Enterprise AI startup Freehand has secured $75 million in a Series B funding round, led by Battery Ventures and NewRoad Capital Partners, to scale its autonomous AI agents that manage complex supply chain spend and back-office operations for Fortune 500 companies. The round also included participation from Nexus Venture Partners and former U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker.

What You Need to Know

Freehand's Series B brings total funding to $100 million, a significant step up from its $25 million Series A closed in March 2024. The company was founded by enterprise logistics veterans Nitin Jayakrishnan and Abhijeet Manohar, who previously built and sold Pando, a SaaS transportation management system. The funding arrives as tariffs, taxes and immigration policy strain traditional outsourcing models, and as venture capital flows into supply chain and logistics startups reach a three-year high.

Logistics Roots and AI Ambitions

Freehand was founded in February 2024 by Jayakrishnan and Manohar, two entrepreneurs who spent years building Pando, a SaaS platform for large enterprise logistics. In early 2024, as AI transformation accelerated, they stepped away from operational roles at Pando to focus entirely on agentic AI. Pando continued under a new executive team and was sold to a strategic buyer in early 2026, marking a complete shareholder exit for the founders.

The founders' experience convinced them that existing back-office systems were ripe for disruption. Jayakrishnan described the supply chain industry as an archaic dinosaur, and said Freehand aims to leapfrog legacy technology by deploying AI agents that can autonomously handle procurement, invoice processing and spend management.

Market Context and Funding Surge

Freehand's fundraise lands amid an uptick in venture funding to supply chain and logistics-related startups. According to Crunchbase data, 2026 is on pace to deliver the strongest year since 2022, with $6.2 billion raised by such companies in the first half of this year across 350 deals. The broader macro environment, including tariffs, taxes and immigration policy, is forcing corporations to rethink their supply chain strategies.

  • Tariffs and trade uncertainty: Companies are seeking more flexible, automated approaches to manage cross-border spend.
  • Labor cost pressures: Rising wages in traditional outsourcing hubs are driving interest in AI-driven back-office solutions.
  • Technology maturity: Advances in agentic AI make it feasible to automate complex, multi-step procurement workflows.

Why This Matters

Freehand's Series B signals a broader shift in enterprise software: the move from passive analytics to autonomous execution. For Fortune 500 companies, the ability to automate supply chain spend directly impacts margins and agility. If Freehand's AI agents can replace manual processes in procurement and finance, it could reshape the $10 trillion global supply chain management market. The timing also matters: as trade policy becomes more volatile, companies that can adapt quickly through AI-driven systems will have a competitive advantage.

What's Next for Freehand

Jayakrishnan said the new capital will be used to expand engineering, particularly in AI model training and integration with enterprise resource planning systems. The company also plans to double its go-to-market team to target more Fortune 500 clients. While Freehand declined to reveal its valuation, Jayakrishnan called it a significant step up from the Series A. With total funding now at $100 million, Freehand is positioned as one of the best-funded startups in the enterprise AI supply chain space.