Founded in 2024 as Sherpa and headquartered between London and New York, Ascentra Labs builds products that aim to accelerate processes involved in consultancy.

Designed for consultants and private equity professionals, the software is used to automate survey analysis using commercial due diligence agents. Users can also interpret analysis using data visualisation.

The company is led by Paritosh Devbhandari, a former McKinsey consultant who previously led AI product sales at QuantumBlack, and Oliver Thurston, formerly head of machine learning at Mathison AI.

The pre-seed funding round was led by Berlin-based NAP (formerly Cavalry Ventures), with participation from angel investors.

Ascentra Labs plans to use the funding to expand its products and support its expansion in the US, where more than 80% of its customers are based, according to the company.

Paritosh Devbhandari, co-founder and chief executive, 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.”