Freehand Raises USD 75 Mn to Expand AI Platform

Freehand, an AI startup focused on supply chain spend management, has raised USD 75 million in a funding round co-led by Battery Ventures and NewRoad Capital Partners. The round also saw participation of PSP Growth, founded by former US Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, Nexus Venture Partners and other investors.

The company said the funding will be used to expand its AI platform, which automates procurement, supplier management, invoice processing and payment workflows. Freehand’s AI agents are currently deployed at companies including Meta, Unilever, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Dunkin’ and Cardinal Health.

The company added the fresh funding will support product development, customer expansion and wider deployment of its AI agents as enterprises increasingly adopt automation across procurement, finance and supply chain operations.

The funding follows the company’s recent emergence from stealth. Freehand said changing tariffs, tax policies and immigration regulations are prompting enterprises to reduce dependence on traditional outsourcing models and adopt AI-led automation.

Based on early deployments, the company said customers have recovered 5-10% of spending in complex procurement categories, completed workflows five to seven times faster and reduced procure-to-pay cycle times by more than 70%. These gains have enabled companies to automate manual processes while allowing employees to focus on higher-value work.

At the core of the platform is Freehand’s proprietary Category Context Graph, which combines enterprise data with information from contracts, invoices and business communications. The company said the system enables its AI agents to make decisions with greater context while maintaining an audit trail for every action.

Matt Algar, Global VP of Supply Chain at Unilever, said: “Freehand marks one of the first full-scale agentic deployments at Unilever and is an early anchor in the shift from software that assists to software that runs our supply chain.”

Nitin Jayakrishnan, Co-founder and CEO of Freehand, said: “Enterprises spend $16 billion a year on supply chain software and another $348 billion hiring people to do what this software cannot. We built Freehand to close that gap – with AI Agents that decide, act and take accountability for outcomes. This is the beginning of true autonomy in the enterprise.”

Dharmesh Thakker, General Partner at Battery Ventures, who is joining Freehand’s board, added: “Unlike co-pilots that simply answer questions, Freehand’s Agents have enterprise context, make decisions and take actions this agency unlocks millions in savings for enterprises.”