Cogna

Cogna is a London-based software company that builds AI-native applications for what it calls physical industries, including utilities, energy, infrastructure, telecoms and field services. Its stated focus is operational work that still runs on spreadsheets, manual handoffs and repeated coordination: field operations, asset management, dispatch and scheduling, procurement, permitting and compliance, capital delivery and network operations. Rather than replacing a customer's systems of record, Cogna builds applications and agent workflows around existing operational processes and integrates with tools already in use.

The platform has three described components: AI-native applications built around specific customer workflows; Lattice, a knowledge layer that captures organisational, industry and work context such as how work runs, which systems it depends on, what constraints apply and what good performance looks like; and integrations with systems including SAP, Salesforce, SCADA, GIS, Excel, ERP, IoT and legacy databases. Governance features — access controls, audit trails, deployment controls, compliance and impact reporting — are described as built into the application estate. Cogna offers a managed service or deployment in the customer's own environment, and a mapping exercise it calls the Blueprint process to identify where AI can create value.

Press coverage at the time of the company's Series A described Cogna as an ERP-adjacent startup whose platform uses large language models and a chatbot-style interface: users describe a business task in natural language and the platform generates a custom software tool, with promised setup times as short as two weeks compared with months for typical ERP deployments. Reported use cases included budget-allocation analytics, uniform third-party document submission portals, field service data sharing, human resources, regulatory compliance and customer support.

Founding story

Cogna was founded in 2023 by Ben Peters, previously part of the founding team of autonomous vehicle company FiveAI (acquired by Bosch), and Lars Mennen. The company was set up to address how traditional industries solve operational problems that standard software does not handle.

Business model

Cogna sells enterprise software to large asset-heavy organisations, delivered either as a managed service or deployed in the customer's own environment, with what it describes as CapEx-friendly commercial structures where these help customers move faster. Engagements typically begin with a specific operational workflow and expand as additional applications are built on accumulated context.

Traction

The company reports customer outcomes including £11 million saved in four weeks on a utilities procurement optimisation project, £15 million saved in the first year of a utilities AI transformation, and an 83% reduction in manual work in permitting and work management. Case studies cite OCU Group processing more than 2,000 weekly site permits and cutting job pack processing times by 83%, Network Plus managing a £50 million asset portfolio and moving from concept to a live app in six weeks, Cadent Gas unifying 50+ years of data and saving 45 minutes per field review, and Mitie launching Envoy for agentic utility invoice management. Press coverage stated that some customers had realised more than $10 million in annual cost savings.