Ayan raises AED 2.2M pre-seed as AI assistants reshape brand discovery

DUBAI — Ayan has raised AED 2.2 million, about $600,000, in a pre-seed round from strategic global business angels. Vincent Carvalho, chief growth officer of IFS's M&A Group, joins as a founding board member, and Cegid Group chief executive Christian Pedersen comes on as an adviser.

Founded by Pablo Charron and Chakir El Messaoudi, Ayan builds an agentic platform that reads what AI assistants say about a brand, acts across channels including in-store sales advisors, and measures what changed. The company says it already serves more than 50 brand clients across MENA, Europe and North America.

The round closed earlier in October and was referenced at the Sharjah Investment Forum on 15 October before being formally announced this week. Pre-seed cheques of this size are increasingly going to startups selling into the AI-assisted buying journey rather than building models, as brands adjust to assistants, not search pages, shaping purchase decisions.

Watch whether Ayan converts its new board and adviser network into enterprise contracts, and how quickly the client count moves past 50. Zawya first reported the round.