France’s Crown secures €2M: Founder and CEO Mykyta Voytenko on reshaping procurement through eAuctions, and more

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On Tuesday, Paris-based Crown, a company specialising in procurement negotiations with e-auction technology, announced that it has raised €2M in its pre-seed funding round.

The round was led by Heartfelt, with participation from Kima Ventures, Backbone Ventures, Another.vc, Apok Invest, ZAS Ventures, Prequel VC and Bpifrance.

The round also included contributions from notable business angels such as  Dr. Marcell Vollmer, former COO of SAP Ariba; Christophe VIllain, Global Head of Supply Chain & Procurement Technology at Nestlé; and Mario Götze, professional athlete and business angel.

Crown: A new approach to procurement

Mykyta Voytenko founded Crown to create a new approach to procurement technology by focusing on negotiation as the main part of the process.

Born in Kyiv, Ukraine, and now based in Paris, Mykyta is a seasoned industry expert with over 15 years of experience in international supply chain and procurement.  

He also teaches procurement at KEDGE Business School’s MAI (Master in International Purchasing), one of Europe’s leading programs in this field.

Structuring procurement negotiations

Procurement professionals often rely on basic tools like Excel and Outlook, which fail to address their primary objective: achieving measurable savings.

Crown wants to address this problem via user-friendly technology — Electronic auction.

Through eAuctions, Crown helps buyers and suppliers to negotiate more efficiently.

Talking about the inspiration behind founding Crown to Silicon Canals, Mykyta Voytenko says, “Procurement is one of the largest cost centres in businesses, yet negotiation—the heart of procurement—remains outdated, manual, and inefficient.”

Having led strategic initiatives at companies such as Nestlé, Engie, and Sanofi, Mykyta has conducted more than 300 eAuctions for top-tier FMCG companies.

“For 30 years, eAuctions have been misused as a tool to aggressively push down prices, often at the cost of long-term supplier relationships. I wanted to reshape the way auctions are used—not as a weapon, but as a structured, ethical, and transparent negotiation tool,” he continues.

“I wanted to bring structure to procurement negotiations, allowing buyers and suppliers to finalise deals in 20 minutes while ensuring fairness and competition,” he adds.

After training over 2,500 procurement professionals, who repeatedly emphasised the need for modern, technology-driven tools to replace outdated methods, he recognised a clear gap in the industry.

Thus Crown was born.

Crown streamlines the process with a proven proprietary eAuction methodology, claiming to deliver consistent results.

Ensuring ethical auction

e-auction process enables suppliers and buyers to finalise negotiations in just 20 minutes through Crown’s platform. However, the company has layers of key practices to ensure ethical auctions. 

It includes:

  • Structured Processes: Buyers invite qualified suppliers, define clear award criteria, and communicate expectations upfront—removing uncertainty.
  • Supplier Engagement: Suppliers have full visibility on bidding rules, ranking, and decision factors in real-time, ensuring clarity and fair competition.
  • Post-Auction Transparency: Buyers receive detailed reports, while suppliers receive feedback, creating a fair and structured environment that builds trust over time.
  • Code of Conduct. The company collaborates with the clients to develop a Code of Conduct that must be accepted before the eAuction takes place, recognised by both buyers and suppliers.

Made for B2B industries

The company’s platform is designed specifically to serve B2B industries with structured, competitive supplier markets where negotiation plays a key role in procurement.

Since its inception, the company has implemented eAuction programs with four clients, enabling them to route nearly 50 per cent of their spending through eAuctions.

Moreover, Crown claims to have delivered 9 per cent savings on average for its clients.

Currently, the company focuses on three main sectors:

  • Manufacturing – Sourcing raw materials, components, and packaging).
  • FMCG (Fast-Moving Consumer Goods) – Supplier negotiations for packaging, ingredients, and logistics.
  • Pharma & Healthcare – Procurement of medical equipment and raw materials.

Building AI-powered procurement suite

“While Crown’s focus today is on eAuctions, our long-term vision is to build a full AI-powered procurement suite,” says Mykyta.

The features include:

  • Pre-eAuction Category Analysis:  Not all sales are suitable for eAuctions; the emphasis is on high-impact, low-risk, and competitive markets. Currently, the team conducts workshops to assess spending needs and identify eAuction opportunities. In the future, AI will automate this analysis, recommending the best negotiation tools, including eAuctions.
  • Automated Auction Optimisation: AI helps procurement teams choose the best auction type and structure based on historical data.
  • Post-Auction Negotiation Insights: AI-driven analysis of supplier behaviour and pricing trends to optimise future negotiations.

“At Crown, we see auctions not as a weapon, but as a tool—one that, when used ethically, creates win-win outcomes for buyers and suppliers. We believe auctions are the most powerful negotiation tool when their core purpose is achieving fairness, value, and mutual success,” concludes Mykyta.

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Vigneshwar Ravichandran

Vigneshwar has been a News Reporter at Silicon Canals since 2018. A seasoned technology journalist with almost a decade of experience, he covers the European startup ecosystem, from AI and Web3 to clean energy and health tech. Previously, he was a content producer and consumer product reviewer for leading Indian digital media, including NDTV, GizBot, and FoneArena. He graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Electronics and Instrumentation in Chennai and a Diploma in Broadcasting Journalism in New Delhi.

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