Verticals: the other AI

There is a clear trend among global family offices: 65% say they will prioritise investment in AI, according to the Global Family Office Report 2026. However, 57% acknowledge that they have no exposure either to venture capital or growth equity—precisely where real technological innovation is concentrated.

We understand this. General-purpose AI and large foundation models are inaccessible to most investors and are perceived as highly risky. But there is another form of AI: one that does not compete with OpenAI to build the best model, but instead leverages that technology and integrates it into the core of a specific industry.

It is more understandable, with teams that know the problem better than anyone else. This is the type of company we see in our deal flow and, in our view, represents one of the most interesting opportunities right now for investors seeking diversification without exposure to the extremely competitive generative AI market.

These are some of the companies in Encomenda's portfolio where applied vertical AI is making a real difference:

Bronze
A platform that applies artificial intelligence and computer vision to restaurant kitchen operations: it verifies orders before they leave the kitchen, detects errors in real time, and automatically manages claims. Its clients include KFC, Burger King, and GOIKO, and it has been recognised as one of the 50 most innovative startups in Spain in the 2025 Emprendedores List.

Mathew
An AI-powered educational platform that personalises learning and automates teachers’ most repetitive tasks: content creation, automatic assessment, and individual student tracking. Winner of the Iberian GESAwards, it already impacts more than 10,000 schools, 65,000 teachers, and 20,000 students across multiple countries.

Loud Intelligence
A platform that applies AI to optimise contextual advertising in digital audio, analysing podcasts and radio shows to identify the exact moment to insert a relevant ad—without cookies and without compromising listener privacy. Winner of the Entrepreneurship Awards in Marketing, Advertising and Communication by FEDE, and recognised as a disruptive and scalable product.

Vig-Sec Drone
Its Suite ACRE software applies AI to coordinate manned aircraft, drones, and land and maritime vehicles in real time for critical emergency and defence missions. Selected for NATO’s DIANA programme, it was one of only six Spanish companies chosen out of 150 international firms, and validated in the Spanish Army’s III Tactical Experimentation Campaign.

Uxia
A platform that enables product and marketing teams to test ideas, claims, or creatives using AI-generated synthetic profiles, without relying on agencies or real users, delivering actionable insights in minutes. It already has clients in Europe, South Korea, and the United States.

VoiceB.ai
A voice AI agent platform designed for enterprise inbound sales: it answers calls instantly, qualifies leads in real time, handles objections, and operates 24/7 without human intervention. It operates in one of the fastest-growing AI markets—the voice agent segment is expected to grow at a CAGR of 34.8% through 2034, according to Market.us.

What these six companies have in common is not the sector, but the approach: applied AI solving real problems in specific verticals, with teams that deeply understand the industry from within.

For family offices looking to gain exposure to AI without betting on the next OpenAI, this is precisely the thesis: verticals with real problems, recurring business models, and teams with proven track records in their sectors. A combination that, at Encomenda, we have been building into a portfolio for some time.

You can read the full newsletter here:Encomenda Insights VII on LinkedIn