Pactum, the Estonian-founded startup specialising in autonomous commercial negotiation, has raised $54 million in a Series C funding round, led by New York-based Insight Partners, in what is being hailed as the largest startup investment in Estonia this year.
The company, headquartered between Tallinn and San Francisco, develops AI agents capable of independently conducting complex supplier negotiations on behalf of multinational firms. Pactum’s technology is already used by more than 50 global enterprises, including Walmart and shipping giant Maersk.
The new round takes Pactum’s total funding to just over $109 million and marks a significant vote of confidence in the company’s vision of “Agentic AI” – a next-generation category of artificial intelligence systems capable of performing multi-step decision-making processes with minimal human oversight.
Arduous fundraising journey
In a statement, Kaspar Korjus, one of Pactum’s co-founders and a former director of Estonia’s e-residency programme, described the fundraising journey as both arduous and rewarding, involving over 100 meetings with potential investors across San Francisco, New York, London and Tallinn.
“This isn’t just another investment round,” Korjus said. “It’s a signal that Estonia is not only capable of building cutting-edge AI companies, but of scaling them into global category leaders.”
Insight Partners, which has previously backed the likes of Twitter, Shopify and Monday.com, brings deep expertise in scaling software firms. It joins existing investors including Atomico, Project A, 3VC, SuperAngel and Maersk Growth.
Negotiating in ten languages
Founded in 2019 by Kaspar Korjus, Kristjan Korjus and Martin Rand, Pactum has grown steadily from its early days as a bold experiment to a mature enterprise-grade software firm. It now employs teams across Estonia and the United States, with its engineering and AI development centred in Tallinn and Tartu.
Pactum’s AI agents currently negotiate in ten languages, including Japanese and Spanish, and are credited with facilitating billions of dollars in supplier value. The largest single autonomous deal negotiated to date is worth nearly $100 million, while the fastest was completed – without human input – in just 87 seconds.
The company has seen strong commercial momentum over the past year, adding new clients in manufacturing and other sectors, and posting a 270 per cent increase in platform usage. Clients typically see results within two months of implementation, with many reporting significant savings as well as improved supplier engagement.
While much of the attention in AI has focused on language models and image generation, Pactum’s success points to a new frontier: intelligent agents that not only process information but act upon it autonomously. This shift, long predicted within the AI community, is now being realised in practical, revenue-generating applications.
Pactum’s origins lie in a pilot project with a Spanish taxi firm, but it was its deployment with Walmart that marked its breakthrough. There, the AI not only delivered measurable cost reductions but also improved supplier relationships – demonstrating that automation could support, rather than replace, human decision-making.
“No longer a startup”
In a personal reflection following the announcement, Korjus acknowledged the emotional strain of the journey, including moments of exhaustion and doubt, but expressed pride in the resilience of his team and gratitude to his partner, Karen, who he credited as a personal and professional pillar.
“This time, I won’t say ‘this is just the beginning’,” he wrote. “Pactum is no longer a startup – it’s a high-growth technology company. And for once, I’m taking time to look around, not just ahead.”
For Estonia, the deal represents more than just a boost in foreign capital. It confirms the country’s status as a serious player in the global AI race and underscores the ability of a small nation to develop technologies that transform how the world’s largest companies do business.
