London-based Thema has raised $6.2 million in combined funding and government support to help private equity firms identify expansion opportunities, assess portfolio risk, and make faster, data-driven strategic decisions using artificial intelligence. The funding includes a $4.5 million pre-seed investment led by Stride.vc, with participation from KDX, Capital Allocators, and prominent angel investors from private equity, investment banking, and enterprise software backgrounds. The round is complemented by a $1.7 million grant from the UK government, delivered in partnership with the University of Cambridge, to advance the development of trustworthy AI systems.
The investment will enable Thema to accelerate research and development, scale its commercial operations, and expand adoption of its AI-powered platform, which provides private equity firms with continuously updated maps of market structures and expansion pathways. The company is positioning itself as a critical infrastructure provider for private equity firms seeking to improve portfolio performance and strategic expansion in volatile software markets.
What Thema does and why it matters for private equity
Thema develops AI infrastructure designed specifically for private equity firms to understand how markets evolve and where expansion opportunities exist. The company’s core product, described as “Portfolio Expansion Infrastructure,” enables investors to evaluate strategic adjacencies, identify acquisition targets, and assess competitive positioning using dynamic market intelligence.
Private equity firms rely heavily on expansion strategies to increase the value of portfolio companies. These strategies often include entering adjacent markets, acquiring complementary businesses, or launching new products. However, traditional approaches depend on fragmented data sources, static consulting reports, and manual analysis. This can result in missed opportunities, delayed decisions, and increased risk exposure.
Thema addresses these challenges by providing a continuously updated, AI-driven view of how companies, markets, and technologies are interconnected.
Key capabilities of Thema’s AI platform
The platform enables private equity firms to:
- Map entire software markets and identify structural relationships between companies
- Identify expansion opportunities based on real market adjacencies
- Assess portfolio exposure and strategic risks more accurately
- Track market evolution over time using versioned market intelligence
- Replace static consulting analysis with dynamic, continuously updated insights
By delivering these capabilities, Thema allows investment teams to move faster and make decisions grounded in comprehensive, data-driven analysis rather than fragmented information.
How Thema’s AI technology works
At the core of Thema’s platform is proprietary AI technology developed by co-founder Dr Dimo Angelov. The system processes vast volumes of web-scale data to identify relationships between companies, products, and markets.
Unlike traditional market intelligence platforms that rely on fixed industry classifications, Thema’s infrastructure dynamically maps how markets form, evolve, and overlap.
The platform creates versioned representations of market structures, allowing investors to track changes over time. This enables private equity firms to understand not only current market dynamics but also how competitive landscapes are shifting.
This approach provides several strategic advantages:
- Identification of emerging markets before they become obvious
- Clear visibility into competitive positioning and threats
- Faster validation of expansion strategies
- Improved confidence in investment and acquisition decisions
These capabilities are particularly important in the software sector, where market structures evolve rapidly due to innovation, consolidation, and changing customer demand.
Why private equity firms need AI-powered market mapping
Private equity firms typically generate returns by improving the performance and strategic positioning of portfolio companies. Expansion into adjacent markets is one of the most important value creation strategies.
However, recent repricing in software markets has highlighted limitations in traditional expansion planning methods. Falling valuations and increased market volatility have made it more difficult to identify safe and profitable expansion pathways.
Common challenges private equity firms face include:
- Fragmented market intelligence spread across multiple tools
- Limited visibility into emerging market opportunities
- Slow and manual expansion analysis processes
- Overreliance on static consulting reports
- Difficulty tracking how market dynamics change over time
Thema’s AI platform addresses these challenges by providing a continuously updated market intelligence layer tailored specifically to private equity workflows.
Funding breakdown and strategic importance
The $6.2 million secured by Thema combines venture capital investment and government-backed research funding, reflecting both commercial confidence and institutional support for its technology.
