What StepUp.One does

StepUp.One is a London-based, privately held execution services company founded in 2019 that operates a human-AI hybrid delivery model for founders, investors, and senior executives. The company's core offering is a set of subscription 'engines' (Fundraising, Go-To-Market, Talent Acquisition), each priced at $400/month, that pair agentic AI systems with certified human operators to run daily outreach pipelines on behalf of clients. Underlying technology is the Human-Edge.ai Platform, a proprietary context-infrastructure system that includes AI digital twins trained on client voice, RAG-based chatbots, and parallel agentic AI engines (Relationship Led, Intent Led, Signal Led) with human-in-the-loop approval on every outbound message. The certified operator workforce of 1,400+ refugees across 7+ camps and 30+ countries is the operational backbone, sourced via an UNHCR-validated training pipeline and reskilled annually on frontier AI tools (generative AI in 2022, RAG in 2023, agentic AI in 2024).

The business model is primarily subscription-recurring, with standard $400/month engine SKUs and tiered enterprise products (Portfolio Diagnostics at $5,000-$10,000/month for up to 25 portfolio companies, M&A Exit Engine at $3,000-$5,000/month plus 1-3% success fees, CXO Influence at $1,000/month, Board Seat Sourcing at $3,000-$6,000/month, and a Talent Marketplace at $25-$75/hour). Go-to-market is sales-led via direct website checkout and embedded booking widgets, supplemented by a partner referral ecosystem of 100+ fractional CXOs, CEO coaches, and deal advisors. The company has served 2,000+ clients over seven years, claims 4,500+ qualified investor meetings booked and $120M in sourced pipeline, and operates from London with delivery distributed globally through the certified operator network.

Name

StepUp.One

Legal name

StepUp.One

Website

https://stepup.one

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1,001–5,000 employees

Short description

StepUp.One is a London-based execution services company that pairs agentic AI with a 1,400+ certified refugee operator workforce to deliver done-for-you fundraising, GTM, and talent pipelines for founders, investors, and executives at $400/month per engine.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Outbound Sales and Fundraising Execution Services

NAICS

Custom Computer Programming Services (541511), Employment Placement Agencies (561311), Temporary Help Services (56132), Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742), Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Management Services (8741), Services-Computer Programming Services (7371)

akta.pro primary industry

Agents & Autonomous Workflows (Tool Use, Planning, Multi-Agent) (HDAAACAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

Recruiting Administration Outsourcing (Recruitment Support, Scheduling, Onboarding Ops) (BPACAKAG), AI/ML Engineering & Model Development Services (BPAEAHAF), Customer & Go-to-Market Onboarding (Sales/CS/Support) (EDABAOAH)

Keywords

• Done-for-you fundraising
• Go-to-market execution
• Human-AI outsourcing
• Refugee reskilling services
• Agentic AI sales engines

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Monthly Subscription - Execution Engines: Core revenue stream from monthly subscription fees for done-for-you execution services. Each 'engine' (Fundraising, GTM, or Talent) priced at $400/month. Clients can run one or multiple engines in parallel. Subscription model with no setup fees and cancel-anytime flexibility.
2. CXO Influencer Partnership: 12-month structured partnership at $1,000/month for executive influence operations including strategy, targeting, profile transformation, messaging architecture, AI digital twin, and daily execution across external, internal, and personal dimensions.
3. Portfolio Diagnostics Subscription: Fund-level diagnostic subscriptions covering up to 25 portfolio companies simultaneously at $5,000-$10,000/month. Includes real-time dashboard, preemptive alerts, and quarterly deep dives.
4. M&A Exit Engine: Outbound operator deployment at $3,000-$5,000/month plus 1-3% success fee on finalized deal value. Targets PE firms, strategic competitors, and acqui-hirers to recover fund IRR.
5. Board Seat Sourcing Campaign: 12-month sustained intelligence campaign at $3,000-$6,000/month for executive board placement services including readiness structuring, advisory acceleration, and fiduciary integration.
6. Transition Engine Sprint: Fixed 90-day executive transition sprint at $5,000-$8,000. Includes stakeholder mapping, quick wins identification, and narrative establishment for new C-suite placements.
7. Certified Operator Marketplace: Deployable certified operators priced at $25-$75/hour depending on operator tier and deployment velocity. Modes include embedded deployment (full-time), project-based, and fractional bandwidth.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

StepUp.One sells done-for-you execution services that combine certified human operators with agentic AI engines to run outbound fundraising, client acquisition, and talent sourcing campaigns on behalf of founders, investors, and executives. Services are delivered as monthly subscription engines (Fundraising, GTM, Talent) priced at $400/month, supplemented by portfolio diagnostics, M&A exit, board seat sourcing, fractional CXO enablement, and certified operator deployment. The company's workforce is sourced from a refugee reskilling program operating across 7+ camps in 30+ countries.

