Ethos Raises $22.75 Million to Build AI-Driven Expert Network via Voice Onboarding

What happened

Ethos, a London-based startup, has announced a $22.75 million Series A funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). The company aims to modernize the expert network industry—currently dominated by legacy players like GLG and AlphaSights—by using artificial intelligence to better identify and match specialists with corporate clients. The round also saw participation from General Catalyst, XTX Markets, Evantic Capital, and Common Magic.

What's new in this update

The core of Ethos’s value proposition is its voice-powered onboarding system. Instead of asking experts to fill out static forms based on job titles, the platform uses AI voice agents to conduct interviews. This process captures sub-specializations and nuanced professional experiences that are often missing from a standard resume. This data allows companies to execute highly specific natural language searches, such as finding founders of A-grade funded startups focused on finance automation or doctors who have both clinical and drug development experience.

Key details

Ethos integrates its proprietary voice interview data with public sources, including academic papers, blogs, and social links, to build a comprehensive 'knowledge graph' of experts. According to a16z partner Anish Acharya, voice is a critical 'unlock' because it allows professionals to communicate their expertise more accurately and compellingly than they would in writing. The platform is designed to handle complex queries that traditional keyword-based matching on LinkedIn or legacy networks cannot resolve.

Background and context

Ethos was founded in 2024 by James Lo and Daniel Mankowitz. Lo brings experience from McKinsey and SoftBank, where he worked on transformations for companies like Arm and WeWork. Mankowitz is a former AI researcher at Google DeepMind, having contributed to projects such as the Gemini model and AlphaDev algorithms. Together, they founded Ethos on the premise that the global economy is essentially a knowledge graph that can be optimized through better matching algorithms between people, companies, and products.

What to watch next

As Ethos scales, it enters a growing field of conversational AI startups like Listen Labs and Outset that also use AI for professional interviewing. The company intends to further refine its voice agents and expand its reach into sectors like pharmaceuticals and finance. Lo suggests that the platform will eventually bridge the gap between the human economy and the emerging 'agent economy,' where specialized human skills and AI capabilities are increasingly integrated.