Artificial intelligence tools are now available to millions of employees worldwide, yet many organisations continue to face a fundamental challenge: access does not automatically translate into meaningful adoption. While companies have invested heavily in platforms such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Copilot, many employees still use these technologies only for basic tasks, leaving much of their potential untapped. UK based AI adoption company Atheni believes the next phase of enterprise AI will be defined not by providing access to tools, but by helping people use them effectively in their daily work.
The company has secured £350,000 in funding to further develop its platform and accelerate adoption across organisations.
Atheni is backed by angel investors, including Alex Chesterman, and is also supported by Innovate UK.
The investment will help expand deployment of the company’s AI adoption platform while supporting future growth initiatives.
Building AI Skills Through Daily Work
Founded by Mackenzie Howe and Louise Ballard, Atheni spent two years working directly with clients before raising external funding.
During this period, the founders refined a methodology centred on integrating AI guidance directly into employee workflows rather than relying solely on traditional training programmes, workshops, or one off learning sessions.
The company believes that sustainable AI adoption happens when employees receive ongoing support while performing their everyday responsibilities.
This philosophy has become the foundation of Atheni’s product strategy.
Launching the Atheni Accelerator
The newly raised funding will support the rollout of the Atheni Accelerator, a browser based platform designed to provide employees with personalised and role specific AI guidance.
The platform works alongside widely used AI tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Copilot, helping users understand how to apply these technologies within the context of their own jobs.
Rather than teaching generic AI skills, Atheni focuses on helping employees improve decision making, problem solving, critical thinking, and work quality through practical AI usage.
The platform also enables organisations to measure adoption progress and determine whether employees are genuinely improving their AI capabilities over time.
Tackling the Enterprise AI Adoption Gap
Despite rapid advancements in AI technology, many organisations continue struggling to achieve widespread and meaningful usage across teams.
According to Atheni, employees often remain limited to simple use cases such as summarisation or content generation while failing to leverage AI for higher value strategic work.
Mackenzie Howe argues that this gap represents one of the biggest challenges facing enterprise AI adoption today.
According to Howe, many organisations can report how many employees have access to AI tools but cannot accurately assess whether those tools are improving thinking, challenging assumptions, or enabling people to produce better outcomes.
Atheni aims to provide visibility into that gap while helping organisations close it.
Proven Across Multiple Industries
Over the past two years, the company has tested its methodology across a range of industries including further education, executive education, manufacturing, financial services, and private equity.
Atheni reports that its implementation approach has consistently delivered adoption rates above 90 percent within 90 days.
The company believes these results demonstrate the importance of embedding AI guidance into existing workflows rather than treating AI learning as a separate activity.
Preparing for Expansion
According to Louise Ballard, many organisations already possess access to powerful AI technologies but continue to underutilise them.
Atheni’s goal is to help employees unlock the broader value of AI by integrating it naturally into the work they already perform.
The company is currently rolling out its platform across existing customers while preparing for a future funding round that will support broader market expansion.
As organisations increasingly shift their focus from AI experimentation to measurable productivity gains, platforms that help employees develop practical AI capabilities may become an important component of the future workplace. Atheni is positioning itself at the centre of that transition by focusing not on building another AI tool, but on helping people become more effective users of the tools they already have.
