No-Code Platforms: New Fundraising Leverage
Welcome to the Ninety-second edition of Unstoppable Founders!
👑 #Unstoppable Female Founder
Claudia Sauter is the co-founder of the enterprise resource planning (ERP) software company Xentral alongside her husband, Benedikt Sauter whom she met at university. Her entrepreneurial career began shortly after Benedikt completed his studies, when they co- founded their first company, embedded projects GmbH, in Augsburg in 2008. embedded projects focused on producing and selling microcontroller boards through an ecommerce store.
The idea for Xentral was born directly out of the operational challenges Claudia & Benedikt experienced with their hardware business. Unable to find a suitable, modern, or affordable ERP system to manage their growing processes, Benedikt began programming a custom solution. This internal software soon caught the attention of their hardware customers, who expressed interest in buying it. Recognizing that the demand for their software was outgrowing the demand for their hardware, Claudia & Benedikt made the pivotal decision in 2017 to shut down the hardware business and focus entirely on the ERP software, which became Xentral.
Xentral has since become a major player in the ERP market for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) taking on SAP, offering a lean, cloud-based platform that helps companies automate and manage processes like e-commerce, warehouse management, accounting, and sales. Central’s growth has been significant, expanding from over 1,000 customers in 2020 to over 2,000 by mid-2024. With a team of over 300 people, Xentral has raised close to 100m to date including a $75M Series B in August 2021 with a valuation of close to €800m.
A Few Noteworthy Achievements
Claudia Co-founded and scaled multiple technology companies, establishing herself as a serial entrepreneur. Her ventures include embedded projects GmbH (2008), WaWision GmbH, and Xentral ERP Software GmbH, demonstrating a consistent track record of building businesses from the ground up.
She engineered a strategic pivot from hardware to a pure SaaS model, a crucial decision made in 2017 that redirected the company's focus exclusively to its high-demand software product. This move laid the groundwork for Xentral's subsequent rapid growth and venture capital backing.
Established and maintained an equal co-founder partnership by structuring the business on a 50/50 basis from its inception. This was a deliberate choice to ensure both she and Benedikt Sauter could make decisions equally, creating a stable leadership foundation through all stages of the company's growth.
Led fundraising efforts to secure nearly €100 million from top-tier global investors. As co-founder, she was instrumental in closing a $20M Series A round and a $75M Series B round, attracting backing from prominent firms like Sequoia Capital, Tiger Global, and Meritech Capital.
She helped shape the foundational company culture from the earliest days of the business. She has emphasized a culture of trust and decision-making freedom, which has been credited with retaining employees since the original hardware company and scaling the team to hundreds of people.
Claudia is described as a hands-on, problem-solving founder. Originating from a need within her own hardware business, she co-created a software solution that would become the core of a multimillion-dollar, venture-backed technology company. Her role has been focusing on the company's operational needs and culture, which was fundamental to the successful pivot to a pure software model and scaling the business to serve thousands of customers across Europe.
📣 #TheRant
No-Code Platforms: New Fundraising Leverage
No-code platforms like Lovable and Replit are shifting the power dynamics for founders looking to fundraise.
They allow founders to:
Build and Ship MVPs on Your Own Terms: Instead of hiring a full engineering, design, and product team, you can now launch functional MVPs yourself or with a tiny team. This drastically reduces burn and means you can bootstrap longer or raise smaller early rounds—think £100K–£150K instead of the typical £250K+.
Delay Fundraising, Improve Your Terms: With a live product and real users, you don’t need as much capital upfront to prove traction. Founders gain leverage: rather than pitching ideas, you show actual traction. This shift means you can raise later, on better terms, or potentially skip fundraising entirely if early revenue is strong.
Breaking Down Barriers: For women, minorities, and other underrepresented founders, these tools are game-changers. No-code platforms democratize access, no gatekeepers, no permission needed to demonstrate market-fit, product vision, and user growth.
The Power Shift
Founders can control their fundraising narrative with real results—not just an idea.
You get more time to refine your product, gather feedback, and acquire customers before sitting down with investors.
You’re positioned as a ‘proven builder,’ not just a dreamer. That means more negotiating power and potentially more favorable terms.
Caveats
While no-code lowers the barriers to starting… it’s not a replacement for hiring na actual team.
Scaling Still Costs Money: You’ll eventually need capital for developers, infrastructure, and growth.
Technical Limits: Complex products can hit the ceiling of no-code capabilities.
Skills Are Essential: Even with these tools, product, UX, and growth skills matter.
Investor Perception: Some VCs may undervalue no-code MVPs, assuming they aren’t scalable (a perception that’s quickly changing).
No-code platforms offer founders the opportunity to buy time, ship, learn, refine, and grow, before fundraising. Enter investor conversations with leverage, not dependency. Or perhaps, thanks to customer-driven revenue, discover you never need to fundraise at all and can avoid that circus all together.
💰#HypeCorner
This is where we cover funding rounds raised by female founders and their teams across Europe. With less than 2% of VC funding going to female led startups, the HypeCorner is simply our way of congratulating and celebrating these founders!
🇪🇸 Paola Pardo Co-founder of Qbeast
🇩🇪 Gyri Reiersen Co-founder & CSO of Tanso
🇬🇧 Tiffany Tuor, PhD Founding AI Scientist at Unbox
🇩🇪 Dr. Susanne Dickhardt & Stephie Niemann Co-founders of roadsurfer
Huge congratulations to these founders and their teams. Wishing you all continued success!
🎤 Events for founders
🇩🇪 {Berlin} Pearl Wealth Summit hosted by The Evangelistas, Scéal & AUXXO Female Catalyst Fund. Pearl is your shortcut into the world of female-led investing. A transformative one-day summit for women with capital. Secure your spot!
🇬🇧 {London} Sifted Summit is back 8th & 9th of October, bringing together 3,000 founders, startup and scaleup operators and investors to celebrate the resilience of the ecosystem and how its leading players are preparing for the long-haul.
🇫🇷 {Paris} unlockVC (formerly WVCE) is hosting its annual Summit from the 13th - 15th of October. This year unlock vc are bringing 30 exceptional female founders to meet 400+ active female investors - Applications are now open until 1st August!
👑 UNSTOPPABLE FOUNDING MEMBERSHIPS Now available! Inside the Community Hub you’ll gain access to the resources, networks and capital you need to build and scale your business. From helping you secure capital to building traction, everything you need as a female founder, all in one place!
☀️ Have a wonderful weekend! ☀️
Jen
PS- Are you a female founder just getting started and not quite how to structure your go to market, build your brand frameworks or what to expect from the fundraising process? Get in touch!