Irish startup Better Futures secures €500K to roll out EVA, an AI assistant platform for engineers

Dublin-based Better Futures, an early-stage AI-focused startup, has secured €500K in a pre-seed round of funding from angel investors.

The funding will accelerate the roll-out of EVA (Engineering Virtual Assistant), Better Futures’ AI Assistant and Platform designed for engineers and manufacturers.

Anthony Mc Loughlin, CEO and founder of Better Futures, says, “This pre-seed funding will help us accelerate the roll-out of EVA in our initial target markets of Ireland, the UK and Germany, but our goal is to roll out EVA to engineering and manufacturing leaders worldwide.”

“To achieve this goal, we will be looking to close a seed funding round later this year.”

Better Futures, based at NovaUCD in Dublin, was founded in 2023 by Anthony McLoughlin. With 15 years of experience in data science, rocket science, and business development, he has helped manufacturers like Airbus, Mercedes, and Rolls Royce adopt advanced analytics and AI.

Empowering engineers with AI

Better Futures believes the physical world is our future, viewing digitalisation and AI as tools to enhance rather than replace it. 

The company advocates for cleaner vehicles and energy solutions over virtual realities and micro trading, aiming to empower engineers and manufacturers with AI for a more sustainable and connected world.

Better Futures mentions many engineering and manufacturing leaders find AI adoption challenging due to high entry barriers. Implementing data analytics like predictive maintenance demands substantial investments in time, money, and resources, limiting AI’s reach to a few privileged companies.

Better Futures addresses this with EVA (Engineering Virtual Assistant), an AI assistant and platform using Large Language Models and GPT technology to democratise AI adoption across industries.

EVA enables engineers to deploy customised AI solutions, accessing organisational data instantly and saving time and costs. It aims to innovate AI adoption for engineers and manufacturers, potentially reducing lead times, costs, and risks by 10x.

Founder Mc Loughlin, says, “The adoption of AI into manufacturing and engineering is critically important for all our futures. It is happening but it is very niche and painfully slow. The good news is that with LLMs and the GPT breakthrough we can solve this problem and bring 10x scale and acceleration to this important movement.”

“LLMs as incredible as they are, are ‘just’ the engine. Engineers and manufacturers need dedicated ‘AI Assistants’ to solve their problems and that integrate into their complex ecosystems of expert knowledge, regulations, data and IT systems.”

He adds, “We built EVA to bridge and automate these gaps. To start we focused first on solving the most urgent problem, getting the 96 per cent of engineers and manufacturers from zero to a first AI successful deployment. We encourage engineers and manufacturing leaders to give EVA a try for free on our website, it is a unique different approach.”

Brief about NovaUCD

Since 2003, NovaUCD claims to have supported high-tech startups with global potential, such as Better Futures. It offers “excellent” infrastructure, comprehensive business support programmes, dedicated accelerators, and an ecosystem of mentors, investors, and industry partners. 

This helps startups and established companies grow and scale globally. NovaUCD’s founding sponsors include AIB, AMD, Arthur Cox, Deloitte, Enterprise Ireland, Ericsson, Goodbody, and UCD.