Founders Everywhere: Philipp Andernach and Elsa Cordonnier
Philipp Andernach and Elsa Cordonnier are the co-founders of Andercore, an AI-driven industrial trade and distribution platform connecting global supply with local demand across Europe.
Welcome to Founders Everywhere, where we highlight the incredible people behind the companies we’ve backed at Everywhere Ventures, a global pre-seed fund supported by a community of 500 founders and operators.
Andercore is a Berlin-based AI‑driven industrial trade and distribution firm that runs end‑to‑end cross‑border transactions in energy, infrastructure, and building materials across Europe and the UK. They connect vetted suppliers across Asia, Europe, and the GCC region with local demand through a single integrated system. Their proprietary AI stack orchestrates the full trade lifecycle including: pricing, quoting, quality assurance, logistics, and embedded financing. Built on real trade flows, the platform gives buyers speed, reliability, and predictable execution while offering suppliers disciplined market access and clear demand visibility. The company has scaled to triple-digit-million GMV and is rapidly expanding toward profitability. They recently raised a $40M Series B to scale further across Europe and they’re looking for talented individuals to join their growing international team.
Co-founders Philipp Andernach, CEO, and Elsa Cordonnier CRM and AI, have worked together for over a decade, with Andercore being the third company they’ve built as a team. They first met when Philipp hired Elsa at a previous venture and he quickly recognized her exceptional speed, sharpness, and talent. Their strong working relationship and complementary skills naturally led them to join forces again, combining Philipp’s strategic vision with Elsa’s technical expertise to create Andercore’s AI-driven industrial trade platform.
What’s the inspiration behind Andercore?
Philipp: I sold my previous SaaS company in facility management in 2019 and saw that huge B2B markets were still largely untouched by modern software. We had a good product but struggled with go‑to‑market because many traditional industries simply weren’t ready to pay for software alone. That led me to a different conclusion: instead of trying to sell software into old industries, you can build a company that uses software and AI to compete directly in those industries. With my family roots in industrial trade and years of building tech companies together, we saw an opportunity to combine operational expertise and technology to make global supply more transparent, reliable, and scalable.
What’s Andercore’s North Star?
Our North Star is to become the default infrastructure for industrial supply in our categories, evolving from a trading partner to the operating system behind how trade is executed. We want buyers and suppliers to rely on “the Andercore way” as the trusted, transparent standard for sourcing, financing, and delivering industrial goods.
Tell us about some recent milestones that Andercore crushed.
Beyond the recent $40M Series B to scale across Europe, a key milestone was securing institutional financing from two major European banks, Commerzbank and KfW, who now provide senior revolving credit facilities to fund our profitable core trading operations. This is unusual for such a young industrial trade firm and effectively unlocks our next phase of growth: we can safely scale volumes and deal count while keeping the balance sheet disciplined. It also validates our risk and insurance models and operating discipline in the eyes of conservative financial institutions.
Why the name Andercore?
The name “Andercore” is a combination of our surnames: Andernach and Cordonnier. We had a trademark conflict with our original name. Our agency recommended it to us; the old-fashioned way of using our names - it worked pretty well from a trade mark standpoint.
How has your background influenced you as a founder?
Philipp: I consider myself lucky to have started my career in Berlin, the playground of Rocket Internet and the most vibrant ecosystem in continental Europe, learning to scale companies quickly and execute with discipline. At the same time, I come from a fifth‑generation manufacturing and trading family, so I’ve seen industrial trade both from the “old world” and the tech side. That mix shapes how we approach Andercore: very tech-first and execution‑oriented, but with deep respect for the complexity and risk in industrial supply chains.
Fun Fact:
We’re a German‑French founding team, which feels fitting for a company that wants to represent the best of European industrial strength and collaboration.
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