YC S26 · SaaS Challenger

80% of industrial procurement
bypasses control.
StandBuy captures it.

AI procurement for critical infrastructure. Live at a €4B European water utility. €48M/year target upside.

"Our incumbent procurement suite isn't keeping up: slow on the AI side, slow on responsiveness. We needed a faster path."

Procurement Director & Cash Performance Director

COMEX Member · €4B European water utility

Pilot deployment in 2026

app.standbuy.tech · Lighthouse client · Lyon · target post-deployment

Catalogue rate

43%

↑ +26pp vs baseline

Processing time

18s

↓ from 35 minutes

Bypass alerts

↓ from 142 last month

Field Intake Agent · live

Besoin de 20m PVC DN100 vendredi matin chantier Lyon Vaise

✓ Match · Wolseley ref. PVC-DN100-20 · €3.40/m · delivery Thursday

PVC DN100 (Wolseley, negotiated). 20m = €68. Delivery Thu 08:00. Confirm?

The 12-month plan

Coexist. Capture. Replace.

No rip-and-replace. Front-end on top, capture the workflows, system of record at renewal.

M0–3 · Coexist

90-day pilot on your stack

1 region, 1 category. Field intake + matcher live. No rip.

M3–9 · Capture

Workflows migrate

RFQ + 3-way matching + contract intelligence ship inside StandBuy. Legacy becomes plumbing.

M9–12 · Replace

Renewal decision

Full source-to-pay. Legacy license optional at renewal. ACV halved.

Vision

Industrial procurement is a write-only system.
We close the loop.

From a wedge today to the procurement OS for European critical infrastructure.

Now · 2026–27

Capture the leak.

Field-first AI intake on top of any procurement suite. 17% → 80% catalogue rate. €548M of leaked spend recaptured at one anchor.

3 years · 2028–29

Become the system of record.

Supplier 360, contract intelligence, dynamic catalogue, negotiation copilot. Replace Coupa/Ariba/Ivalua at renewal.

10 years · 2030+

The procurement OS for critical infrastructure.

Cross-customer benchmarks, vertical marketplace, ESG / scope-3 carbon. Every interaction makes the next one smarter.

European water utility market

30 utilities, 10 countries.
~€10–15B procurement TAM core.

Same pain pattern across the EU. Each utility runs €100–300M of annual procurement.

France · 3

Veolia Eau FR €3.2B · Suez Eau FR €2.1B · SEDIF €430M

UK · 11

Thames £2.4B · Severn Trent £2.2B · United Utilities £2.1B · Scottish £1.8B · Anglian £1.6B · Yorkshire £1.3B · Southern £964M · Northumbrian £952M · Welsh £927M · South West £738M · Wessex £530M

Italy · 6

ACEA Group water €1.7B · Hera water €1.4B · ACEA Ato 2 €835M · AQP €800M · SMAT €603M · Gruppo CAP €525M

Iberia · 3

Aqualia (ES) €1.5B · Canal Isabel II (ES) €1.0B · Águas de Portugal €830M

DACH + BeNeLux · 4

Berliner Wasserbetriebe (DE) €1.3B · De Watergroep (BE) €838M · Hamburg Wasser (DE) €674M · Vitens (NL) €450M

North + East · 3

Uisce Éireann (IE) €1.6B · HOFOR Copenhagen (DK) €1.0B · PVK Prague (CZ) €496M

30 utilities × ~€100–300M procurement each = €10–15B core procurement TAM

+15 MAYBE band brings total to €17–20B · Floor: €400M revenue · Last verified May 2026

Live demo

See it in action.

StandBuy● Live

AI Parse · Live

ProductPVC DN100

Quantity20 metres

DeadlineFriday 08:00

SiteLyon Vaise

ProjectALPHA-12

Match✓ Wolseley · €68

StatusReady to order

Catalogue rate

43%

↑ +26pp vs baseline

Orders / month

1,247

↑ +18%

Avg processing

18s

↓ from 35min

Bypass alerts

↓ from 142

Catalogue rate by category

% through negotiated catalogue

Electrical

71%

€140M

Piping

58%

€220M

Mechanical

43%

€180M

Steel

18%

€280M

Catalogue utilization trend

Projected trajectory · baseline 17% measured pre-deployment

Item	Requested by	Suppliers	Best quote	Savings
Pompe centrifuge 15kW	K. Bernard · Paris	5/5	€3,420 Grundfos	−11%
Armoire électrique IP65	T. Rousseau · Bordeaux	3/5	€2,100 Legrand	−4%
Débitmètre électromagn.	M. Leroy · Toulouse	2/5	Waiting…	-

Pricing

Earn trust on outcome.
Scale on transaction.

