Merchantee raises 1.8 million euros and automates marketplace trading with AI

The Czech start-up Merchantee has closed a financing round of 1.8 million euros. The round was led by Reflex Capital, with Czech Founders VC and Lighthouse Ventures also participating. The company intends to use the fresh capital to further develop its platform, connect new marketplaces and drive its expansion into key European markets.

Companies such as Philips, Lindt, SodaStream and Vilgain are already using the start-up's solution. According to Merchantee, its customers also include several hundred retailers in Central and Eastern Europe.

AI takes over thousands of decisions in online retail

European e-commerce is increasingly dominated by online marketplaces. More than 60 percent of European e-commerce volume is now handled by platforms such as Amazon, Allegro and other marketplace providers.

This creates enormous operational complexity for retailers. Prices have to be constantly adjusted, discount promotions evaluated and campaigns optimized. Thousands of individual decisions are often made every day, which until now have been made manually or with the help of rigid software rules.

The platform analyses market and competitor data, evaluates price trends, identifies suitable discount campaigns and implements optimizations directly. Unlike traditional repricing tools, the software is not limited to fixed rules, but makes independent decisions within the margin and budget targets defined by the retailer.

According to the company, this significantly reduces manual effort and allows e-commerce teams to focus more on strategy, product range and brand development.

From monitoring to autonomous execution

At the heart of the platform is an AI agent that brings together all relevant data at SKU level. Prices are automatically checked and adjusted every 30 to 60 minutes. At the same time, the system evaluates which products are suitable for marketplace campaigns and how stock can be optimally marketed.

Many retailers reach a growth limit at some point because the number of necessary decisions explodes. Merchantee takes on this operational complexity and makes professional marketplace management accessible to smaller teams.

Jakub Vraspír, CEO & Founder Merchantee

Expansion to Germany planned

With the funding, the start-up is pursuing an ambitious European strategy. Poland and Germany are to be opened up as early as 2026. France, the Netherlands and Italy are then on the roadmap. At the same time, Merchantee is working on integrations with the eMag, BOL and C-Discount marketplaces. This should increase the number of supported platforms to five by the end of 2026.

In the long term, the company is pursuing an even more far-reaching vision: the transition to so-called agent-to-agent commerce. This involves AI systems on the retailer side communicating directly with Merchantee's infrastructure and fully automating operational decisions.

Investors see infrastructure for the next generation of e-commerce

The operational experience of the founding team was particularly decisive for Reflex Capital. Founder Jakub Vraspír was previously involved in the development of Mall.cz, one of the first large marketplaces in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The investors therefore see Merchantee not only as a software provider, but also as a possible infrastructure for the European marketplace trade of the future.

With the fresh capital and well-known reference customers behind it, the company now wants to take the next step and expand its position as an AI control layer for European online marketplaces. Nevertheless, the question remains as to how Merchantee can adapt to the current challenges in the future. Especially with the new systems announced by Alphabet at the last Google I/O.