Use of Proceeds
Investment Summary
Brunelly is raising a $1.5M seed round at an $8.5M pre-money valuation ($10M post-money), offering 15% equity to investors. This capital will fund 24--36 months of operations - an unusually long runway made possible by the team's proven capital efficiency. The company has built an enterprise-grade AI platform spanning two full codebases, deployed across hybrid infrastructure, and attracted interest from Publicis Sapient and Deutsche Bank - all on a burn rate of less than $90K per year.
This round is not about survival. It is about deploying capital strategically to convert existing enterprise interest into paying contracts and build a repeatable GTM motion for Series A.
Current Cost Base
Before detailing how the $1.5M will be deployed, it is worth understanding the baseline - because the baseline is the strongest proof of this team's capital discipline.
| Item | Monthly | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| Team (excluding founders) | $6,000--$7,000 | ~$78,000 |
| Infrastructure (data centre + Azure) | $600 | $7,200 |
| Total current burn | ~$7,500 | ~$90,000 |
Founder/CTO salary is not on the burn rate. Guy Powell's compensation is covered by an existing consultancy retainer, meaning zero founder salary impact to Brunelly's cash position. This has been the case since inception and will continue through the seed stage.
For context: the platform in its current form - covering the full software development lifecycle with AI native at every stage, running on owned infrastructure with Kubernetes orchestration - would have cost a typical VC-backed startup $3--5M to build. Brunelly built it for under $250K in total spend.
Use of Proceeds Breakdown
| Category | Allocation | % of Round | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Team - Leadership | $250,000 | 17% | CEO salary (~$88K/yr for 2 years), CFO part-time return from maternity leave |
| Team - Engineering & Product | $200,000 | 13% | Dev team expansion in Sri Lanka (~$500/mo per senior developer), Product Owner hire, 15--20 additional developer-months of capacity |
| Go-to-Market | $350,000 | 23% | 1--2 UAE-based business development hires, Sri Lanka back-office for research and data, industry events and conferences, marketing collateral and demo production |
| Compliance & Security | $150,000 | 10% | SOC 2 Type I/II certification, enterprise security audits, penetration testing, legal costs for IP transfer and commercial contracts |
| Infrastructure | $200,000 | 13% | UAE data centre region, additional server capacity, cloud expansion for enterprise pilot environments, redundancy improvements |
| Operations & Administration | $150,000 | 10% | UAE incorporation and licensing (if outside accelerator programme), workspace, insurance, professional services, accounting |
| Reserve / Contingency | $200,000 | 13% | Strategic buffer for unanticipated opportunities, extended runway protection, accelerated hiring if pipeline converts faster than plan |
| Total | $1,500,000 | 100% |
These allocations are directional. Capital will be deployed based on commercial traction - if enterprise pilots convert ahead of schedule, GTM spend accelerates; if compliance requirements emerge earlier, security investment pulls forward. The reserve ensures the company is never forced into reactive decisions.
Milestone-Linked Deployment
Phase 1: Foundation (Months 1--6) - ~$500K deployed
Objective: Team in place, infrastructure ready, first enterprise pilots live.
- Hire CEO (Dhilushi transitions to full-time salaried), Product Owner, and initial GTM hire in UAE
- Expand Sri Lanka engineering team by 3--5 developers
- Begin SOC 2 Type I certification process
- Complete IP transfer from Pina Vida to Brunelly
- Stand up UAE data centre region
- Launch 5 enterprise pilot programmes, including Publicis Sapient / Deutsche Bank track
- Establish UAE entity and operational presence
Phase 2: Conversion (Months 7--12) - ~$550K deployed
Objective: Pilots converting to contracts, compliance certifications complete, GTM scaling.
- Convert minimum 3 enterprise pilots to paid annual contracts
- Achieve SOC 2 Type I certification; begin Type II audit period
- Add second GTM hire; build Sri Lanka research/outreach back-office
- Attend 3--5 industry events targeting enterprise buyers
- Ship full spec-to-production loop (complete SDLC automation)
- Build repeatable enterprise sales playbook from pilot learnings
Phase 3: Scale (Months 13--18) - ~$250K deployed + reserve
Objective: Series A readiness with ~$1M ARR and clear growth trajectory.
- Reach ~$1M ARR milestone ($750K enterprise + $250K self-serve)
- 3+ paying enterprise clients with expansion potential
- SOC 2 Type II certification complete
- Demonstrate net revenue retention above 100% from early customers
- Build Series A data pack with 12+ months of operating metrics
- Begin Series A fundraising process from position of strength
The remaining ~$200K reserve provides 6+ months of additional runway at current burn rates, ensuring the company never raises from a position of desperation.
