Episode 1, Dreamcraft, and Portfolio Ventures back UK startup helping businesses choose and manage software with AI-powered insights.
Dragonfly, a software discovery startup founded by Sean King and Sven Sabas, has raised £2.6 million in pre-seed funding to accelerate its mission of helping businesses make smarter technology decisions. The round was led by Episode 1, with participation from Dreamcraft and Portfolio Ventures, alongside angel investors including QuantumBlack founder and CTO Sam Bourton and Bolt founder and CEO Markus Villig.
Launched today, Dragonfly’s conversational AI platform enables users to find, compare, and implement the right software tools in seconds — without relying on consultants or sifting through outdated marketplaces. Its proprietary database already includes over 250,000 software products, sourced and structured to understand capabilities, integrations, and compliance requirements.
“Sean and I have spent our careers building startups, and we learned firsthand that a company’s success is tied to the technology it chooses” said Sven Sabas, co-founder of Dragonfly. “There’s a lack of reliable, up-to-date guidance to make these critical decisions. We’re building Dragonfly to be the technology companion we always wished we had.”
The startup’s conversational AI can answer both simple and highly specific prompts, from recommending project management software for small teams to generating detailed blueprints for enterprise technology architectures. Later this year, Dragonfly will introduce enterprise-grade features, including “digital fingerprinting” — a system that maps and analyzes a company’s existing software infrastructure to provide personalized recommendations and integration insights.
Founded in December 2024, Dragonfly is the latest venture from King and Sabas, both alumni of Zego, the London-based insurtech unicorn. Their 12-person team includes engineers and data scientists from Peppy and Permutive. The company plans to use the funding to build out its Automated Solutions Architect platform, enrich its data catalogue, and hire key product and AI talent.
“Before Dragonfly, it was almost impossible to gather enough context about software tools to truly understand their capabilities and fit” said Hector Mason, General Partner at Episode 1. “By solving this problem—made even more urgent by the rapid adoption of AI—Dragonfly has the potential to make every company operate more effectively.”
“What struck me about Sean and Sven was their willingness to embrace the full complexity of this challenge” added Sam Bourton, co-founder and CTO of QuantumBlack. “They’re not looking for superficial fixes; they’re building something fundamental. This is exactly what our industry needs.”
Dragonfly plans to roll out its enterprise offering in late 2025, supporting organizations in managing and evolving their tech stacks through AI-powered insights.