Ayan raises $599,000 to help brands respond to AI shopping recommendations
The UAE startup says it already serves more than 50 brands. Its pitch goes beyond monitoring AI answers to changing product pages, campaigns and sales support.
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3 key pointsUAE-based Ayan raised Dh2.2 million ($599,000) in pre-seed funding from unnamed global angel investors, with proceeds earmarked for expansion beyond MENA; the financing was reported on October 19, 2026. Its platform compares AI-generated brand and product descriptions with companies’ intended positioning, then helps update product pages, campaigns and sales-adviser tools while measuring whether AI responses change. Ayan says it serves more than 50 brands across MENA, Europe and North America, but disclosed no customer names or specific performance results.
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Ayan co-founder and CEO Pablo Charron says AI-generated descriptions can influence discovery even when they diverge from a brand’s own messaging.
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The platform also collects customer questions and feedback in physical stores to identify improvements and help sales advisers answer shoppers’ questions after AI-assisted research.
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Vincent Carvalho, IFS’s Chief Growth Officer of M&A, joined Ayan’s board as a founding member; Cegid CEO Christian Pedersen became an adviser.
Ayan wants to help brands change what AI assistants tell shoppers, not just track their mentions. The UAE startup has raised Dh2.2 million ($599,000) in pre-seed funding for international expansion, backing a platform that the company says connects AI-generated brand descriptions with changes to marketing and sales.
The round came from global angel investors, who were not named. Ayan says the capital will accelerate its expansion beyond the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The financing was reported on October 19, 2026.
From AI answers to changes on the shop floor
Founder and CEO Pablo Charron says AI-generated descriptions increasingly influence which businesses people discover and choose, even when those descriptions differ from the messages brands create themselves. Ayan’s product is built around helping businesses respond to that gap.
The company says its platform analyses millions of data points to examine how AI systems describe brands and recommend products. It compares those descriptions with each brand’s intended positioning: how the business wants its products to be understood.
Ayan describes the next step as acting on those findings, rather than leaving them in a monitoring dashboard. Its system helps businesses make changes across product pages, marketing campaigns and tools used by sales advisers. It then measures how subsequent AI-generated answers change.
The process also extends into physical stores. Ayan says it gathers customer questions and feedback at the point of sale and uses them to identify further improvements. That information connects online product discovery with the conversations shoppers have with sales advisers.
Co-founder and Chief Growth Officer Chakir El Messaoudi says sales advisers increasingly meet customers who have already consulted AI tools. His argument is that those advisers need accurate, relevant information to guide purchasing decisions after that earlier interaction.
Enterprise-software executives join the team
Charron co-founded the company with El Messaoudi. Ayan has also brought enterprise-software executives into board and advisory roles. Vincent Carvalho, Chief Growth Officer of M&A Group at IFS, has become a founding board member. Christian Pedersen, Group CEO of Cegid, has joined as an adviser.
Sources
- fintechgate.netUAE-Based AI Startup Ayan Raises $600,000 to Help Brands Adapt to AI-Driven Shopping
- cairoscene.comUAE AI Startup Ayan Raises Dh2.2 Million Pre-Seed
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