Artificialis

Short description

Dicto AI is Europe’s first AI Narrative Governance platform: it helps companies and brands understand and manage how Large Language Models (ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude) portray their brands, products, and leadership. This is a highly relevant and growing issue: over 49% of consumers use AI to search for products and services, but LLM responses contain hallucinations, biases, and omissions that lead to lost sales, reputational damage, and legal risks. The solution is a proprietary SaaS platform that, through multi-LLM and multi-persona deep querying, establishes “Corporate Truth” as a benchmark, calculates the DictoScore for accuracy and sentiment, and provides actionable recommendations to correct sources and narratives. Unlike traditional brand listening tools, which monitor human-generated content, Dicto AI monitors the new interface between brands and customers: generative AI. The goal is to become the European standard for algorithmic reputation governance in the post-search era.

Business & Revenue Model

• Target: Mid-to-large enterprises with revenues exceeding €50 million
• Addressable market: 72,000 companies across major European countries, over 6,900 companies in Italy alone
• Business areas involved: Communications, Marketing, Branding, Legal, ESG, CEO
• Willingness to pay: validated by paid projects with top-tier clients (2 FTSE MIB companies, 1 CAC 40 company, 1 Confindustria trade association)
• Algorithmic reputation: critical asset, high risk of misinformation
• Three-tier business model:
  • One-time reputational mapping audit
  • Annual SaaS subscription with continuous monitoring, dashboards, alerts, and reporting
  • Narrative Governance consulting services for corrective actions
• Average deal size: €18–25K for one-time audit, €18–48K for annual SaaS subscription, €20–30K for consulting services
• Full-scale EBITDA margin: 53%
• Sales channels: direct sales via marketing automation for enterprise accounts, partnerships with communications agencies, strategic consulting firms, and system integrators
• Scalability: transition from a platform-managed service to a cloud-native multi-tenant platform with expansion into France, Germany, and Spain

Traction

• Artificialis S.R.L. was incorporated on January 28, 2025, and has been registered in the Innovative Startups Register since February 25, 2025
• 2025 Revenue: €44K generated from the first product line, AI Reputation Mapping
• First 4 months of 2026: €73K
• 2026 Target: €400K (run-rate approximately 9x vs. 2025)
• Qualified Pipeline: Italian corporations with use cases in Brand Reputation, Personal Reputation of Management, Employer Branding, and Product Narrative
• Dicto AI Prototype: TRL 8
• Partnerships: LaGemma Venture, OGR, AI4I (AI for Industry), ICT Innovation Hub, Le Village by Crédit Agricole
• Smart&Start Italia Program: business plan approved for €498K
• Equity round closed: €800K
• Q4 2026: launch of new €3M round

Roadmap and Development Plan

2026

• Launch of SaaS Closed Beta with multi-tenant architecture (Aurora PG + PGVector, LLM integrations via LiteLLM Proxy)
• KPI Dashboard and DictoScore
• Integrated operational recommendations
• Development of vertical modules: Brand, Person, Product, Employer Branding, Journey

2027

• Public multi-tenant beta release
• Security hardening and preparation for ISO 27001 certification
• Launch PR and marketing campaign
• French, German, and Spanish localization with edge CDN
• First European customers

2028

• General Availability in the European market
• European Roadshow
• Commercial partnerships with agencies and system integrators in core markets
• Goal: European AI Narrative Governance standard
• High-growth ARR on a recurring contract basis

Funding need & use of funds

Fundraising target: €3 million; launch in 2026, with a target closing date in Q3 2027

Complementarity: A round complementary to the Smart&Start Italia program, amounting to approximately €500,000, which has already been approved

Use of funds:

• 30% IT – Frontend Developer, AI Specialist, Data Scientist, Semiotician/Behavioral Psychologist (24 months)
• 40% International Sales & Marketing – Launch PR, events, expansion into FR/DE/ES
• 8% Cloud, multi-tenant SaaS infrastructure, and LLM integrations
• 2% Certifications (ISO 27001) and legal
• 20% Working capital

Team & Cap Table

Cap table:

Team:

• Federico Salomone – CEO & Co-Founder. Bachelor’s degree in Political Science; over 20 years of experience as a General Manager at international digital groups (Nurun-Quebecor, Sapient-Publicis, Wedoo-Almaviva). Expertise in digital transformation, business development, and management control.
• Paolo Scagliola – COO & Co-Founder. Freelance journalist and digital entrepreneur, with a profile at the intersection of media, fiction, and technology. Responsible for operations, platform scaling, and commercial go-to-market.
• Luigi Bruno – CFO. Responsible for financial structure, management control, and investor relations.
• Aaron Carlo Syed – CTO. Senior Software Architect, fractional CTO for Inno-action and Plazatech, former CTO of The Connective. Expertise in MVPs, scale-ups, and B2B2C cloud architectures.
• Alberto Guffanti – Data Engineer. PhD in Physics, former Senior Data Engineer at Serenis Health and Senior Data Scientist at Pivigo. Expertise in AWS, ML, and data infrastructure.
• Gregorio Caporale – AI Specialist. Technology integrator for the platform’s AI modules.

Social/environmental issue and impact

Problem: 

One of the most critical emerging social risks of the digital age: the loss of reliability in the information that generative AI—now the primary source of knowledge for millions of people—provides about companies, products, individuals, and public issues. Hallucinations, algorithmic biases, and omissions not only harm individuals but also distort public discourse and erode collective trust in technology.

Impact:

• First European tool for fact-checking and certifying AI-generated narratives
• Enables companies and institutions to become proactive players in the fight against automated disinformation
• Number of inaccuracies identified and corrected
• Improvement in the DictoScore for factual accuracy of monitored brands
• Reduction in the information gap between Corporate Truth and LLM narratives
• Alignment with the EU AI Act (transparency and accuracy requirements)
• Compliance with the Trustworthy AI framework
• G dimension of ESG criteria
• Benefit for stakeholders: citizens, consumers, and institutions gain access to a healthier digital ecosystem
• Positioning of Italy as a European hub for AI Narrative Governance

Financial Structure (equity, debt, grant)

Equity:

• €800,000 in funding from founding shareholders and private investors (business angels and institutional investors), including €200,000 from LaGemma Venture.

Debt:

• None

Grant:

• €500,000 – Smart&Start Italia Program (approved)