• Czech startup Edmund secured €500K in pre-seed funding led by Lighthouse Ventures, with participation from Czech Founders VC, Borovicka Capital, and Tensor Ventures.
• Funding will enhance Edmund’s AI platform and support expansion into EU and US markets.
• The startup has signed four paying customers, including industry leaders Festo and Vitesco Technologies, aiming to redefine manufacturing amid rising complexity and workforce challenges.

The manufacturing industry is grappling with growing complexities in machinery and automation while facing a significant shortage of skilled technicians. According to industry reports, nearly 50% of Europe’s engineers are set to retire within the next five to ten years, creating a critical gap in expertise.

The challenge is further exacerbated by increasingly complex technologies, with manufacturing lines getting weighted down by enormous volumes of unstructured data. This disconnect between human capabilities and machine complexity is creating bottlenecks in operational efficiency across industries.

Edmund tackles these challenges with an AI-powered platform that combines large language models with industry expertise. By integrating real-time data, technical documentation, and control software, Edmund provides actionable insights directly to engineers and technicians, cutting troubleshooting times from days to minutes.

Unlike competitors such as Siemens Copilot, which are limited to their own proprietary systems, Edmund is universally compatible and can process diverse data formats from various manufacturers. The platform also boasts more rapid onboarding, processing company data in just 24 hours to deliver an MVP-ready solution tailored to specific client needs.

“Our secret sauce lies in the precision and speed with which Edmund connects the dots,” said Jakub Szlaur, co-founder and CEO of Edmund. “We’re not just aggregating data – we’re transforming it into meaningful, actionable insights that technicians can use immediately to solve problems. Manufacturing may look automated on the surface, but beneath that shiny exterior lies a chaotic complexity that Edmund is uniquely equipped to handle.”

“Edmund combines artificial intelligence with practical expertise, delivering a solution that, thanks to its versatility and rapid deployment, has the potential to succeed not only in Europe but also in the US. Within its first year, it has already gained the trust of key European industrial players. I believe it has all the prerequisites to become a global leader in maintenance,” says Michal Zálešák, Managing Partner at LightHouse Ventures.

According to the company, the €500K raised will be directed toward finalizing core features, expanding into US and international markets, and scaling Edmund’s team. In the next 6-12 months, Edmund aims to expand beyond Central Europe, targeting partnerships with global manufacturing leaders.

The company is also exploring the possibility of a larger seed round in 2026 to further accelerate growth and development. The solution is already making an impact, as seen with early adopters like Festo and Vitesco Technologies. Over 20 proof-of-concept (POC) projects and demos are currently underway across the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

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