Kaiasm
Kaiasm is a UK-based data science company that provides ontology-driven data integration via its OntoKai SaaS platform, serving large public-sector bodies and enterprises in infrastructure, retail, and finance with consulting, semantic tooling, and AI-readiness services.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2010
- HeadquartersFrome, United Kingdom
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Kaiasm does
Kaiasm is a UK-based data science company, founded in 2010 in Frome, Somerset, that builds ontology-driven methods and tools for enterprise data integration and knowledge management. Its core offering is OntoKai, a proprietary SaaS platform that enables organisations to envision, manage, translate, and merge detailed knowledge representations such as ontologies and data models using semantic web standards (RDF/OWL/SKOS). The platform supports visual, value-weighted mapping of complex data landscapes across multiple taxonomies, applications, and data stores, allowing both technical and non-technical stakeholders to navigate fragmented data estates and identify gaps and overlaps within and between organisations.
The company monetises through three channels: (i) per-user OntoKai SaaS licences (minimum five users, 12-month contract, from £332/month per editor), (ii) 8-12 week ontology consulting engagements covering discovery, mapping, schema analysis, validation, integration, and knowledge transfer (example investments £25k-£50k), and (iii) AI Sitemaps, an experimental service launched in November 2025 (minimum £10k investment) that combines XML sitemaps with ontological representations to improve content visibility in AI assistants. Go-to-market combines direct enterprise sales to large private and public-sector organisations, strategic partnerships with system integrators (Sopra Steria, KPMG, Cohesive, Zühlke, Techmodal), and Crown Commercial Service framework procurement (G-Cloud, DOS6, Spark DPS). The ~20-person team is led by co-founders Steve Johnston (Chief Customer Officer; early Google consultancy and Screwfix ecommerce background) and Liam McGee (Chief Scientist; Cambridge, W3C, ontology and cognitive science expertise), with CTO James Harvey (Cambridge; ex-nCipher, ex-Thales). Notable clients include National Highways, NHS, Houses of Parliament R&R, Ordnance Survey, Screwfix, Howdens, and Forthglade; Kaiasm holds a Queen's Award for Enterprise Innovation (2020) and an Innovate UK Smart Grant (2022).
Kaiasm firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Kaiasm
- Legal name
- Kaiasm Ltd.
- Website
- https://kaiasm.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2010
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Kaiasm is a UK-based data science company that provides ontology-driven data integration via its OntoKai SaaS platform, serving large public-sector bodies and enterprises in infrastructure, retail, and finance with consulting, semantic tooling, and AI-readiness services.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Kaiasm industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Knowledge Management and Data Integration Software
- NAICS
- Computer Systems Design and Related Services (5415), Computer Systems Design Services (541512), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (51821)
- SIC
- Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373), Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370), Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Healthcare Terminology, Ontology & Code Set Management (SNOMED/LOINC/ICD/RxNorm) (HLACAIAF)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Database/Application Data Layer Modernization (DB migration, ORM, caching) (BPAEAFAL)
Keywords
Where Kaiasm is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Frome
- HQ country
- United Kingdom
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices3 records
Markets served
Kaiasm business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- OntoKai SaaS Licensing: Per-user SaaS licensing model for OntoKai ontology management platform. Minimum 12-month contract with minimum five users. Optional client cloud infrastructure deployment.
- Professional Services: Ontology consulting services including discovery, mapping, schema analysis, validation, integration, and knowledge transfer. 8-12 week engagements.
- AI Sitemaps: Experimental service with minimum £10,000 investment required. Includes taxonomy analysis, ontology design, and AI sitemap generation.
