In automotive engineering hubs from Munich to Detroit, a familiar scene plays out daily: Engineering leads, juggling 500,000+ requirements across multiple suppliers, struggle with outdated spec management tools that can’t keep up with modern vehicle complexity. As software-defined vehicles (SDVs) become the industry norm, the pressure to streamline workflows and improve collaboration has never been greater.
Enter Trace.Space, a next-generation Latvian platform designed to tackle the very challenges that are slowing down the automotive industry. The company has just announced a $4 million seed round, led Cherry Ventures, with Outlast Fund and existing investors Nebular, Fiedler Capital, and Change Ventures. This marks Cherry Ventures’ first investment in the Baltics.
This funding will fuel engineering, product development and go-to-market efforts as the company continues to attract the best engineers in Europe.
The crisis in western manufacturing
Headlines are dominated by layoffs, factory closures, and products that fail to meet customer expectations. The root cause? Outdated product development tools and processes that hold back research and development teams.
Trace.Space is transforming how businesses design and build next-generation software-enabled hardware, ranging from electric and autonomous vehicles to satellites, robots, semiconductors, and medical devices.
Traditional requirements management solutions rely on outdated infrastructure and user experiences, making it difficult to handle today’s increasing scale and complexity. While some legacy providers have added AI and automation features, they remain constrained by decades-old systems. Trace.Space is rethinking the foundation of product development to meet the needs of modern enterprises.
Expertise driving innovation
Trace.Space was founded in 2022 by Janis Vavere, Mikus Krams, and Karlis Broders. The founding team of Trace.Space brings deep industry expertise and a proven track record in the requirements management domain.
Janis Vavere, CEO and co-founder, was a sales leader at Jama Software and Lokalise; Karlis Broders, CTO and co-founder, has technical expertise implementing Jama and Polarion in many large-scale projects in automotive, government, and transportation; and Mikus Krams, co-founder and COO, brings his operations expertise from Lokalise and Chili Piper.
AI-powered engineering
Trace.Space is leveraging modern cloud computing and AI models to enhance collaboration and minimise response times in product development. The company aims to revolutionise requirements management for engineering teams.
The platform integrates advanced AI, including GPT algorithms, to assist engineers in documenting and revising requirements up to ten times faster. This acceleration enables the development of higher-quality products with reduced time-to-market.
It provides such an AI-driven, cloud computing platform designed for engineers to develop industrial products, especially electric and autonomous vehicles, satellites, robots, semiconductors, and medical devices.
“We’re thrilled to partner with Cherry Ventures as we build the next-generation requirements management system that connects business users, suppliers, and stakeholders across the entire value chain,” said Janis Vavere, Co-Founder and CEO of Trace.Space. “It is painful to see engineers at great companies struggle with outdated processes and legacy practices. Our mission is to give engineering organisations the tools to win back their market share.”
“This is Cherry Ventures’ first investment in the Baltics, and we are excited to support Trace.Space as they build from Europe for the world,” said Dinika Mahtani, Partner at Cherry Ventures. “Their innovative approach to modernising requirements management aligns perfectly with our belief in backing founders who are creating category-defining solutions.”
As the race to build the next generation of EVs and autonomous vehicles accelerates, the question remains: Will traditional engineering tools survive the shift to AI-powered automation, or will startups like Trace.Space lead the future of automotive development?
