Ayan, a Dubai-based artificial intelligence startup, has raised Dh2.2 million ~US$600,000 in Pre-Seed funding from strategic global business angels. The company operates an agentic platform that helps brands understand and shape what AI assistants tell shoppers before a purchase. The new capital will support rapid expansion beyond the Middle East and North Africa, where Ayan already leads in front office intelligence for AI-led buying.
How Ayan Reads and Shapes AI Conversations
Ayan's agentic platform has analyzed millions of data points on how AI describes brands and measured them against each brand's positioning. It then acts across every channel where a sale happens, from product pages and pre-launch campaigns to the phones used by sales advisors. The system also measures what each action changed in subsequent AI answers, creating a continuous feedback loop.
Following the Customer from Answer to Counter
Shoppers now meet a brand twice, first through AI-generated answers and then through human advisors in stores. The advisor who was once the first expert a customer met is now the second, and Ayan aims to make that advisor better informed. Unlike tools that stop at monitoring AI visibility, Ayan follows the customer from the AI answer to the physical counter.
Funding and International Expansion
The Dh2.2 million Pre-Seed round was provided by strategic global business angels and will be used to scale operations beyond MENA. Ayan already serves more than 50 brands across MENA, Europe, and North America. The company positions itself as the MENA leader in front office intelligence for AI-led buying and plans to deepen its presence in existing markets while entering new regions.
Founders and Strategic Advisers
Ayan was co-founded by Pablo Charron, Chief Executive Officer, and Chakir El Messaoudi, Chief Growth Officer. Charron said there is a version of every brand that its own team has never read, yet it is the only version customers meet. The startup appointed Vincent Carvalho as a founding board member and Christian Pedersen as an adviser to support global growth.
Regional AI Funding Momentum
AI and AI-enabled companies in MENA raised $678 million in the first half of 2026, up 81% from a year earlier, according to data platform MAGNiTT. The UAE accounted for 93% of that total, reinforcing Dubai's position as the region's funding hub. In April, the UAE Cabinet approved a plan to run half of government services on agentic AI within two years under the National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence 2031.
Addressing a Front Office Blind Spot
Vincent Carvalho said brands everywhere are losing the first conversation with their customers to AI, and most cannot even hear it. He described this as the biggest blind spot in front office software and one of its biggest opportunities in a decade. Christian Pedersen added that front office systems were built for a customer who talks to the brand first, but that customer now talks to AI first.
Ayan is entering a market where independent measurement of AI-driven brand narratives is becoming operationally important. Its platform connects AI answers with in-store and digital sales actions, then feeds customer interactions back into brand strategy. With fresh Pre-Seed capital, strategic governance, and customers across three regions, Ayan is positioned to help brands regain control of their first customer conversation.