- Ontology for AI Service: 8-12 week engagement building AI-ready ontologies with knowledge transfer. Example investment range £25k to £50k. Includes OntoKai platform access and training.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Hybrid | Multi-year contract | AI Sitemaps - Early Adopter Program |
| Professional services/ project-based | Multi-year contract | Ontology for AI Service |
| Per seat | Annual | OntoKai SaaS Platform |
| Other | Annual | Junior Data & Ontology Consultant (entry-level) |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels5 records
Kaiasm product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Kaiasm provides an ontology-driven methodology paired with its proprietary OntoKai SaaS platform to help organisations map, integrate and govern complex data estates across multiple taxonomies, applications and data stores. Its portfolio centres on OntoKai SaaS licensing (per-seat, minimum 12-month contract, minimum five users), extended by professional service engagements covering ontology discovery, mapping, validation and knowledge transfer, and an AI Sitemaps service that uses RDF/OWL/SKOS semantic models to make content understandable to AI assistants.
Product overview
Kaiasm offers a unified product-service portfolio centered on its proprietary OntoKai SaaS platform for ontology and knowledge representation. OntoKai serves as the core technology enabling data integration, semantic mapping, and AI readiness. Two additional offerings extend the platform: AI Sitemaps (an experimental semantic SEO service leveraging OntoKai to create machine-readable ontological content models for AI search visibility) and Ontology for AI (a professional service that guides organisations through ontology development for AI deployments using the OntoKai platform). The portfolio follows an ontology-led methodology where OntoKai is both the enabling tool and the common thread across all offerings.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- OntoKai: A software tool for envisioning, managing, translating and merging detailed knowledge representations such as ontologies and data models.
- AI Sitemaps
- Ontology for AI
Products and services
- OntoKai SaaS platform for envisioning, managing, translating and merging detailed knowledge representations such as ontologies and data models. Enables organisations to identify data gaps and overlaps within and between organisations, reducing time and cost of data modelling while increasing data quality in system integrations. Licensed per editor on a minimum 12-month contract with a minimum of five users, from £332 per editor per month.
- Ontology for AI Service Professional service that helps organisations build and maintain AI-ready ontologies using the OntoKai platform, reducing hallucinations in LLM deployments and enabling ontology-grounded RAG implementations. Delivered as 8-12 week engagements with example investments ranging from £25,000 to £50,000, and includes platform access and team training.
- AI Sitemaps Experimental service combining traditional XML sitemaps with RDF/OWL/SKOS semantic ontologies to help AI systems (ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews) understand and trust website content for improved visibility in AI-powered search. Includes taxonomy analysis, ontology design using OntoKai and AI sitemap generation.
Quantifiable outcome
- Screwfix achieved 3x revenue growth over 5 years using Kaiasm's demand-focused data architecture
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Kaiasm
Customer profileNamed customers9 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Kaiasm technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability5 records
Feature4 records
Kaiasm partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- Sopra SteriacoreEuropean leader in consulting, digital services and software development. Serves as prime contractor with Kaiasm delivering operational ontology for National Highways Digital by Default Programme. Kaiasm is responsible for delivering detailed data mapping and conceptual data models.
- KPMGcoreGlobal consulting firm in infrastructure and infratech sector. Partnership to help deliver Kaiasm's ontology-driven data integration services to enterprise clients at scale.
- CohesivecoreEngineering and infrastructure consulting firm. Partnership to help deliver Kaiasm's ontology services in the infrastructure and construction sectors.
- ZühlkecoreEngineering and technology consulting firm. Partnership to help deliver Kaiasm's ontology services, bringing innovative SME capabilities to government project bids.
- TechmodalcoreTechnology and data consultancy. Ongoing partnership with Kaiasm delivering ontology workshops for data scientists and engineers. Collaborative approach extending mutual capabilities in knowledge graphs and data integration.
- Cranfield UniversitycoreKaiasm serves on the Data Science Advisory Board at Cranfield University. Engaged closely in syllabus development for the Data Science Degree Apprenticeship, helping develop the data science curriculum with MK:U at Cranfield University.
- The Turing InstitutecoreTwo Kaiasm staff members are Experts in Residence at The Turing Institute as part of the Turing Way programme, contributing to research in knowledge representation, AI, and data ethics.
- National HighwayscoreGovernment-owned company responsible for motorways and major A roads in England. Kaiasm working with National Highways to support Digital by Default Programme, delivering operational ontology for common data environment.
