Munich Startup: What does your startup do? What problem do you solve?
Philipp Thomaschewski, CEO of Fratch: Fratch is an AI-powered platform for freelance and interim sourcing. Our AI agent, Fratch GPT, automates the entire procurement process, making it significantly faster, easier, and more cost-effective for companies to find the best external experts.
Indirect procurement often suffers from inefficient processes, a lack of transparency, and high costs. Due to a lack of knowledge, specialist departments often bypass the purchasing process and award contracts in a non-transparent manner, leading to poor terms and quality issues. Fratch GPT optimizes this process with artificial intelligence by acting as a smart purchasing assistant, understanding needs and finding the best available freelancers or interim managers within seconds – including automated availability checks and cost control. This reduces sourcing fees by up to 75 percent compared to traditional providers.
Automated matching and guided buying
Munich Startup: But that's been around for a long time!
Philipp ThomaschewskiThere are platforms and traditional recruiters, but Fratch GPT is taking a completely new approach. Instead of manual placement or complicated processes, our AI relies on automated matching and guided buying. Fratch GPT accepts inquiries in natural language, asks targeted follow-up questions, and delivers a shortlist of suitable freelancers within seconds – directly in the browser or via MS Teams. Our solution reduces sourcing fees by up to 75 percent, as expensive placement fees are eliminated and the selection process is fully automated.
In addition, Fratch for greater transparency and more efficient purchasing processes by intelligently guiding specialist departments through the procurement process. Fratch thus offers a faster, cheaper, and smarter alternative to existing solutions.
Munich Startup: What is your founding story?
Philipp Thomaschewski: The idea for Fratch stemmed from my own experience as a freelancer. I saw firsthand how manual and opaque the recruitment processes are—leading to rising costs for companies and declining daily rates for freelancers.
With my background in digital business models and automation, I wanted to create a solution that would make the sourcing process smarter, faster, and more cost-effective – with the help of AI. My co-founder and CTO Damian Sniatecki, who also had similar experiences as a freelancer, joined us relatively quickly.
Persuasion work in many companies
Munich Startup: What have been your biggest challenges so far?
Philipp Thomaschewski: Our biggest challenge was convincing buyers and hiring managers to embrace a completely new, AI-powered approach. Many companies are accustomed to manual processes and traditional recruiters – and have yet to experience how much faster and more cost-effective it is with Fratch GPT.
We've therefore launched pilot projects to demonstrate the benefits to companies in practice. Once they see that our AI agent delivers a shortlist of suitable freelancers within seconds, instead of waiting days for recruiters to suggest them, there's no turning back.
Munich Startup: Where would you like to be in one year, where in five years?
Philipp ThomaschewskiIn one year: Fratch will be the leading solution for freelance and interim sourcing in Germany. Companies will use Fratch GPT as the standard solution for their procurement processes.
In five years: We want to have established Fratch as the European solution. This will allow German companies to draw on an even larger pool of skilled workers, and we can offer freelancers and interim managers exciting international projects.
“Conscious risk”
Munich Startup: How have you experienced Munich as a startup location so far?
Philipp Thomaschewski: Munich is a strong location, especially for B2B startups. There is strong networking with corporations and medium-sized companies, as well as a growing ecosystem for AI and procurement technologies. The high cost of living is a challenge, but for our business model—which is aimed at enterprises—the proximity to large companies offers significant advantages for collaborations and growth.
Munich Startup: Risk or security?
Philipp Thomaschewski: Conscious risk – there is probably no other way to start a business.
