AI automation for PE-backed growth companies
Hit your 100-day plan. Compress SG&A without cutting headcount. We build the operational spine your PE sponsor is asking for, and we do it in weeks, not quarters.
Running a PE-backed business means managing three clocks at once: your operating performance, your 100-day plan, and your sponsor's expectations about trajectory. AI automation is the lever that hits all three.
We have built the operational backbone inside portfolio companies in health and wellness e-commerce, logistics, and B2B technology. Manual workloads cut by 60%, document processing costs down 65%, Trustpilot ratings climbing from 4.2 to 4.8, FTEs redeployed from data entry to margin-impact work. Our founders come from 3i, Apax, Arcus, Synthesis Capital, and Scottish Equity Partners, so we understand exactly what your sponsor expects to see in the next review.
What we deliver
Operational automation mapped to value creation
Operations backbone
Automate the workflows eating your team's time. Warehouse and fulfilment triggers, compliance checks, stock sync, finance reporting, internal alerting. Built on n8n, integrated into your existing stack.
AI customer support
Agents that resolve refunds, re-ships, order updates, and product queries autonomously. Handed off to human reps only when the conversation genuinely requires it. Your CSAT goes up while support headcount stays flat.
Document and back-office AI
Replace manual data entry entirely. Extract from invoices, contracts, compliance filings, partner submissions. Route by type, urgency, counterparty. Redeploy FTEs to higher-margin work.
Team enablement
AI only creates value when your team uses it. Structured programmes from executive briefings to hands-on hackathons where every department builds their own automations. Often the fastest EBITDA lever inside a PE engagement.
Featured case study
AI operations backbone at a scaling e-commerce business
A health and wellness platform was drowning in manual operations across warehouse, customer support, and finance. We built the AI operational backbone across the entire business.
4.2 to 4.8
Trustpilot rating
60%
ops overhead cut
85%
daily AI adoption
Common questions from operators
How do you work with PE portfolio companies?
We work directly with your management team, but we keep your sponsor informed. Most engagements start with a 1 to 2 day discovery where we map your operations against your 100-day plan or value creation plan. We then build and deploy the highest-ROI automations first, usually live within 2 to 4 weeks. We coordinate with your Operating Partner on reporting.
Do you coordinate with our PE sponsor or Operating Partner?
If you want us to. Some CEOs prefer to run the engagement independently and report results through their normal cadence. Others want us to keep the Operating Partner briefed. Either works. We are not replacing your sponsor relationship, we are accelerating what you are already trying to do.
What is the typical EBITDA uplift?
It depends on where the friction is. At one e-commerce portfolio company we cut 60% of manual operations overhead, which flowed directly to margin. At a B2B tech platform we cut document processing costs by 65% and redeployed 3 FTEs. We scope every engagement against defined KPIs before we start, and report against them during and after.
How fast can we see results?
Most clients see their first working automation live within 2 to 4 weeks. Full rollout across a function (customer support, finance, operations) typically takes 6 to 12 weeks. We prioritise the automations that deliver immediate, measurable value over complex long-term projects.
Do you work alongside our internal team?
Yes. We go on-site, sit with your team, and train them to own what we build. Our embed phase is as important as the build phase. The point is not to create a dependency on Squirrel AI, it is to leave your team more capable than we found them. We have driven 85% daily AI tool adoption at client companies.
Book an operations audit
Thirty minutes. We walk through your operations, identify the highest-ROI automations, and tell you what we would build first.