The French startup Pivot has an intriguing narrative as it experiences rapid growth in spite of a decline in startup investments across Europe. Following a successful $5.3 million pre-seed round in April (€5 million), the company dedicated the summer to developing the initial version of its procurement tool.

In September, Pivot commenced sales of its software solution to its inaugural clients, receiving highly positive feedback. Consequently, the startup is now securing an additional $21.6 million (€20 million) in a fresh Series A round from existing investors, notably Visionaries, Emblem, Anamcara, and Oliver Samwer.

Pivot distinguishes itself as a modern spend management solution purportedly outperforming Oracle NetSuite’s procurement component or Coupa. Unlike relying on protracted integration processes, Pivot strives to integrate seamlessly with existing financial stacks and ERPs. Administrators can then tailor Pivot to their requirements, ensuring user-friendly purchase order forms, simplifying comprehension for employees.

Pivot features a no-code interface for constructing internal workflows related to purchase orders. For instance, triggering validation rules when the price exceeds a specific threshold. Moreover, utilizing the company’s organizational chart, Pivot can notify other employees through platforms like Slack or Microsoft Teams.

CEO Romain Libeau expressed surprise at the rapid fundraising, stating, “We hadn’t planned to raise so quickly, and we still have most of the funds from the initial round. With another €20 million in the bank, we can change the plan and be much more ambitious on recruitment to build the vision of our product and get known faster. It was our speed of execution that convinced the investors to do this round so quickly.”

The co-founders, with experience in major tech companies, are leveraging their knowledge for strategic use of the new funding. The CEO, a former early employee at Swile and chief product officer for a French unicorn, highlights the startup's commitment to swift growth. Pivot plans to expand its team to 50 members by year-end and aims to double in size annually for the next two years.  

“We’ve set ourselves a target of €1 million in [annual recurring revenue] over the course of 2024 — as soon as possible,” Libeau said.

Despite having 10 clients by the end of the year, Pivot, as an enterprise SaaS product, focuses on future potential, and investors likely place substantial value on the team’s track record.