Funding

First Concepts Raises $1M To Build AI Workspace For Creative Teams

Mar 17, 2026 | By Kailee Rainse

London-based startup First Concepts, an AI-powered workspace for early-stage creative work, has raised $1 million in pre-seed funding less than nine months after its founding.

SUMMARY

London-based startup First Concepts, an AI-powered workspace for early-stage creative work, has raised $1 million in pre-seed funding less than nine months after its founding.

The round was led by Arāya Ventures alongside Antler, with additional support from industry leaders including Jez Jowett (former Managing Partner at Havas), Nathan McDonald (founder of We Are Social), Sean Williams and Sam Winward (partners at UNKNOWN), and Hugo Rodger Brown (founder of YunoJuno).

Creative agencies often juggle multiple pitches each month, spending considerable time and resources, much of which is lost rebuilding context across fragmented tools.

First Concepts addresses this challenge by introducing an AI layer that sits above existing tools, coordinating leading AI models through a shared context and “taste” framework.

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This helps creative teams maintain consistency in ideas, brand identity, and decision-making throughout the pitching process.

Founded by Conor Hoey, Polina Sali, and Marin Godechot, who bring expertise in design, AI, and product development, First Concepts has built a system that adds context and creative judgment to pitch development.

The platform is structured around three core components a Creative DNA engine that learns individual and brand preferences a unified interface that treats context as the central source of information and a tool-agnostic infrastructure that connects creative tools while ensuring coherence across outputs.

Explaining the company’s vision, Conor Hoey, co-founder and CEO of First Concepts, said: First Concepts has a simple mission to transform creative context from something fragile and ephemeral into a structured, compounding asset. We are building an operating system that understands the value of creative thinking and taste. This will transform creative workflows for teams around the world.

The funding will help expand and enhance the company’s AI-driven workspace for creative projects.

About First Concepts

First Concepts is an AI-native, taste-aware workspace for creative teams that eliminates context fragmentation. By connecting tools and maintaining brand and idea consistency it enables teams to move from brief to concept up to 70% faster streamlining the creative process while preserving quality and coherence across outputs.