The consulting industry, valued at $250 billion and known for its resistance to digital transformation, is facing a potential breakthrough thanks to Ascentra Labs, a London startup founded by ex-McKinsey consultants. On Tuesday, Ascentra announced it has raised $2 million in seed funding led by Berlin-based venture capital firm NAP, formerly Cavalry Ventures, with notable angel investors such as Alan Chang and Fredrik Hjelm participating.
Unlike the broad and often unfocused AI initiatives in enterprise, Ascentra targets a specific, laborious task that consultants routinely encounter: the manual analysis of survey data in Excel spreadsheets during private equity due diligence. This niche focus, the founders argue, offers a strategic advantage in a market where general AI solutions have struggled to gain traction.
Consultants’ Excel Workflows Remain Manual Despite Industry Size
Paritosh Devbhandari, Ascentra’s co-founder and CEO, brings firsthand experience from his time at McKinsey & Company’s AI division, QuantumBlack. He highlights how consultants spend extensive hours manually processing encoded survey responses from customers and market participants using Excel—a process surprisingly consistent across top firms and smaller boutiques alike.
“Even at the best firms, the workflow hasn’t evolved much,” Devbhandari noted. “I expected smarter methods, but often there just aren’t any.” This gap inspired Ascentra’s platform, which automatically ingests raw survey data and produces formatted Excel workbooks with traceable formulas, replicating hours of manual work done by junior associates.
Consulting’s Technical and Structural Barriers to AI Adoption
While AI has transformed legal and accounting sectors, consulting’s adoption has lagged. Devbhandari attributes this to structural hurdles such as slow technology adoption cycles, stringent security demands, and the fragmented nature of consulting data, which spans multiple formats including PowerPoint, Excel, and Word documents with tabular, graphical, and textual data.
“Consulting is fundamentally different from legal work,” he explained. “You can’t rely on a single multipurpose AI agent because of the diversity and complexity of data involved.” Despite numerous startups attempting to enter this space, many have failed to overcome these challenges.
Focusing on Private Equity Survey Analysis to Enable Automation
Ascentra concentrates exclusively on automating survey analysis within private equity due diligence, a highly standardized and repeatable workflow. This specificity allows the company to deliver meaningful time savings—early adopters report reductions of 60 to 80 percent in due diligence efforts.
The startup claims that three of the world’s top five consulting firms currently use its platform, although client confidentiality prevents public disclosure. The company has successfully passed pilot programs and is pursuing enterprise-wide rollouts.
Ensuring Accuracy to Address High-Stakes Financial Decisions
Accuracy is critical for AI tools in consulting, as even minor errors in financial models can have significant consequences. To address this, Ascentra employs a hybrid approach: it uses OpenAI’s GPT-based models for data interpretation but relies on deterministic Python scripts for the core analysis, ensuring consistent, verifiable outputs without AI hallucinations.
“The post-processing steps are deterministic with no room for error,” Devbhandari emphasized. “Our Excel outputs contain live, traceable formulas so consultants can verify the calculations themselves.” This design aims to build trust and encourage adoption among cautious professionals.
Enterprise-Grade Security Certifications Bolster Market Confidence
Recognizing the security sensitivities of consulting firms, Ascentra invested early in obtaining key certifications including SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001, and is undergoing audit for the emerging ISO 42001 AI management standard. The company also adheres to strict data handling policies, deleting client data within 30 to 45 days and not using it to train AI models.
Devbhandari noted that survey data is comparatively less sensitive than other consulting data types, as it is market-collected and anonymized, unlike confidential financial information used elsewhere.
Project-Based Pricing Aligns with Consulting Budget Practices
Departing from common subscription models, Ascentra charges clients on a per-project basis, reflecting how consulting firms allocate budgets. This approach facilitates initial adoption by sidestepping central IT procurement hurdles but introduces revenue variability, making it crucial for Ascentra to convert project-level usage into broader enterprise contracts.
AI to Transform Consulting Roles Without Eliminating Them
Devbhandari contests the notion that AI will replace consultants, instead forecasting a transformation in their roles. He envisions AI automating repetitive tasks like Excel and PowerPoint work, allowing consultants to focus more on strategic activities. However, he admits the exact impact on workforce size and productivity remains uncertain even among AI experts.
Plans to Expand U.S. Presence Using Seed Funding
With over 80 percent of its customers based in the U.S., Ascentra plans to use the $2 million seed round primarily to grow its American market presence and expand its go-to-market team. Devbhandari himself intends to relocate to the U.S. to lead this expansion, acknowledging the high costs of American talent acquisition.
NAP co-founder Stefan Walter described Ascentra’s mission as an “overdue disruption,” adding, “AI won’t replace consultants, but consultants using Ascentra might.”
Outlook: Converting Pilots into Enterprise Success Amid Rising Competition
As Ascentra enters 2026, it faces the challenge of turning pilot programs into lasting enterprise contracts while competing against well-funded entrants attracted by the clear opportunity. The company’s narrow focus on survey analysis provides a defensible niche, but expanding into other consulting workflows will require new product development without losing domain expertise.
Oliver Thurston, Ascentra’s CTO, highlighted the complexity of consulting workflows as a barrier to change but expressed confidence that the industry will look fundamentally different within five years.
Ultimately, Ascentra bets that the very consultants who once endured all-night spreadsheet marathons will lead the AI transformation of their own industry—an ironic twist for a sector known for advising others on digital innovation.
Fonte: ver artigo original
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