Valliance aims to close ‘AI black hole’ in consulting sector
As traditional consultancies struggle to help clients get the most from their AI investments, a new firm based in London aims to change that. Backed by private equity funding from Siguler Guff and Company, Valliance is built on an “AI-native” business model, with fees based on results rather than the billable hours model which the consulting industry has traditional worked with.
Valliance has launched, with a trio of experienced founders behind it. Tarek Nseir, Anita Rajdev, and Rad Parvin have known each other for many years, thanks to their time together at IT services provider EPAM. Nseir and Rajdev in particular have known each other even longer, having also worked together at TH_NK, a start-up which they eventually sold to EPAM. Parvin meanwhile led Just BI for twenty years, a company he also managed to sell to EPAM.
The team decided the time was right for a new challenge, when they observed what they saw as a “black hole” in the consulting sector, relating to AI implementation. Illustrating this, the Nseir, Rajdev and Parvin point to recent interviews conducted by Sapio Research, which found that of 1,000 professionals in the UK and the Netherlands, whose organisations spent over £20 million annually in technology, and had invested in AI projects in the last two years.
According to the respondents, 90% of businesses are accelerating their investments into AI across the board, while 21% of that spend is attributed to external consultancies – yet half of these projects are falling short of expectations. With other research also regularly finding that firms see much too little return on investment to justify the amount they spend on AI, the consultants at Valliance believe they have an answer to the issue at the heart of the shortfall.
Nseir argued, “Leaders who want to ensure success for the next decade must derive value from the technology now or be left behind – and they need the right advice and guidance to cut through hype and achieve this goal. But the legacy consulting model is broken. The big firms rely on outdated practices that drive up business AI spend and create waste, rather than value. Billions are being spent on science projects and initiatives that will never work in production, and that’s costing enterprises and the economy. Valliance is made for this moment.”
AI native
The firm claims to be “AI native”, which is broadly because the company has been designed from the ground up, using AI. Unlike other large players scrambling to work AI into their old models, Valliance has been able to start from scratch, and build the technology into everything it does, from processes to the service they deliver clients, rather than using AI or LLM as an add-on – drawing “from the very best in consulting, tech, data, design and industry to create something entirely new”, Nseir added.
Parvin continued, “Advice from traditional consultancies is never impartial. You don’t know if the guidance you’re being given is right for your business, or theirs. And they lack the skills and expertise to really understand the AI revolution – you’re effectively paying for their transformation while trying to navigate your own. Valliance will always be independent. Our team of experts has a single aim: to help businesses reduce time to AI value. We’re not here to sell licenses - we’re here to deliver solutions that work for business, and with the existing IT estate.”
Looking ahead, Valliance has positioned itself for rapid growth – launching with $15 million in private equity backing from investments firm Siguler Guff and Company. And as it looks to bolster its system architecture, data and product design skills from its wider team, this has already enabled Valliance to sign three clients, while branching out from London to Amsterdam. And the firm expects to build on this, with the help of its billing model.
Further citing the polling from Sapio Research, the respondents spending over £100 million on technology said they saw an average of £53.08 million going towards AI projects alone. With more than a fifth of that going to consultants, at £11.30 million, those firms pay more for external expertise than 31% of other enterprises spend on any tech at all. But Valliance aims to end this “unnecessary waste” by charging based on value delivered, rather than the billable hours model.
Rajdev concluded, “We’re not here to sell customers a dream on paper before skating away. We believe in shared success, and that means shared investment of our time. Customers pay us when we’ve created value in live– no billable hours, no bloated teams. Just a focus on the end goal and how we can implement AI to get our clients there.”
