Ayan raises $599K pre-seed to track how AI assistants pitch brands to shoppers
What's the deal? AyanDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a UAE-based artificial intelligence startup, has raised Dh2.2 million (about $599,000) in pre-seed funding from strategic global business angels. The company monitors what AI assistants tell consumers about brands, then briefs the sales teams who close the deal.
What's the endgame? Ayan runs its platform as a loop: it analyses how AI describes a brand against that brand's positioning, acts across channels from product pages to advisors' phones, and measures what shifted in AI answers. It already serves more than 50 brands across MENA, Europe, and North America, and plans to scale globally.
Why now? Founder and chief executive officer Pablo Charron argues shoppers now meet a brand twice — first in AI, then in store. "There's a version of your brand you've never read. It's the only one your customers meet," he said, adding that it "is already deciding who gets recommended, without you in the room."
What's the context? Charron unveiled the round at the Sharjah Investment Forum, where he pointed to measurable sales gains as proof of commercial demand. In one deployment with a prestige beauty brand across five Gulf markets, advisors' daily use of Ayan's brief rose fourfold in 13 weeks, and they now win four in 10 shoppers who arrive influenced by AI.
Who's backing it? Charron co-founded Ayan with Chakir El Messaoudi, its chief growth officer. The company named Vincent Carvalho, chief growth officer of the M&A group at IFSDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, as a founding board member, and Christian Pedersen, group chief executive officer at CegidDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, as an adviser.
What could go wrong? The raise is modest. Tools that track AI visibility and clienteling tools already exist separately; Ayan's bet is that linking them pays off. Its significance will hinge on turning brand-monitoring insights into repeatable sales gains.
The signal: By deal size, the round sits low in the funding distribution — around the 23rd percentile — yet it lands in a hot sector. AI and AI-enabled companies in MENA raised $678 million in the first half of 2026, up 81% year on year, with the UAE taking 93% of that total, according to MAGNiTTDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. Ayan gives the region a local entrant in a fast-forming category.
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