This story is from October 2, 2026. For the latest, see today's news.
In a video conversation, a16z's Seema Amble and Elena Burger interview Vladimir Keil, co-founder and CEO of Lio, an AI startup targeting enterprise procurement. Keil explains how AI-native companies can win against entrenched software vendors that control customer relationships and data. The advantage lies in automating work that happens outside traditional ERP systems—hundreds of emails, spreadsheets, supplier negotiations, and cross-functional decisions that don't show up in a final invoice line item.
Lio deploys multi-agent AI systems to handle the full procurement workflow: sourcing, requests for quotation, negotiation, shipment tracking, and invoicing. The conversation covers how enterprises build trust in making consequential business decisions, why the final stages of internal AI development consume disproportionate effort, and the emerging dynamics when both buyers and suppliers deploy agents on their own behalf.
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