Since 2019, DPW has brought together international procurement leaders as one of the leading trade fairs for digital procurement, and this year the setting is especially impressive: RAI Amsterdam. From September 29 to October 1, 2026, the show expects more than 2,500 procurement and supply chain leaders, over 500 companies and more than 100 speakers, all under this year's theme "RECODE": redesigning how procurement and supply chain actually work. The program includes the CPO Forum, the DPW Awards, a full schedule of networking events, and an expo hall with more than 130 procurement technology solutions. As one of the fair's own formats, DPW is once again running so-called Tech Safaris this year: guided tours through the expo hall, split across different categories. Which solutions in Spend Intelligence and Strategy get to run this year's Tech Safari is what this blog post sums up.
What Is DPW (Digital Procurement World)? Digital Procurement World (DPW) was founded in 2019 in Amsterdam and describes itself as the most influential technology event in procurement and supply chain . The 2026 edition runs from September 29 to October 1 at RAI Amsterdam, bringing together 2,500+ practitioners, 500+ companies and 100+ speakers around the theme "RECODE". Day zero (September 29) spreads across networking events at various Amsterdam venues. The main two day conference (September 30 and October 1) takes place at RAI Amsterdam, with an expo hall of 130+ procurement technology solutions on the show floor.
What Are DPW Tech Safaris? Tech Safaris are curated, guided tours through DPW's expo hall that let attendees explore a specific procurement challenge in a small group, instead of visiting 130+ booths individually. Each stop runs about 13 minutes: a one minute exhibitor introduction, a five minute customer talk from a practitioner already using the tool, two minutes of Q&A, and a five minute walk to the next stop.
For attendees, that means:
Explore carefully selected solutions tackling the same procurement challenge in a guided, time efficient format. Hear real customer stories from practitioners already using the technology and learn how it delivers value in practice. Join a small group of procurement practitioners facing similar challenges and exchange insights along the way. DPW 2026 runs six Tech Safari tracks: Spend Intelligence & Category Strategy, Supplier Risk, Resilience & Performance, Strategic Sourcing & Negotiation Excellence, Procure to Pay & AP Automation, Intake & Orchestration, and AI Native Procurement. Safaris are booked through the DPW app ahead of the conference; details are on the official Tech Safaris page .
The Spend Intelligence & Category Strategy Tech Safari This track brings together solutions addressing spend visibility, forecasting and savings identification. Several exhibitors are part of this Tech Safari at DPW 2026; this article looks at four of them, in alphabetical order: Dexter, ivoflow, Mithra AI and Spendkey.
4 Spend Intelligence & Strategy Solutions at DPW 2026 1. ivoflow ivoflow is an AI powered spend and price intelligence platform for global manufacturers . It connects internal spend and pricing data with live external market intelligence, including hundreds of indices across metals, plastics, energy, freight, labor, tariffs and FX, and uses AI to turn the results into evidence backed negotiation moves. Founded in 2020 and headquartered in Koblenz, Germany, ivoflow is ISO 27001 and 9001 certified and is used by manufacturers including Jaguar Land Rover, ZF Lifetec, ZWILLING, Dräxlmaier and fischer group. ivoflow delivers 3 to 7% savings in addressed categories within weeks of go-live. ivoflow will be exhibiting at DPW 2026 as part of this Tech Safari.
2. Mithra AI Mithra AI (Mithra-AI, headquartered in the Netherlands) is a procurement intelligence platform that turns unstructured spend data into cost saving opportunities . It uses AI agents for automatic transaction categorization, supplier consolidation detection, and identification of contract leakage and price deviations, alongside a copilot feature called "Atlas" for spend analysis and reporting. Mithra AI targets enterprise procurement teams with high spend volume. The platform has processed more than 260 billion euros in spend data, identifies 10% additional savings, saves an average of 75 hours per month, reaches 97% first-pass classification accuracy, and delivers 5x ROI in the first year.
3. Dexter Dexter (Dexter Technologies GmbH, headquartered in Germany) is an AI based spend analysis software . It reads invoices automatically, categorizes each line item using AI, and identifies savings potential, budget overruns and maverick buying. Core functions include automatic line-item invoice analysis, duplicate detection and consolidation opportunities, invoice-to-contract matching for leakage detection, and data harmonization across multiple ERPs. Dexter targets complex organizations with fragmented system landscapes and high spend volume that need visibility without a large ERP integration project; a go-live is possible within two weeks using invoice data alone. The website does not list specific savings percentages, but names seven reference customers.
4. Spendkey Spendkey is an AI powered spend analytics and procurement platform that turns spend data into actionable insight. It focuses on four areas: spend visibility and opportunity assessment, contract visibility and validation, supplier audits and margin recovery, and a commercial control layer for pre-contract validation. Spendkey targets finance leaders, procurement leaders, private equity firms and technology leaders. The platform cites examples including £4.2 million in recovered freight invoice discrepancies (based on 24 months of data) and around $13.6 million in unprotected risk identified before contract execution, and it analyzes hundreds of billions in transactions for global brands.
Comparison: Dexter, ivoflow, Mithra AI, Spendkey
| Criterion | Dexter | ivoflow | Mithra AI | Spendkey |
|:-------------------------:|:----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------:|:----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------:|:-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------:|:----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------:|
| ICP / target audience | Complex organizations with fragmented ERP landscapes and high invoice volume | Global manufacturers in direct-material procurement (automotive, industrial manufacturing, medical technology, among others) | Enterprise procurement teams with high spend volume (reference customers in NL/DE/BE) | Finance leaders, procurement leaders, private equity firms, technology leaders |
| Core problem / use case | Retrospective invoice analysis: errors, duplicates, leakage | Forward-looking price economics: whether ongoing serial prices are still economically justified | Cleaning and categorizing unstructured spend data, generic savings identification | Commercial control: spend visibility, contract validation, margin recovery, pre-signature review |
| Data basis | Invoice data only | Internal spend/price/BOM data plus hundreds of external market indices (metals, energy, freight, labor, tariffs, FX) | Internal transaction and spend data | Spend, contract and invoice data |
| Core functions | Automatic line-item invoice analysis, duplicate detection, invoice-to-contract matching, multi-ERP harmonization | AI Cost-Saving Toolbox, AI Negotiation Advisor, AI Supplier Dossier, market-index enrichment | Automatic categorization, supplier consolidation detection, contract leakage/price deviation detection, "Atlas" copilot | Spend Visibility & Opportunity Assessment, Contract Visibility & Validation, Supplier Audits & Margin Recovery, Commercial Control Layer |
| Approach | Retrospective (after invoicing) | Forward-looking (market-driven, before/during negotiation) | Retrospective / analytical | Both: audits retrospective, Commercial Control Layer forward-looking before contract signature |
| Distinguishing feature | Go-live within 2 weeks, no integration project required | Only one of the four with a focus on direct materials and external market movements | AI copilot "Atlas" for analysis and reporting | Pre-signature contract review, explicit private equity audience |
| Stated figures (examples) | No savings rate stated, 7 reference customers | 3 to 7% savings in addressed categories | More than €260 billion in processed spend data, 10% additional savings identified, 5x ROI in year one | £4.2 million in recovered freight discrepancies, around $13.6 million in identified risk |
More at DPW 2026 Beyond the four solutions covered here, DPW 2026 offers a broad range of additional exhibitors, keynotes, workshops and networking formats around digital procurement and supply chain.
More Tech Safaris at DPW:
Supplier Risk, Resilience and Performance Strategic Sourcing & Negotiation Excellence Procure-to-Pay & AP Automation Intake & Orchestration AI-Native Procurement