Product overview

StepUp.One is a human-plus-AI execution services company offering a unified platform of managed services for fundraising, go-to-market, and talent acquisition — plus executive, portfolio, and partner programs — all powered by a two-layer operating system (foundation + daily execution engine). The core offering is the Execution Engine, which combines the Fundraising Engine, Go-To-Market Engine, and Talent Acquisition into simultaneous fronts. These are supplemented by portfolio-specific services (Plan B Fundraising, Plan B GTM, Portfolio Diagnostics, M&A/Exit Engine), executive programs (CXO Influence Engine, Fractional CXO Engine, Board Seat Sourcing, Transition Engine), and a talent ecosystem (Career Launchpad, Operator Certification, Talent Marketplace). Partner programs cover Start-Up Advisors, CEO Coaches, and Deal Advisors. All services operate on the Human-Edge.ai Platform, leveraging agentic AI and RAG-based chatbots with human operators governing every output. Pricing is largely standardized at $400/month per engine, with portfolio and executive tiers varying accordingly.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Fundraising Engine Done-for-you investor outreach engine that runs the full fundraising pipeline end-to-end for startup founders, including investor targeting, profile transformation, AI digital twin, daily engagement, and qualified meeting booking across Relationship Led, Intent Led, and Signal Led engines.
• Go-To-Market Engine Done-for-you client acquisition engine for service sellers that finds the right buyers, builds familiarity, starts conversations, and books meetings under the client's name using AI writing models trained on the client's voice.
• Talent Acquisition Done-for-you passive candidate sourcing engine for hiring principal engineers and mission-critical leadership, replacing traditional recruiters with AI-amplified human operators who personalize outreach referencing specific code, commits, and projects.
• Execution Engine Unified execution engine running fundraising, client acquisition, and talent sourcing fronts simultaneously in parallel from a single dashboard, applying the two-layer foundation-plus-daily-execution methodology across investors, clients, and candidates.
• Plan B Fundraising Parallel investor pipeline engine for VC/PE investors running full fundraising outreach per portfolio company, including strategy, targeting, founder profile, pitch messaging, AI digital twin, and daily execution with portfolio-level visibility.
• Plan B GTM Elastic go-to-market engine per portfolio company providing investors traction data in 90 days, with Normal GTM ($400/month, 2-member team) and Scaled GTM ($5,000/month, 12-member team) tiers.
• Portfolio Diagnostics Real-time portfolio health monitoring with continuous health scoring, preemptive alerts on runway and personnel risk thresholds, and quarterly deep dives for GTM rescue or M&A exit mappings.
• M&A / Exit Engine Outbound engine mapping PE firms, strategic competitors, and acqui-hirers to recover fund IRR from stalled portfolio companies, with Strategic Acquisition, Talent Acqui-hire, and Asset/IP Sale pathways.
• CXO Influence Engine Full executive influence operation converting authority into market influence across external (peers, analysts, media), internal (leadership team velocity), and personal (dormant relationships) dimensions, with AI digital twin ghostwriting and daily execution.
• Fractional CXO Engine Execution capacity layer enabling fractional CFOs, CMOs, and CROs to scale from 3 to 10+ clients, where the fractional holds the client relationship and StepUp provides certified operators running daily execution under the fractional's brand.
• Board Seat Sourcing 12-month private networking campaign to secure board directorships for senior executives, with three phases covering readiness structuring, advisory acceleration, and fiduciary integration.
• Transition Engine Intelligence sprint for new C-suite executives covering the first 90 days, delivering a stakeholder briefing book, quick wins matrix, and narrative establishment with ghostwritten town halls and 100-day memos.
• Career Launchpad 12-week immersion program training displaced and Global South talent in Agentic AI tools, with three phases covering Agentic Mastery, Live Action Pods, and Autonomous Delivery on revenue-generating enterprise contracts.
• Operator Certification Credential validating demonstrated performance on real client execution across three accreditation tracks: Outbound Operator, Intelligence Operator, and Platform Operator, with external candidate licensing approximately $500.
• Talent Marketplace Managed marketplace of 50+ certified AI-augmented operators available for embedded deployment, project-based deliverables, or fractional bandwidth, priced at $25–$75/hour depending on operator tier and velocity.
• Start-Up Advisors Partnership Execution infrastructure partnership enabling start-up advisors to materialize their strategic advice through StepUp's daily outbound velocity and mechanical follow-through across Fundraising, GTM, and Talent engines.
• CEO Coaches Partnership Execution arm enabling CEO coaches to amplify their clients' market presence through daily ghostwriting, active board-seat sourcing, and industry-wide influence execution via CXO Influencer and Board Role Sourcing mechanisms.
• Deal Advisors Partnership Stakeholder mapping and nurture service for M&A advisors that keeps integration targets warm during 12–18 month deal cycles through private 1:1 engagement and ghostwritten industry-shaping thought leadership.

