Patrick Thelen is co-founder and CEO of Procuros, the Hamburg-based AI-native supply chain connectivity platform. Procuros lets retailers, brands and suppliers connect once and exchange orders, invoices and other trade documents with all their trading partners, regardless of system or format. That gives AI agents the reliable data foundation they need to automate B2B transactions. In October 2026, Procuros raised a €20 million Series A led by XAnge, with participation from Point Nine, Creandum, b2venture and SquareOne. Before founding Procuros, Patrick worked as a consultant at Boston Consulting Group. He holds a Master of Engineering in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from UC Berkeley. Alongside Procuros, he co-founded doin’ good, a non-profit providing hands-on education to underserved communities. In this keynote, he shares what building connectivity for autonomous supply chains has taught the Procuros team.