Czech startup connects machine data, documentation and PLC systems to cut diagnostics time by up to 90 per cent as engineering shortages deepen across manufacturing.
Edmund, a Czech startup developing an AI-powered debugging platform for industrial maintenance, has raised €2.5 million in funding led by FORWARD.one, with participation from University2Ventures and Tensor Ventures.
Check out an earlier Tech.eu interview with Jakub Szlaur, CEO and founder of Edmund.
Manufacturing is entering a period of structural strain. As production systems become more complex and data-intensive, the availability of skilled engineers is moving in the opposite direction.
In Europe alone, tens of thousands of engineering roles remain unfilled, while around 20 per cent of the current workforce is expected to retire within the next decade. This combination of rising complexity and shrinking expertise is leaving companies increasingly dependent on fragmented documentation, legacy systems, and institutional knowledge to keep operations running, driving costly downtime, slow diagnostics, and growing operational risk across global supply chains.
Edmund addresses this gap by deploying AI agents that connect technical documentation, PLC projects, maintenance logs, and real-time machine data into a single system. Rather than acting as a generic chatbot, the platform functions as an operational layer inside the factory, enabling technicians to identify faults, understand root causes, and receive step-by-step guidance within minutes.
In practice, this approach significantly reduces the time required to diagnose issues, cutting troubleshooting from hours or days to minutes. In manufacturing, the majority of downtime is spent diagnosing faults rather than fixing them, often up to 80 per cent of the total time.
Edmund cuts this analysis phase by up to 90 per cent, dramatically reducing overall downtime and accelerating recovery. At Amcor Flexibles, for example, Edmund’s system reduced average repair times by 26 per cent in total, saving approximately 440 man-hours annually, per factory.
Founded in 2023, Edmund is designed to be hardware-agnostic and compatible with a wide range of industrial systems.
“The real challenge is not a lack of data, but a lack of context,” said Jakub Szlaur, co-founder and CEO of Edmund.
“We’re building AI agents that understand how machines actually work, down to the PLC project level, so instead of searching through documentation or waiting for experts, engineers can act immediately.”
“Edmund is solving one of the most overlooked challenges in industrial maintenance: how knowledge is transferred and applied under pressure,” said Beau Anne-Chilla, Partner at FORWARD.one.
“Their approach has the potential to become a foundational layer for modern manufacturing.”
According to Dr Johannes Triebs, Founding Partner at U2V (ex-Earlybird-X), Edmund is turning the factory floor into an intelligent, self-diagnosing system that gives manufacturers real-time answers instead of costly downtime.
“Our corporate network spans exactly the industrial players Edmund needs to accelerate its expansion, and we look forward to helping Edmund expand across Europe.”
The company will use the new funding to grow its team, expand across European and US markets, and further develop its platform toward fully contextual, AI-driven troubleshooting and diagnostics for industrial operations.