A Milton Keynes start-up set to triple annual recurring revenue in the 12 months to July 2025 is using a new round to hire a Chief Revenue Officer and continue product development.
Serve firstA British AI-powered customer experience platform has raised €5.7m (£5m) in new funding, according to EU Startups. The round will be used to strengthen the company’s sales and marketing function, including the appointment of a Chief Revenue Officer and support continued product development.
It follows a £4.6m round completed in July 2025 from Pembroke VCT, Mercia Ventures with Midlands Engine Investment Fund II, Tiny VCT and angel investors from Techstars.
Serve First was founded in 2023 by Erol Ayvaz, Alan Mayer and Antoni Tagliamonti and is based in Milton Keynes. Its platform combines customer feedback from multiple sources, in-store surveys, online reviews and mystery shopping, and uses artificial intelligence to transform that data into actionable insights and automated workflows for frontline teams.
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The company targets sectors including retail, hospitality, healthcare and facilities management, with clients including Aramark and Elior Group, two of the UK’s largest contract caterers.
Ayvaz has spent more than 20 years in customer experience technology, including time at Asana and Market Force Information. It secured a place on the London Techstars accelerator program prior to previous fundraising and was a member of the Midlands Engine Investment Fund II portfolio.
The company tripled its annual recurring revenue and doubled its headcount in the 12 months leading up to the July 2025 round. The new capital is aimed at accelerating international expansion in Europe and the US, the company says, based on the UK market, which the company has confirmed through enterprise deal wins.
According to Technavio, the customer experience management software market is forecast to grow to $17.1 billion between 2024 and 2029, at a CAGR of 15.7%, a market trend that Serve First and its investors say is central to their confidence in the sector.