Investment funding
The $4.5 million pre-seed round was led by Stride.vc, a venture capital firm known for backing early-stage enterprise technology companies. Additional investors include:
- KDX
- Capital Allocators
- Angel investors with senior experience in private equity and enterprise software
- The former chair of KPMG, bringing institutional credibility and governance expertise
- This investor profile reflects strong alignment with Thema’s target customer base in private equity and enterprise technology.
Government grant and academic collaboration
The additional $1.7 million grant from the UK government supports development of trustworthy AI systems in partnership with the University of Cambridge. This collaboration provides access to academic expertise, strengthens the scientific foundation of the platform, and supports responsible AI development.
Government-backed funding also signals strategic importance in advancing the UK’s leadership in artificial intelligence and financial technology infrastructure.
Leadership and founding team
Thema was co-founded by Dr Dimo Angelov, whose research and technical expertise form the foundation of the company’s AI infrastructure. His work focuses on using artificial intelligence to model complex market systems and identify structural relationships between companies.
The founding team combines expertise across artificial intelligence, enterprise software, and financial markets. Their experience working with private equity firms has informed the platform’s design and ensured alignment with real-world investment workflows.
The involvement of senior angel investors with backgrounds in private equity, investment banking, and enterprise software also provides strategic guidance and industry credibility.
Collaboration with private equity firms and Cambridge University
Thema’s platform has been developed in collaboration with tier-one private equity firms. This ensures the system addresses real operational challenges faced by investors and integrates into existing investment processes.
The partnership with the University of Cambridge supports ongoing research into trustworthy AI and helps ensure the platform meets enterprise-grade standards for transparency and reliability.
This combination of industry collaboration and academic research strengthens the company’s technical and commercial foundation.
Market timing and opportunity
Thema is launching at a time when private equity firms are under increasing pressure to improve portfolio performance and make more precise investment decisions.
Several structural trends are driving demand for AI-powered market intelligence platforms:
- Increased volatility in software valuations
- Greater competition for acquisition targets
- Rising importance of expansion-driven value creation
- Increasing complexity of software and technology markets
- Growing reliance on data-driven investment strategies
Private equity firms managing large portfolios require scalable tools to understand market structure, identify opportunities, and reduce strategic risk.
Thema’s infrastructure addresses these needs by providing a continuously updated intelligence layer that supports expansion strategy and portfolio management.
How Thema plans to use the funding
The new funding will support several key strategic initiatives:
Research and development
The company will continue advancing its AI infrastructure, improving accuracy, scalability, and performance.
Commercial expansion
Thema is actively onboarding customers and expanding its commercial operations to support adoption across private equity firms.
Platform scalability
Investment will help scale the infrastructure to support larger datasets, more customers, and broader market coverage.
Product enhancement
The company will continue adding features to improve usability, integration, and strategic insights for private equity teams.
What this means for the future of private equity
Artificial intelligence is increasingly becoming core infrastructure for financial decision-making. Platforms like Thema represent a shift away from static market intelligence toward dynamic, continuously updated market models.
By providing investors with real-time visibility into market structure and expansion pathways, AI-powered platforms can improve decision quality, reduce risk, and accelerate value creation.
As private equity firms compete to identify growth opportunities in increasingly complex markets, AI-driven intelligence platforms are likely to become standard tools across the industry.
Thema’s $6.2 million funding round positions the company to play a significant role in this transformation, helping investors make faster, more informed expansion decisions while strengthening portfolio performance.
FAQs
What is Thema?
Thema is a London-based AI company that helps private equity firms identify expansion opportunities, assess risk, and analyse market structures using artificial intelligence.
How much funding did Thema raise?
Thema secured $6.2 million, including $4.5 million in pre-seed investment and a $1.7 million UK government grant.
Who invested in Thema?
Investors include Stride.vc, KDX, Capital Allocators, and angel investors with private equity and enterprise software experience.
What does Thema’s platform do?
The platform maps market structures using AI, helping private equity firms identify expansion opportunities and assess portfolio risk.
How will Thema use the funding?
The funding will support research and development, platform scaling, and commercial expansion.
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