London's Ares Intelligence raises €2.6M to map where AI fits inside companies
What's the deal? Ares IntelligenceDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a London-based startup building an evidence-based platform for AI transformation, has raised €2.6 million in seed funding. Creandum and Lakestar led the round, with participation from angels connected to Google DeepMind.
What's the endgame? Ares deploys an AI interviewer that holds confidential, voice-based conversations with every employee in an organisation, in more than 70 languages. Within weeks, leadership receives a prioritised roadmap identifying where AI can save time and money.
Founded in 2026 by Matt Falconer and Alfie Ranstead, the company grew out of a problem the pair hit at their previous automation venture, InstructDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →: customers wanted to automate but had no reliable way of knowing where to begin.
Why now? "Businesses across Europe know they need to adopt AI, but many still don't know where to start," said Falconer, co-founder and chief executive officer. The company has signed enterprise customers across Europe and the US in roughly seven months.
At Tremonia, a Mercedes-Benz spin-out, Ares uncovered more than 400 hours of avoidable manual work per month within four weeks of interviewing staff from senior leadership to the paint shop floor.
What could go wrong? The model handles sensitive employee data; Ares says its platform is GDPR- and SOC 2-compliant, with controls to mask names, redact voices, or strip role metadata before reports reach leadership. The key test is whether such services can show measurable business impact.
The fresh capital will fund expansion and bring the platform to more businesses.
The signal: The raise taps a growing enterprise-AI bottleneck: getting employees to use AI effectively, not just buying tools. In June, Paris-based Mendo raised €12 million for a similar goal, and European Central Bank survey evidence from March found implementation difficulties and skills shortages among the top barriers firms cite. Ares' bet is that the people doing the work know best where AI should go.
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Image credit: Ares Intelligence
