Manifest raises $2M pre-seed round to get agencies battle-ready for the AI era
Manifest, an AI-powered operational intelligence platform for agencies, has today announced its launch alongside a $2 million pre-seed round led by Brand Fund by Previously Unavailable (Early investors in Tracksuit, Ideally, and Appetise), with participation from Antler, Icehouse Ventures, Techstars, Huljich & Bhatnagar Family Offices, and a group of industry angels.
As artificial intelligence changes how work is created, the traditional agency model is facing increasing pressure.
For decades, agencies have relied on timesheets and manual reporting to understand performance, tracking hours as a proxy for effort, cost and value. But as AI accelerates workflows and compresses creative timelines, that model is increasingly out of step with reality.
Manifest is built for what comes next. As humans and AI begin to co-create in real time, the boundary between thought, effort and output is collapsing. In this new world, value is no longer defined by hours worked, but by how effectively ideas are brought to life. That shift creates both a challenge, and a significant opportunity for agencies to rethink how they operate.
The platform automatically captures how work happens across teams, tools and AI, mapping time, effort and workflows in real time. This provides a continuous, accurate view of agency operations, enabling leaders to understand where work is created, how it flows, and what it truly costs to deliver.
“Agencies are operating on a model that no longer reflects how work happens,” said Freddie McKenzie (top left), CEO and Co-Founder of Manifest, who previously built and exited Auckland-based creative production company VIVID Creative. The acceleration of AI across creative workflows has made the issue more urgent, not less, he said.
“As agencies adopt AI, the gap between how work actually happens and how it’s measured is widening. You can’t price or optimise for outcomes if you’re still only measuring self-reported hours.”
McKenzie co-founded Manifest with Henry Collinson (above right), a product leader and long-time collaborator, after the pair identified the same problem during COVID-era experimentation with new ways of working.
Completing the Kiwi leadership team is CTO Tom Reid, an ex-Microsoft AI veteran who led development of Manifest’s proprietary AI model, with a strong focus on privacy and enterprise-grade security.
Says Co-CEO of Previously Unavailable, and GP of Brand Fund, Simon Pound: “Manifest solves a massive problem for services businesses: how do you track, value and charge for work in an AI-enabled world? We love how the team is building, their customer-centricity, and the scale of the problem they’re tackling.”
By replacing lagging, manual inputs with real-time operational data, Manifest gives agencies a new foundation for decision-making, one that reflects both human and AI-driven work.
The result is a shift in how agencies can operate: from fragmented workflows to connected, measurable systems, from billing for inputs to pricing for outcomes, and from retrospective reporting to real-time visibility.
Beyond improving efficiency, Manifest supports a broader transition already underway across the industry: moving beyond billable hours toward more flexible, value-based models. By giving agencies visibility into the true cost and flow of work, including the growing role of AI, the platform helps leaders better understand profitability, utilisation, and the real drivers of performance.
The company positions itself not just as a tool, but as a system agencies can rely on to navigate a rapidly changing landscape, where the challenge is no longer just doing the work, but understanding it.
Industry investors backing Manifest include Henry Innis (Mutinex), Mark Coad (ex-IPG Mediabrands CEO), Jamie Mackay (BWM Dentsu), Jonathan Isaacs (Taboo Group), James Hutchinson (Sling & Stone), Jordan Taylor-Bartels (Prophet) and Connon Bray (TRA/Tracksuit/Ideally).
Mutinex Co-Founder Henry Innis said the opportunity is well understood across the industry: “The problem of agency return on effort is well known, and one Matt Farrugia and I experienced firsthand at WPP. Getting to know the team has been a thrill. I couldn’t be more excited to support them at this early stage and help bring together such a strong group of investors around the business.”
Manifest is currently rolling out with a cohort of agencies across Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland, with customer announcements to follow and plans for global expansion underway.