Dashmote raises €5.4 million for an overlooked AI market

The brothers Dennis and Stefan Tan founded Dashmote in 2015, but not as a field sales company. They started with image recognition for stock photos. That market turned out to be too small and crowded. An intermediary step, identifying hair trends on social media for Philips, also did not lead to a breakthrough. Until they directed their technology at an unexpected target group: the field representatives of large beverage brands.

From Stock Photos to Beer Taps

The pivot came when customers kept returning. A CEO of a major client emailed his entire board about Dashmote, and suddenly the company expanded from one country to thirty. [2]

The problem they solve is universal for brands with field services. You plan at headquarters how your product should be presented, but you can't check ten thousand locations daily. How much shelf space do you have at Albert Heijn? Is the right price listed on the restaurant menu? Is your product name spelled correctly on a delivery app? Brand managers, sales directors, and retail execution teams all struggle with the same question: does reality match the plan?

The image recognition that once sorted stock photos now scans taps, refrigerators, store shelves, and menus. A representative takes a photo of a bar, and the AI tells how many taps belong to their brand, which competitors are present, and if there is room for an additional flavor. But the platform does more. It combines data from Google Maps, TripAdvisor, social media, and food delivery platforms into a daily list of leads, personalized to the rep's region, the brand's strategy, and even local events. The idea: the representative gets into the car in the morning and knows exactly where to go and what to say.

"The reason people choose this job is because they enjoy talking to people and helping hospitality entrepreneurs grow. But then you apply as a field rep and find out you're becoming an administrator." [2]

The Iron Man Approach

What sets Dashmote apart from American competitors like SPOTIO, Badger Maps, and Repsly is the philosophy. These tools primarily focus on routing and CRM functionality. Dashmote goes a step further with what they internally call the "Iron Man suit": technology that enhances rather than replaces. [2]

In early conversations with major clients, the founders deliberately left out the word AI. They simply demonstrated what the product did. Dennis Tan: "People appreciate it when something magical can happen, as long as they feel they remain in control." [2] This approach worked. Clients thought Dashmote had three hundred employees. It was twelve.

Customer retention reflects this. The company reports nearly zero churn, exceptional for a SaaS company. The explanation lies in measurability: representatives using the tool demonstrably perform better than colleagues without it. This makes the business case for procurement straightforward.

The Netherlands as a Springboard

The new funding, led by Rabobank and the American Blossom Street Ventures, brings the total to €13 million. [1] The money goes to three things: further development of DashSalesAI, an AI agent that thinks along with the rep via WhatsApp; accessibility for SMEs that were too expensive for years; and expansion in the United States.

The choice of Rabobank as an investor is strategic. The bank knows the food and agri-sector from the inside, precisely the market where Dashmote has its largest clients: AB InBev, Coca-Cola, Nestlé. [1] But the ambition goes further. The technology proves applicable in pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and real estate. Everywhere professionals work in the field and need real-time information.

The Netherlands plays a special role in this. Large multinationals use the country as a testing ground for innovation. If a solution works here, rollout to dozens of other markets follows. The Tan brothers, operating from New York and Asia while the team is in Amsterdam, are active as mentors at Techleap and StartupBootcamp. They know the path from Dutch startup to international scale-up.

The Lesson from the Underside

For other startups, there's a lesson in Dashmote's story. Not every opportunity lies in the latest hype. Sometimes the biggest market is right where no one is looking. Field sales were ignored for years by the automation wave, while it remains one of the most important revenue channels for international companies. [1]

The future Dashmote envisions goes even further. AI agents independently calling restaurants to make appointments. Integration with smart glasses so routes and customer information appear in the field of vision. [2] Whether that remains science fiction or becomes reality depends on the same question that has driven the company from the beginning: does it solve a real problem for people willing to pay for it?

So far, the answer is yes.

Willem Blom
Founder Dutchstartup.ai