Scale indicators5 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Kaiasm competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Alation: Enterprise data catalogue and data intelligence platform. Competes in the broader data governance and metadata management space where Kaiasm's ontology services are deployed, though Alation does not specialise in ontology engineering.
- Neo4j: Leading graph database platform that powers knowledge graph use cases across enterprises. Adjacent to Kaiasm's ontology and knowledge graph focus, with broader market reach and significantly larger scale.
- Collibra: Enterprise data intelligence and governance platform (data catalogue, data quality, data governance). Kaiasm already supports Collibra integrations in projects like UK Parliament; broader incumbent in the data governance space where Kaiasm plays in the ontology layer.
- Informatica: Large enterprise data integration and management platform with data catalogue, data quality, and master data management capabilities. Broad incumbent competing for the same enterprise data integration budget as Kaiasm's OntoKai, though at a much larger scale.
Direct peers
- Ontotext: Provider of knowledge graph and semantic database technology (GraphDB), offering ontology management and linked data services. Comparable to Kaiasm in its use of semantic web standards and focus on enterprise data integration.
- Stardog: Enterprise knowledge graph platform that uses semantic web standards (RDF, OWL, SPARQL) to unify data across systems. Directly comparable to Kaiasm's OntoKai in ontology-driven data integration, though at significantly larger scale with venture funding.
- PoolParty (Semantic Web Company): Semantic AI platform for knowledge management, taxonomy, and ontology management. Competes directly with OntoKai in the enterprise ontology tooling market, with similar focus on RDF/SKOS standards and AI-readiness use cases.
- Franz Inc: Provider of AllegroGraph, a knowledge graph and semantic database platform, with deep expertise in AI-ready data infrastructure. Comparable to Kaiasm in targeting enterprise AI-readiness through semantic technology.
- TopQuadrant: Semantic data management and ontology tools provider, with a focus on information architecture, data governance, and knowledge graphs. Overlaps with Kaiasm's OntoKai platform in ontology lifecycle management and RDF/OWL tooling.
- Progress Software (MarkLogic): MarkLogic is a multi-model database with strong semantic web (RDF, OWL) capabilities for data integration and knowledge graphs. Comparable to OntoKai's ontology and data integration focus, though offered as part of a broader enterprise data platform.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Kaiasm social profiles
Digital presenceKaiasm compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance2 records
Kaiasm financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Kaiasm leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles12 records
Kaiasm funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Kaiasm M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Kaiasm
What does Kaiasm do?
Kaiasm provides an ontology-driven methodology paired with its proprietary OntoKai SaaS platform to help organisations map, integrate and govern complex data estates across multiple taxonomies, applications and data stores. Its portfolio centres on OntoKai SaaS licensing (per-seat, minimum 12-month contract, minimum five users), extended by professional service engagements covering ontology discovery, mapping, validation and knowledge transfer, and an AI Sitemaps service that uses RDF/OWL/SKOS semantic models to make content understandable to AI assistants.
Is Kaiasm a public or private company?
Kaiasm is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Kaiasm founded?
Kaiasm was founded in 2010. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Kaiasm based?
Kaiasm is headquartered in Frome, United Kingdom, in the Europe region.
How does Kaiasm make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. OntoKai SaaS Licensing is the primary driver. The others are professional Services, AI Sitemaps and ontology for AI Service.
Who are Kaiasm's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Alation, Neo4j, Collibra and Informatica. Direct peers are Ontotext, Stardog, PoolParty (Semantic Web Company), Franz Inc, TopQuadrant and Progress Software (MarkLogic).
Does Kaiasm have an API?
No public API is recorded for Kaiasm.
What industry is Kaiasm in?
Kaiasm's product category is Knowledge Management and Data Integration Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HLACAIAF, Healthcare Terminology, Ontology & Code Set Management (SNOMED/LOINC/ICD/RxNorm), with a secondary code of BPAEAFAL, Database/Application Data Layer Modernization (DB migration, ORM, caching). Its NAICS code is 5415 and its SIC code is 7373.