UAE AI Startup Ayan Raises Dh2.2 Million Pre-Seed

UAE-based artificial intelligence startup Ayan has raised Dh2.2 million (around $599,000) in pre-seed funding from strategic global business angels, as AI assistants reshape how consumers discover and choose brands.

Charron unveiled the round at the Sharjah Investment Forum. The Dubai-based company will use the capital to expand rapidly beyond the Middle East and North Africa, where it says it already leads in front office intelligence for AI-led buying. The announcement positions Ayan at the center of a shift in commerce: shoppers now meet a brand twice, first in AI, then in store.

Reading the version of your brand you never wrote

Ayan’s agentic platform monitors what AI assistants tell consumers about brands, measured against each brand’s own positioning. It then acts across every channel where the sale happens, from product pages and campaigns before they go live to every sales advisor’s phone, and measures what each action changed in AI answers. What customers ask at the counter flows back in and becomes the next thing Ayan fixes.

“There’s a version of your brand you’ve never read. It’s the only one your customers meet. And it’s already deciding who gets recommended, without you in the room. Ayan reads that version, acts on it wherever the customer decides, and measures what moved.”

Pablo Charron, founder and CEO, Ayan

The distinction matters. Tools that track AI visibility stop at the screen, and traditional clienteling tools have no idea what AI told the customer before they walked in. Ayan follows the customer from the answer to the counter.

Commercial proof

The company already serves more than 50 brands across MENA, Europe, and North America. In one deployment with a prestige beauty brand across five Gulf markets, frontline advisors’ daily use of Ayan’s AI brief rose fourfold in 13 weeks. Those advisors now win four in 10 shoppers who arrive already influenced by AI.

Charron, a Frenchman who moved to the UAE a few years ago to build the company, co-founded Ayan with Chakir El Messaoudi, its chief growth officer.

“The advisor used to be the first expert a customer met. Now they are the second. Our job is to make sure they are the better-informed one.”

Chakir El Messaoudi, co-founder and Chief Growth Officer, Ayan

Backing and what’s next

The company has named Vincent Carvalho, chief growth officer of the M&A group at IFS, as a founding board member, with Christian Pedersen, group CEO at Cegid, advising.

“Brands everywhere are losing the first conversation with their customers to AI, and most cannot even hear it.”

Vincent Carvalho, founding board member, Ayan

With the funding in place, Ayan plans to scale its platform globally, building on its MENA base. The bet is straightforward: as AI assistants become the first stop in more purchase journeys, the brands that understand what AI says about them, and act on it, will win the sale. Learn more at ayanlabs.ai.