Tangible results, delivered at AI speed

Transformation, forged for the way you work.

Over 20 years of transforming businesses across commercial, operations and the back office, now with the speed of AI. We find where your business loses time, cash and opportunity, then deliver the change that fixes it: redesigned processes, insight from your data and AI-enabled tools, on top of the systems you already have.

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I What we do

Transformation experience. AI-speed delivery.

We've spent over 20 years helping businesses transform how they sell, operate and run their back office. So we start with your biggest pain points, not with the technology.

Molten metal flowing through a precision-machined steel mould
20+years transforming businesses
3business areas: commercial, operations and back office (finance, HR, procurement and more)
0core systems you need to replace
01

Faster processes, without replacing your systems

We digitise the processes that slow your business down and build AI into them, on top of the ERP, CRM and finance systems you already run.

Think quotes and proposals, customer onboarding, approvals or month-end reporting: the work that lives in spreadsheets, inboxes and re-keyed data.

  • Weeks become days: fewer hand-offs, no re-keying, no chasing emails
  • AI takes the routine work: drafting, matching, summarising, checking
  • Nothing underneath changes: a working version in days, with no multi-year systems overhaul

ProvenQuote to sales order cut from 60 days to 2.

See it in Sales Studio
02

Find the cash and growth in your data

We analyse the data you already hold to find specific, valued opportunities, then help you deliver them.

You get a short list of the moves worth making, what each is worth and how to execute it. Then we help make it happen, not just a slide deck.

  • Release cash: from receivables, inventory and supplier terms
  • Grow revenue: win, keep and price customers better
  • Cut cost: bottlenecks, leakage and process waste

ProvenSupplier payment terms extended from 23 to 47 days, releasing working capital.

Talk about your data

II Track record

Results, not slideware

Two decades leading transformation in corporate leadership, sovereign investment and advisory roles, measured in cash, time and EBITDA.

Experience with FTSE 100 companies Sovereign wealth Government-owned businesses SMEs
£50m+

annual savings from turnaround, cost-reduction and liquidity programmes

80%

faster customer onboarding, down to two days, through AI-assisted workflow redesign

60 → 2

days from quote to sales order after digitising the commercial process

23 → 47

days of supplier payment terms, part of a multi-million working-capital improvement

100+

AI agent opportunities identified through a business-led AI programme across a global group

A ladle pouring glowing molten metal into a curved steel channel

Chris de Looze, founder

“I've always seen better ways to do things. AI means I can now build them, fast.”

For 20 years I've worked on every side of transformation: as an adviser, as a sovereign investor and as an operator inside the business. The pattern was always the same. The better way is often clear – delivery is the challenge.

AI has changed that. I can now go from a pain point to a working prototype in days, put it in front of the people who will use it, and shape it with them until it delivers. Strategy and delivery are no longer separate steps.

I bring a Chartered Accountant's commercial and financial judgement, an engineer's systems thinking, and the habit of building things myself: every product on this site, I designed and built. And because change only sticks when people own it, I work alongside your teams, not around them.

Adviser · Investor · OperatorChartered Accountant (ICAS)First-class Master's, Engineering

III The products

Proof, out of the furnace

Each one started as a real pain point for a real team. Here's what's live, and what's next.

LiveB2B · Sales

Sales Studio

From customer brief to signed proposal, without the spreadsheets.

A fully digital, AI-assisted workflow for merchandise and corporate-gifting sales teams. Salespeople turn around polished, branded proposals in a fraction of the time, with the finance maths done for them, while managers see the whole pipeline at a glance.

Visit Sales Studio
i

Faster to the customer

A fully digital workflow from brief to send. Proposals go out as a branded PDF or a live web link where customers can comment and accept online.

ii

Finance built in

Margins, volume discounts, branding costs and VAT are calculated as you build, with a margin floor and finance approval before anything goes out.

iii

AI that does the legwork

Type or simply speak the customer's brief. AI asks the right follow-up questions and shortlists matching products from the catalogue.

iv

Management at a glance

Pipeline, wins & losses, team and customer performance in one view, with AI insights that flag what needs attention next.

v

On-brand, every time

The customer's logo is placed on the products and every proposal carries your company's branding: no design work needed.

vi

Nothing gets lost

Every sent version is locked, with a full history per customer. Each company gets its own private, isolated workspace.

Live pilotCommunity · Sport

SportsConnect

A private, phone-first home for a residential tennis and squash community. Players find partners at their level, chat one-to-one, and post games on sport boards, with moderation and privacy built in from day one.

  • Partner discovery by sport and skill level
  • Private conversations and per-sport message boards
  • Membership cap, waitlist and owner moderation
  • Privacy-first: members never see each other's personal details
Visit SportsConnect
Coming soonEducation · Sport

Swim Teacher

A new app for swim teachers, now taking shape in the forge. More to share soon. Want an early look when it's ready?

Ask for early access

IV Approach

From pain point to lasting change

  1. 01

    Understand

    How your business really works today, and where time, cash and opportunity are being lost.

  2. 02

    Find the value

    Size the opportunities and agree the few that matter most, each with a clear owner and outcome.

  3. 03

    Deliver fast

    Quick wins first: redesigned processes, insight from your data and AI-enabled tools, in weeks rather than months.

  4. 04

    Make it stick

    Your teams shape the change as it happens, so it is owned, measured and kept running.

A solid forged steel letter A with a glowing core, standing on a dark polished floor

V Why Athanor

Why work with Athanor

⚒

Senior, hands-on experience

Twenty years leading transformation for FTSE 100 companies, sovereign wealth, government-owned businesses and SMEs.

%

Commercial and financial rigour

Every change is tied to a number: cash released, time saved, margin or EBITDA improved.

→

One person, start to finish

No hand-offs between advisers and delivery teams. The person who diagnoses the problem delivers the fix.

◈

Works with what you have

Your ERP, CRM and finance systems stay in place. We build on them rather than replace them.

↻

Change your people own

Your teams shape the change as it happens, so it keeps working after we step back.

✦

Secure and private by design

Each client's data is kept separate and private, and new tools are tried on a safe copy before going live.

Let's talk

Where is your business losing time, cash or opportunity?

Tell me what you're working on. I'll get back to you personally.

chris@athanoraifoundry.com