built for the way UK
businesses actually work
Rob started nura to fill the gap in the UK market — between the AI hype on one side and the enterprise consultancies on the other. Somewhere in the middle sits every SME in the country, and almost nobody is building for them.
a different kind of AI partner
UK SMEs are told AI is either a toy — a chatbot bolted onto a website — or an enterprise-only mega-project that costs seven figures and takes two years to deliver. Nothing sits between those two extremes.
nura is that middle ground. We build bespoke AI operating systems that run on your infrastructure, use your data, fit your workflows, and are genuinely owned by your team on day one.
We are people-first by design. Every engagement starts with understanding your team — what they do well, what drains them, where AI can quietly take work off their plate so they can do more of what matters.
Founded in Sheffield in 2026, our team has lived through real AI transformations inside real businesses — logistics, hospitality, manufacturing, professional services. We've seen what works, and we've seen what doesn't. nura is the distillation of that.
people who have built inside real businesses
A small, senior team.
Rob Downham
Founder & CEO
An entrepreneur with 30 years' experience building and leading businesses across financial services, hospitality and wellness, Rob sets nura's strategic direction and leads finance, partnerships and education. He co-builds nura OS with Greg, helping SMEs put human-centred AI to practical use.
Greg Shaw
Head of Technology & Systems
Leads our internal systems, data architecture, technical quality and AI training, and builds and maintains nura OS with Rob. Greg has a BEng in Electrical & Electronic Engineering, database and C++ systems experience, and developed user-centred internal systems at the University of Sheffield. A former Digital Learning Advisor and founder of an AI and IT consultancy, he delivers AI training for Business Sheffield.
James Cope-Brown
Head of Marketing & Community
Leads marketing strategy, brand, community, lead generation, content and our digital presence. James works hands-on across brand, website, CRM, digital marketing, GA4 and customer journeys. As Group Operations Manager at Cambridge Assessment, he ran a multi-site operation and £2m annual budget. He also founded and grew a consulting and catering business from £60k to £480k turnover.
Connor Blades
Head of Client & Commercial
Leads our sales pipeline, account management, client relationships and delivery coordination. Connor holds a BEng (Hons) in Maintenance Engineering and cut his teeth on lean management at Boeing and Stanley Black & Decker, stripping cost out of production lines. He's since worked in digital marketing across Southeast Asia and in property investment, bringing that same process discipline to finding the root cause of what a business actually needs from AI.
Chris Downham
Head of the Lab
Chris leads nura's research into locally hosted AI models, helping push the frontier of what we believe is possible. He builds innovative marketing and body-tracking software.
our values
human-centric
Every engagement starts with your people — their strengths, their reality, their ambitions. AI serves them, not the other way around.
capability transfer
We don't build dependency. Your team learns to own, extend and evolve the AI we deploy together.
ethical deployment
Transparent data handling, your infrastructure, honest trade-offs. No dark patterns, no vendor lock-in.
community
We champion the Sheffield and UK SME tech community — sharing what we learn, lifting others as we grow.
the UK has a missing middle
The UK's AI institutional landscape is fragmenting. The Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation has been dissolved. The Alan Turing Institute is pivoting away from applied SME work. The AI literacy gap in the national curriculum is widening year on year.
At the same time, government is spending on AI at unprecedented levels — billions committed to compute, skills, and sovereign capability — but almost none of it is reaching the SMEs that employ 61% of the UK workforce.
nura is the missing link between government rhetoric about AI-powered growth and the reality of a 50-person firm in Rotherham trying to work out whether any of this is for them.
We translate. We scope. We build. We hand it over. And we stay close enough that the next opportunity doesn't pass you by.
nura is actively pursuing B Corp certification — embedding people, planet and ethical AI into the legal fabric of the business.
want to talk?
A no-obligation conversation is always the first step. We'll listen, be honest about fit, and point you somewhere useful either way.
book a conversation