Year 1 outcome-aligned. Year 2+ per-buyer SaaS. Close in 60 days vs 18 months for legacy.

Pilot · 90 days

€75k flat · refundable

17% → 50% catalogue rate, or full refund.

Year 1 · Coexist

1–2% of net savings

€300k–€1M ACV typical. You expense a fraction of what you save.

Year 2+ · Standalone

Per buyer / transaction

Replace the legacy suite at renewal. Net cheaper than the legacy stack.

Team

Three founders.
Industrial AI, ops, and engineering.

Aravinthan Krishnakumar

CEO

École Polytechnique (X19). 2.5 years strategy consultant at Oliver Wyman. Spent the last year deploying AI procurement agents inside European industrial groups.

Nicolas Fleury

CTO

École Polytechnique (X20). MSc in quantum physics, PhD-track research background. Builds production AI systems end-to-end: retrieval, agent orchestration, evaluation, infra.

Bastien Englebert

CPO

École Polytechnique (X22). 10+ hackathon wins. Ships fast across the stack: frontend, agents, integrations.

Based in Paris · contact@standbuy.tech

#15 AI OS for Companies #11 SaaS Challengers #07 AI Guidance for Physical Work #04 Company Brain

17,000 companies won't migrate.
They need an alternative.

Gartner, June 2025. Only 39% of SAP ECC clients migrated in 15 years. The other 61% are looking for something better.

YC S26 Request for Startups

"Go after the products that seem invulnerable: ERPs, industrial control systems. The giant, 10-million-line codebases that have been untouchable for decades."

Field Intake Agent

DEMO TENANT · LYON · M. DUPONT (Agent terrain)

Quick presets

AI Parse · Live

ProductPVC DN100

Qty20 metres

DeadlineFriday 08:00

SiteLyon Vaise

ProjectALPHA-12

Match✓ Wolseley · €68

StatusReady to order

Catalogue rate

43% ↑ +26pp

Orders

DEMO TENANT · ALL SITES · LAST 30 DAYS

Catalogue rate

43%

↑ +26pp

Orders / month

1,247

↑ +18%

Avg processing

18s

↓ from 35min

Bypass alerts

↓ from 142

Recent EDBs (Expressions de Besoin)

EDB	Item	Agent	Site	Amount	Source	Status

Spend Analytics

DEMO TENANT · €1B ANNUAL · LIVE

Bypass Alert · Steel

€2.3M off-catalogue this month. ArcelorMittal contract available at −18% vs spot.

€2.3M

Catalogue rate by category

% through negotiated catalogue

Electrical

71%

€140M

Piping

58%

€220M

Mechanical

43%

€180M

Steel

18%

€280M

Catalogue utilization trend

System deployed week 1 · baseline 17%

RFQ Inbox

3 AUTO-GENERATED · auto-RFQ when no catalogue match

AI sent to 5 suppliers each

Open RFQs

Item	By	Replies	Best quote	Savings

Supplier 360

DEMO TENANT · 847 ACTIVE · KNOWLEDGE GRAPH

Active suppliers

847

vs 1,240 last year

Avg delivery

91%

↑ +4pp

Expiring 90d

Action required

Risk flags

Financial health

Top suppliers by spend

Supplier	Category	Spend	Delivery	Contract	Risk
Wolseley France	Piping	€42.3M	94%	Mar 2027	Low
ArcelorMittal	Steel	€38.1M	78%	42 days	Med
Schneider Electric	Electrical	€31.7M	97%	Jun 2027	Low
GF Piping	Piping	€18.4M	71%	Aug 2026	High ⚠

Catalogue

12,847 REFS · AUTO-UPDATING

AI Suggestion

47 off-catalogue refs ordered 3+ times this month. Adding them captures €2.1M in additional spend.

References

Ref	Description	Supplier	Unit price	Orders 30d	Status
PVC-DN100-20	PVC DN100 / m	Wolseley	€3.40/m	134	Active
VAN-DN150-B	Vanne gate DN150	AVK	€310/pc	28	Active
PUMP-CF-15K	Pompe centrifuge 15kW	-	RFQ	4	Suggested

80% of industrial procurementbypasses control.StandBuy captures it.

17,000 companies won't migrate.They need an alternative.

80% of industrial procurement
bypasses control.
StandBuy captures it.

17,000 companies won't migrate.
They need an alternative.