Newly launched agency consultancy Two Engines has signed a strategic partnership with Manchester commercial intelligence startup Keeve as it looks to put technology behind its mission to help agencies grow more profitably.
The deal will see Two Engines introduce Keeve’s commercial intelligence platform across its roster of agency clients, with the technology designed to identify operational gaps and improve margins.
It is Keeve’s first strategic partnership as the Manchester company looks to build its presence in the agency market.
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Two Engines was launched earlier this year by agency veterans Nick Hussey and Martin Corcoran, with a proposition built around helping independent agencies pursue “profitable growth” rather than simply chasing revenue.
The consultancy works across areas including positioning, commercial strategy, operations, new business and leadership.
The Keeve partnership adds a technology layer to that model.
Founded by Ralph Hardwick, Keeve is designed to give agencies real-time information about the commercial performance of their businesses at points including scoping, pricing, budgeting and reporting.
Rather than requiring agencies to replace their existing software, Keeve says its technology works with existing systems of record, software, agents and large language models to analyse how an agency operates and provide commercial information to decision makers.
Nick Hussey, co-founder of Two Engines, said: “I’ve spent decades looking at how agencies operate and where the gaps are. Keeve is something I’ve not seen before. It puts commercial intelligence into the hands of the people making decisions every day rather than leaving it buried in reports or dependent on the one person who happens to know how everything works.
“That is why I’m making Keeve part of the core infrastructure I recommend to my clients. I think it has the ability to change how agencies think about their commercial operations and protect their bottom line.”
The partnership comes amid a wider debate across the agency sector about the impact of AI on margins, pricing and traditional business models, as agencies attempt to work out how efficiencies created by the technology should translate into the way they charge clients.
For Keeve, the Two Engines deal provides a route into a sector where Hardwick believes commercial intelligence can sit alongside the increasingly large number of AI tools being introduced into agency workflows.
Ralph Hardwick, founder of Keeve, said: “Nick has seen almost every version of the agency model there is and his reputation in the industry precedes him. Combining Keeve’s commercial intelligence brain with Nick’s operational experience gives us even more strength as we scale in the agency market.
“We’re bringing together technology that understands the commercial reality of a business with someone who has spent decades understanding how agencies actually operate.”
Keeve has also been shortlisted for Tech Startup of the Year for businesses with fewer than five people at the 2026 Prolific North Tech Awards.
