About 20% of the industrial workforce will retire over the next decade, taking knowledge with them. Even though factories now collect more data than ever, they still struggle with equipment failures. New technologies such as sensors, digital twins, and predictive AI haven’t solved these problems.
The real issue is a lack of context, especially as experienced workers leave, and Edmund, a company founded in Prague in 2023, has raised €2.5 million to solve it. The funding round was led by FORWARD.one, with University2Ventures and Tensor Ventures also investing.
Three layers and one blind spot
Founder and CEO Jakub Szlaur kept hearing the same bottleneck from engineers: finding the cause of a problem accounts for 80% of downtime before repairs even start. During this time, engineers look through old schematics or wait for specialists. The data they need is there, but it’s not easy to access quickly.
Edmund’s platform brings together three types of factory information that are usually separate: physical hardware, technical documentation, and live sensor data. PLC software connects these layers and controls production lines. Most platforms focus on a single layer, but Edmund believes that real diagnostic value comes from combining all three.
“Edmund is the only platform that can track a sensor through the PLC software all the way to the data it generates, one-to-one, and then give exact instructions on what to do in a specific situation,” says Szlaur to TFN.
When something goes wrong, Edmund’s AI agents find the root cause across all three layers and give step-by-step instructions right away. The company says this can cut the analysis phase by up to 90%.
Edmund’s value for factories is clear: as experienced engineers retire, their expertise can be saved, put into practice, and shared with anyone who needs to make repairs. Traditional dashboards can’t do this, but a platform that brings together hardware, documentation, and live data might be the answer.
Direct rivals include Augmentir, Parsable, Cognite and SymphonyAI. “These competitors mainly work with just one data source. A platform connecting all three is something we could not find. Even after extensive research, our new investors did not find a debugging platform that links all three layers. That, I feel, was why they thought: this could be game-changing,” says Szlaur.
Early results suggest the approach works. Packaging company Amcor Flexibles cut average repair times by 26% after using Edmund, saving about 440 man-hours per factory each year. Model Group, Edmund’s biggest customer, has rolled out the platform in four Czech factories and may expand into Central Europe.
What comes next
Edmund’s go-to-market strategy is clear: start by building a strong presence in one factory within a large industrial group, prove the value, and then expand through the group’s network. This approach fits the industrial software world, where buying decisions take time but switching platforms is difficult once they’re in place.
Europe is the first focus because it has significant manufacturing, strong relationships, and many skilled workers nearing retirement. There is already some interest from the US market, and talks with US customers are underway. Still, Szlaur says they will only expand after building a solid base in Europe.
The €2.5 million investment will help Edmund improve its AI technology and grow its business. The company has events planned in Prague, Brno, Berlin, and Warsaw.
