AI automation as a portfolio value-add for VC funds
Give your founders a concrete, repeatable way to ship AI. We embed with your portfolio companies, run hackathons, and leave working automations behind.
Most VC platform teams want to offer AI as a portfolio service but cannot staff it internally. Buying in a generalist consultancy rarely works either, the engagements feel off-the-shelf and founders lose interest by week three.
We come from Synthesis Capital, Apax, 3i, and Scottish Equity Partners. We know how portfolio support actually works, and we know what founders will and will not adopt. We run structured programmes that meet founders where they are: a 2 day hackathon for the team that wants to experiment, an embedded build for the operator who already knows what to automate, a fractional AI lead for the company that needs senior judgement without the hire.
What we deliver
A portfolio AI programme that actually gets adopted
Portfolio hackathons
1 to 2 day structured sessions where every department inside a portfolio company ships a working automation. Executive briefing, role-specific enablement, hands-on build. We leave the automations running, not slide decks.
Embedded AI builds
We sit with the portfolio company team, identify the highest-ROI automations, and ship them in 2 to 4 weeks. Customer support agents, document pipelines, finance automation, lead response. Built on their existing stack.
Fractional AI leadership
Senior AI judgement for portfolio companies that are not ready to hire a full-time Head of AI. Strategy, hiring, architecture, hands-on delivery. Done at Healf, the #1 company on the Sifted 100 UK & Ireland 2026.
Fund-level automation
For the fund itself: deal origination engines, portfolio monitoring dashboards, LP reporting automation. We have processed 10,000+ opportunities in 24 hours at 25% of the cost of market alternatives.
Featured portfolio engagement
Full-portfolio AI enablement at a scaling e-commerce business
A VC-backed health and wellness platform wanted every department using AI, not just engineering. We ran structured hackathons, built the operational backbone, and drove 85% daily adoption across the company.
85%
daily AI adoption
60%
ops overhead cut
4.2 to 4.8
Trustpilot rating
Common questions from VC platform teams
How do VC funds typically engage Squirrel AI?
Two shapes. First, for the fund itself: deal origination, pipeline automation, portfolio monitoring dashboards. Second, as a portfolio service: we deliver AI engagements into your portfolio companies, usually paid by the portfolio company with the fund making the introduction. Some funds bundle our hackathon programme into their platform offering.
Do you run portfolio workshops and hackathons?
Yes. We have run structured AI hackathons where every department inside a portfolio company builds their own automations over 1 to 2 days. Executive briefings, role-specific enablement sessions, and one-to-one AI coaching for founders are all part of the programme. At one client this drove 85% daily AI tool adoption across the company.
What is a typical engagement with a portfolio company?
1 to 2 day discovery, 2 to 4 weeks to first working automations, then 6 to 12 weeks for full rollout. We embed on-site, train internal teams to own what we build, and leave the portfolio company more capable than we found it. We report back to the fund on progress and KPIs if that is useful.
Can this be part of our platform offering?
Yes. We have worked with VC platform teams as a named partner for AI enablement. Your portfolio companies get priority access, preferential pricing, and a known quantity rather than having to source their own AI partner. We brief the platform team on every engagement so you have visibility.
Do you invest in or take equity from portfolio companies?
No. We deliver engagements for a fee. This keeps us neutral and aligned with the portfolio company's outcomes rather than our own cap table. If a founder wants to bring us in for a longer strategic role we can discuss, but the default is clean fee-based engagements.
Discuss a portfolio programme
Thirty minutes. We walk through your fund, your portfolio, and where AI would move the needle fastest. No obligation, no sales deck.