Capital Efficiency Advantage
Brunelly's cost structure is not a temporary phase - it is a structural competitive advantage that compounds over time.
Development Costs: 10--15x Advantage
Sri Lanka-based senior developers cost approximately $500/month fully loaded. Equivalent talent in the US costs $8,000--$15,000/month. This means:
- A 10-person engineering team costs Brunelly ~$5,000/month vs. $80,000--$150,000/month for a US competitor
- $200K of engineering budget buys Brunelly 33+ developer-years of capacity
- The same spend in San Francisco buys 1--2 developers for 12 months
This is not about lower quality. The existing Sri Lanka team built production-grade enterprise software under Guy's technical leadership. The model is proven across six years of Pina Vida delivery.
Infrastructure: 100x Advantage
| Brunelly | Typical Cloud-Native Startup | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly infrastructure cost | $600 | $50,000--$100,000 |
| Annual infrastructure cost | $7,200 | $600,000--$1,200,000 |
| Enterprise deployment capability | On-prem, hybrid, and cloud | Cloud only |
Brunelly owns its core infrastructure: 200 CPU cores, 1.28TB RAM, enterprise SAS storage, fully redundant Kubernetes clusters. This is not a liability - it is proof of the team's ability to deploy and manage enterprise-grade infrastructure, which is exactly what enterprise customers require.
Founder Economics
Guy Powell, the technical founder who built the entire platform, draws zero salary from Brunelly. His compensation comes from an existing consultancy retainer. This means:
- $0 in founder salary burn during the seed stage
- 100% of raised capital goes to growth, not founder compensation
- CEO salary (the only founder drawing from Brunelly) is benchmarked at GBP 70K - well below market rate for a CEO at a $10M post-money-valued company
The Multiplier Effect
| $1.5M buys Brunelly | $1.5M buys a typical US startup |
|---|---|
| 24--36 months of runway | 8--12 months of runway |
| CEO + CFO + Product Owner + 5--10 engineers + GTM team | 2--3 engineers + 1 business hire |
| SOC 2 certification + UAE data centre + compliance | One cloud region and partial compliance |
| Path to $1M ARR | Path to next fundraise |
Every dollar invested in Brunelly produces 5--10x the output of a dollar invested in a typical seed-stage company. This is not a projection - it is a continuation of the operating model that has already built two production codebases, a proprietary AI operating system, and enterprise infrastructure on less than $250K of total spend.
Path to Series A
The $1.5M seed round is designed to put Brunelly in a position to raise a Series A from strength at 18 months, with the reserve providing additional runway if needed.
Series A Targets (Month 18)
| Metric | Target |
|---|---|
| ARR | ~$1,000,000 |
| Enterprise clients (paying) | 3+ at ~$250K ACV |
| Non-enterprise revenue | ~$250,000 (self-serve + smaller contracts) |
| Enterprise pipeline | 10+ qualified opportunities |
| Net revenue retention | >100% |
| Burn rate at Series A | <$50K/month (still capital-efficient) |
| Runway remaining | 6--12 months (raising from strength, not necessity) |
Why This Is Achievable
- Publicis Sapient / Deutsche Bank alone represents a potential $250K+ ACV contract, and discussions are already active
- De Beers Group relationship provides a second enterprise entry point through the Executive Chairman
- 20+ STEP conference leads provide qualified pipeline to fill the remaining slots
- The team has a proven enterprise sales track record - Pina Vida sold and delivered multi-year enterprise contracts with renewals
- At $250K ACV, only 3 enterprise conversions from 5 pilots are needed to hit $750K ARR from enterprise alone
Series A Positioning
At the 18-month mark, Brunelly will present to Series A investors with:
- Revenue proof - $1M ARR from real enterprise customers, not freemium vanity metrics
- Capital efficiency proof - built to $1M ARR on $1.5M seed, demonstrating operating discipline that de-risks future capital
- Product moat - 3+ years of cumulative development across Brunelly and Maitento that cannot be replicated quickly
- Category ownership - first-mover in the full-lifecycle AI SDLC market with enterprise validation
- Clear use of Series A capital - repeatable sales motion ready to scale, not still searching for product-market fit
Summary
This is not a team that needs $1.5M to figure out what to build. The product exists. The infrastructure exists. Enterprise interest exists. The $1.5M accelerates a trajectory that is already in motion - converting pilots to contracts, expanding the team to support enterprise delivery, and building the compliance and commercial foundation for a category-defining company.
The question is not whether this team can execute on a budget. They have already proven that. The question is what they can accomplish when they have proper resources for the first time. The answer is $1M ARR in 18 months and a clear path to Series A - on a spend that most startups would burn through in six months.