp Capital, with continued support from adesso ventures, will be used to further the startup’s mission to help B2B companies use data more effectively and solve the problem of data silos.

Founded by Pascal Salmen and Andre Stollhans, acto helps B2B sales teams tackle the critical challenge of data handling and decentralisation, which can lead to staff being overloaded with complex, difficult-to-understand and hard-to-process data, a problem all too familiar to the duo from their extensive backgrounds in CRM and ERP system implementations.

acto's platform empowers sales teams in wholesale, logistics, and B2B consumables by providing active decision intelligence on top of internal legacy technology (such as CRMs and ERPs) and external data sources, turning data chaos into actionable insights and significantly boosting sales efficiency and revenue. In a world where 80 percent of insights into customer behaviour such as potential future sales or churn risk go unnoticed (leading to a potential 15 percent loss in annual revenue), acto proactively detects anomalies, threats, and opportunities within customer data.

Its features provide sales reps with ‘out of the box AI’ which delivers customised insights, prioritised by their potential impact on sales, complete with direct next steps. These insights are accessible through the acto interface or directly within the sales rep's CRM. The platform not only enables sales teams to focus on the most impactful actions but also automates sales quotes and emails, generates revenue optimization and cross-selling opportunities, and seamlessly integrates with ERP systems and legacy technologies to expedite sales activities.

According to Fortune Business Intelligence, the active decision intelligence market is projected to grow from $14.66 billion in 2023 to $44.63 billion by 2030. acto’s offering stands out through its unique scoring model, proprietary data set, and a user-friendly interface focused on essential, prioritised signals, coupled with robust automation workflows.

‍Pascal Salmen, co-founder of acto, said:

‍‍"In a rapidly evolving market, B2B sales teams are drowning in a sea of data and customer information from BI dashboards, KPI cards, and spreadsheets, struggling to surface the critical insights on customer behaviour and leverage the vast amounts of data at their fingertips.

“Our partnership with leading investors 468 Capital and Cusp Capital enables us to accelerate our mission to transform data interaction within B2B sales, making every decision impactful."

‍Bardo Droege, investor at 468 Capital, said: 
"acto's ability to sift through the noise and deliver precise, actionable decision suggestions is not just enhancing sales efficiency, but also has the potential to augment any function in an organisation, such as logistics or procurement."‍

‍“It is therefore well positioned to completely change the way companies leverage data - connecting data silos and substantially driving tangible business outcomes, and eliminating the guesswork by empowering decision makers to actively decide.‍“

"We are confident that acto's unique approach has the potential to set the gold standard in high-stake and high-volume decision augmentation.”‍

‍Matthias Müller, General Partner at Cusp Capital, said: 
“Instead of trying to replace well-integrated legacy technology (i.e., ERP & CRM systems), acto enables businesses to turn their vast quantities of untapped data into actionable insights – hassle free. We believe this to be a game-changer for pressured SMEs powered by an exceptional team.”

‍The fresh influx of capital, which also includes funding from another.vc and several experienced business angels such as Benedikt Franke (Planetly) and Niklas Hellemann (SoSafe), will be used to fuel acto's growth and operations, including investing in the product roadmap, onboarding new customers, and expanding the team to further disrupt how B2B companies interact with data. 

Additionally, acto is developing technology to augment customer data with data from the open web, elevating the quality of acto's scoring model and insight prioritisation by leveraging external data.

acto has already seen traction and includes Rhenus Logistics and Schäfer Shop as customers. Right now acto’s focus is on helping sales teams. In the future its products will help business teams in other areas such as procurement and logistics. 

‍Joachim Bach, VP Sales International, Schäfer Shop, said:

‍‍“acto's AI saves our sales teams up to eight hours every week - meaning they are more productive and spend less time analysing data and more time with the right customers.”

About acto

acto is a leading provider of active decision intelligence. By integrating AI with legacy technology systems, acto transforms data overload into active decision intelligence insights, enhancing sales productivity and effectiveness. Founded by Pascal Salmen and Andre Stollhans, acto is on a mission to change how B2B companies augment decision making, driving revenue growth and operational efficiency, starting with sales before expanding to other organisational functions, such as logistics or procurement. Visit heyacto.com for more information.

About 468 Capital‍

468 Capital is a technology investment firm focused on supporting entrepreneurs with global ambitions. Founded in 2020, the firm invests in category defining businesses. The team has a history of building, operating and investing in successful technology companies. Dual-headquartered in Berlin and San Francisco, 468 Capital provides strategic and financial support to entrepreneurs looking to grow their businesses internationally. 468 Capital was the first institutional investor in Aleph Alpha, which recently raised $500 million.

About Cusp Capital

Cusp Capital is a venture capital firm focused on European software and technology. The fund invests in early-stage companies on the cusp of redefining their industries by channelling new socioeconomic and technological paradigms. The Cusp Capital team members are long-time contributors to the technology ecosystem. Over the last fifteen years, they have invested more than € 600m in companies such as Zalando, Delivery Hero, Klarna, Scalable Capital, data Artisans, Personio and SoSafe.

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acto's seed round in the media:

Business Punk: Die Zukunft des Mittelstands: Wie KI den Vertrieb revolutioniert

StartBase: acto mit 3,7 Millionen Euro Seed-Finanzierung

Tech EU: Acto raises €3.7M for sales decision intelligence platform

EU-Startups: German data startup acto lands €3.7 million to empower B2B sales teams with their active decision intelligence

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