Perry, an Amsterdam-based AI startup, has launched and announced a €1.6 million (US$1.73 million) funding round to develop AI-powered work instructions for Europe’s technical workforce.

The investment was led by Berlin-based fund Revent, with participation from angel investors linked to Google and OpenAI.

The funding will be allocated to expanding Perry’s team, enhancing its software and AI models, and scaling operations into Germany, France, and the UK.

Founded in 2025 by Laurens Feenstra and Arie Kuiper, Perry aims to provide adaptable, AI-powered instructions for technicians.

The founders bring industry experience, with Feenstra having worked at Google, Waymo, and TomTom, and Kuiper at McKinsey and BuyBay.

The company plans to address ongoing worker shortages by more effectively training and supporting new hires using AI solutions.

🔗 Source: EU-Startups

🧠 Food for thought

1️⃣ Europe’s technical workforce crisis is more severe than commonly understood

The 15 million decline in technical workers Perry mentions is part of a broader skills shortage affecting critical sectors across Europe.

In technical fields, the problem is particularly acute. Engineering skills shortages have reached alarming levels, with the UK alone facing an annual shortfall of 55,000 engineers that threatens innovation potential 1.

Germany, despite having the highest number of engineers employed in the EU, still reports over 12,000 vacancies for electrical engineers, approximately three positions for every unemployed engineer 1.

The shortage is compounded by demographic challenges, with studies predicting EU countries could lose nearly one-sixth of their young workforce by 2025, requiring millions of new workers just to maintain 2010 employment levels 2.

These workforce gaps in technical sectors are already impacting Europe’s competitive position, especially in high-growth areas like renewable energy and telecommunications that Perry targets.

2️⃣ AI-powered work instructions represent a fundamental shift in knowledge transfer

Traditional work instructions, the paper manuals Perry aims to replace, are increasingly ineffective in modern technical environments where procedures change rapidly and workforces are increasingly diverse.