Ascentra raises £1.5m pre-seed to automate private equity due diligence with AI
This article covers Ascentra Labs, a London- and New York-based startup, and its £1.5m pre-seed round led by Berlin investor NAP to build AI tools that automate parts of consulting project work. The funding will support product development, engineering hires and US expansion as Ascentra targets repeatable private equity workflows used by large consulting firms.
Ascentra Labs has raised £1.5 million in a pre-seed round led by Berlin investor NAP to build AI tools that automate parts of consulting project work. The London- and New York-based company says the capital will fund product development, engineering hires and US expansion as it targets repeatable private equity workflows used by large consulting firms.
Why it matters
Consulting remains a large but under-automated segment of professional services. The sector was valued at more than $250 billion in 2025, yet — unlike law or accounting — it has seen relatively few AI-native product startups. Ascentra’s raise signals growing interest in applying machine learning to the routine, repeatable analyses that underpin private equity due diligence and strategy projects.
If tools can reliably cut execution time on discrete workflows, firms could reshape delivery models and unit economics without replacing consultants. That potential is why the round is worth watching for professional services buyers and enterprise software investors.
Inside the product
Ascentra builds software to automate the manual workflows that dominate consulting project delivery, with an initial focus on private equity work where tasks repeat across deals. The company says more than 80% of its early customers are US-based and that three of the world’s top five consulting firms are using its tools.
Early adopter feedback cited by the company includes two to four times faster execution on key workflows; the Ascentra materials also claim its products can save consultants as much as 80% of their time on some tasks. Ascentra plans to use the pre-seed funding to expand its product suite and scale engineering capacity ahead of a wider push into the US market.
The founders bring consulting and machine learning experience. Paritosh Devbhandari is a former McKinsey consultant who led AI product sales at QuantumBlack. Oliver Thurston was Head of ML at Mathison AI. The team describes its approach as taking specific consulting tasks and productising them rather than attempting to replace human consultants.
Who are the investors?
The £1.5 million round was led by NAP (formerly Cavalry Ventures), a Berlin-based pre-seed and seed venture firm focused on European technology companies. Founder-angels participating include Alan Chang, CEO of Fuse and former Revolut CRO, and Fredrik Hjelm, CEO of Voi.
NAP’s stated rationale is that consulting has been slower to adopt productivity technology than other knowledge sectors. The firm’s portfolio includes Aleph Alpha, Ampeco, Flip, PlanRadar, Spread and Usercentrics, illustrating its mix of deep-tech and enterprise bets.
In the announcement, Stefan Walter, co-founder and Managing Partner at NAP, said:
While most knowledge work has been reshaped by new technology, consulting has remained stubbornly manual. The Ascentra team combines deep industry understanding with technical mastery to finally change that. AI won’t replace consultants, but consultants using Ascentra might.
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Founder perspective
In the announcement, Oliver Thurston, co-founder and CTO at Ascentra, said:
Consulting workflows are uniquely complex and difficult to build products around. It’s not surprising the space hasn’t changed yet. This will change though, and there’s no doubt that the industry is going to look completely different in 5 years’ time.
In the announcement, Paritosh Devbhandari, co-founder and CEO at Ascentra, said:
People love to talk about how AI is going to remove the need for consultants, and I disagree. Yes, the role will change, but I don’t think the industry goes away. I think the best solutions will come from people within the industry building products around the work they know.
The bigger picture
Ascentra is part of a broader trend of former consultants and professional-services operators launching product companies to automate specialised knowledge work. The company’s early traction with top-tier consulting firms and private equity clients highlights demand for point solutions that lower the time cost of analysis without reworking entire delivery models.
The round also underscores cross-border flows of capital and talent: a London- and New York-headquartered team backed by a Berlin VC, selling primarily to US customers. For UK and European founders, it is another example of investor appetite for enterprise AI that targets white-collar workflows rather than consumer-facing applications.
This deal feeds into ongoing conversations in the UK and Europe about how AI will reshape professional services, talent models and the software vendors that enable them.
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