Quantifiable outcome

• 3x close rate versus cold outreach for fundraising clients
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability6 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• UNHCR (Kakuma)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 February 2019Partnership with UNHCR Kakuma for validating and scaling the refugee reskilling model. Led by Mohamed Hure, Seda Kuzucu, and Sukru Cansizoglu at UNHCR Kakuma. Enables training and employment of refugees in digital operations for global clients.
• World Economic ForumminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerInspired by WEF 2019 Davos speech by Mohamed Hassan (Co-chair) on refugee access to opportunity. The five-minute speech at the World Economic Forum sparked the creation of StepUp's global digital workforce initiative.
• FujitsuminorOthersA team of refugees trained through StepUp program delivered enterprise-grade work for Fujitsu at Davos. Reference client demonstrating quality of refugee workforce.
• StripecoreTechnology or IntegrationPayment processing partner for all subscription services. Secure checkout by Stripe for Fundraising Engine, GTM Engine, Talent Engine ($400/month), Normal GTM ($400/month), and Plan B Fundraising ($400/month). Immediate access starts post-payment.
• AnthropiccoreTechnology or IntegrationFrontier Model for SMEs referenced under 'Deploy AI' section. Anthropic Claude models integrated into operator training (agentic AI) and execution workflows for enterprise client campaigns.

Scale indicators15 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights7 records

Broad incumbents

• Apollo.io: Apollo.io is a broad sales intelligence and engagement platform combining a B2B contact database with outreach sequencing. It is comparable to StepUp as a wider incumbent in the same outbound/prospecting category, though it focuses on software tooling rather than done-for-you execution.

Direct peers

• Smartlead: Smartlead is an AI-driven cold email and deliverability platform built for agencies and growth teams. It competes with StepUp on automated outreach infrastructure but lacks StepUp's human operator layer and refugee-reskilled workforce component.
• NaTakallam: NaTakallam is a social enterprise that connects displaced and refugee talent with remote work opportunities globally. It is directly comparable to StepUp's refugee reskilling mission and operator deployment model, though NaTakallam focuses on language services rather than AI-powered GTM execution.
• Time Etc: Time Etc matches US executives and entrepreneurs with trained remote virtual assistants for administrative and growth tasks. Comparable to StepUp's executive and SME execution services in the done-for-you remote labor model, though without StepUp's frontier AI integration or founder/investor focus.
• Instantly.ai: Instantly.ai is a cold email outreach platform for sales teams and agencies running high-volume outbound campaigns. It is comparable to StepUp's daily outreach engine on the email/automation layer, though StepUp layers in human operator approval and multi-channel execution.
• Clay: Clay is an AI-powered outbound and data enrichment platform used by founders and growth teams to run personalized campaigns at scale. It is comparable to StepUp's Fundraising and GTM Engines as a software-first alternative for AI-driven prospect research and personalized outreach.
• Belay: Belay is a US-based virtual staffing company providing dedicated remote assistants, bookkeeping, and social media management to executives and founders. It is comparable to StepUp's done-for-you executive execution services, particularly CXO Influencer and Fractional CXO offerings, but without the AI agent layer.

Regional players

• Kruze Consulting: Kruze Consulting is a US-based fractional CFO and bookkeeping firm serving venture-backed startups. It is comparable to StepUp's Fractional CXO Engine in serving early-stage founders with finance and operational support, though it focuses on finance/accounting rather than GTM and fundraising.

Others

• Anthropic: Anthropic is a frontier AI lab whose Claude models are integrated into StepUp's operator training and agentic AI workflows. While not a competitor, it is a critical technology partner whose model pricing, capability roadmap, and enterprise policies directly shape StepUp's cost structure and product ceiling.

Emerging players

• Lindy.ai: Lindy.ai is an AI agent builder enabling users to create autonomous workflows for sales, support, and operations tasks. It is comparable to StepUp's agentic AI execution layer as an emerging alternative for AI-driven workflow automation, though it is software-self-serve rather than done-for-you.

Market position

Strengths1 record

Weaknesses1 record

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/step_up_one
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/stepup-one
• Instagraminstagram.com/stepup.one
• Facebookfacebook.com/StepUpAsOne

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about StepUp.One