German female founders take off with millions of US dollars and Dryft

Two German engineers want to turn the industrial software world on its head. With Dryft, a new platform for manufacturing companies, Anna-Julia Storch and Leonie Freisinger are developing an agentic operating system to replace existing ERP systems in the long term. Following a successful seed round of over 5 million US dollars, led by General Catalyst, the company is now officially launching from San Francisco.

AI meets mathematical precision

Dryft combines context-aware AI agents with mathematical optimization to make operational decisions in real time - from production planning to the supply chain. The aim is to automate complex manufacturing decisions that were previously manual and time-consuming.

Our aim is for users to no longer have to work directly with ERP systems. Dryft moves these systems into the background and independently takes over decisions along the entire production process.

Anna-Julia Storch, CEO Dryft

The founders are talking about a new software category called Enterprise Resource Automation, which adds automation, data networking and AI-based decision-making logic to traditional planning software.

Industry under pressure, Dryft sees a gap in the market

The platform meets an industry in transition. Production and supply chains have been suffering from high costs, bottlenecks and long waiting times for years. According to the World Bank, manufacturing industries account for around 16 percent of GDP worldwide, but digitalization often remains fragmented."We need to react faster - whether it's setting up new production capacities or ramping up defense projects," says Storch. Dryft is designed to help make manufacturing processes more dynamic, resilient and efficient.

From Stanford to the factory floor

Storch and Freisinger met at Stanford University and bring technical expertise from industry with them. Storch worked with automotive suppliers on data science solutions, while Freisinger developed safety systems for the Porsche Taycan. What they both have in common, they say, is a passion for speed and the physical world, from machines and robots to complex production systems.

Their team consists of experts from NASA, Siemens, Amazon and US universities such as MIT and Berkeley.

Investors see potential for paradigm shift

The funding of 5 million US dollars is led by General Catalyst. Other backers include Neo, Sandberg Bernthal Venture Partners, as well as well-known angels such as Sheryl Sandberg, Jeff Wilke (former Amazon), Claire Hughes Johnson (former Stripe) and Dr. Markus Flik (former CEO Behr, Homag, Chiron).

General Catalyst partner Robin Dechant describes Dryft as"the conductor who harmonizes every machine, every process and every team - even under changing conditions". Sheryl Sandberg adds:"Dryft is the product of two founders who know the problems of their industry first-hand - and solve them with technology."

Expansion and market entry

Dryft intends to use the fresh capital to further develop its platform, hire new engineers and accelerate its market launch. The first machine and component manufacturers are already using the system to automate production decisions.