Perry raises €1.6M to tackle shortage of technical workers with AI

Dutch AI startup Perry closed a €1.6 million investment round to help ease the pressure on Europe’s technical workforce. 

Founded by Laurens Feenstra and Arie Kuiper, in March this year, Perry develops AI-powered work instructions to empower technicians on the job.

The initiative comes at a critical time as Europe faces a persistent shortage of skilled technical workers. Over the past two decades, the number of people working in technical roles has dropped by around 15 million. This trend will continue in the next two decades due to an ageing workforce and limited new entrants. Sectors like renewable energy, telecom, and construction are under threat of stagnation.

Building on this urgency, Perry takes a radically practical approach to closing the skills gap. Rather than relying on complex manuals or outdated documentation, the platform delivers clear, visual instructions that use AI to adapt in real time to the task at hand. It also continuously improves based on field feedback.

According to Arie Kuiper, co-founder of Perry, the shortage of technical staff isn’t just a numbers issue; it’s also a qualitative challenge:

Getting the newest AI technology in the hands of technical workers will make a big difference. Using Perry, workers can get trained more effectively, work more safely and deliver higher quality work.

We’re seeing worker shortages and unemployment at the same time. That shows we need to train people smarter and support them more effectively. With Perry, we’re using technology to help new hires become effective very quickly.

Developed hand-in-hand with technicians through extensive on-site testing, Perry ensures its tools are designed for real-world use, not just for management dashboards. Its first customer, energy infrastructure firm Van Vulpen, is already using the platform to train and guide its workforce.

By leveraging AI, Perry automatically translates and adjusts instructions to each worker’s language level, making it easier for teams across Europe, from Portugal to Poland, to collaborate effectively on the ground.

Laurens Feenstra, co-founder of Perry, explains: 

Today, many technicians don’t get much support. They often have to rely on lengthy manuals. This leads to safety risks and error costs. Due to a lack of better options, some experts get called up to a hundred times a day to help out. Our solution makes the knowledge of experienced professionals available to everyone, exactly when it’s needed. Ultimately, we want both new and experienced workers to be supported through their tasks with live AI video calls.

The round was led by Berlin-based specialist fund Revent, joined by angel investors from companies like Google and OpenAI.

Lauren Lentz, founding partner at Revent, shared:

Perry’s mission addresses an urgent societal challenge. Without enough skilled professionals, progress in key sectors like the energy transition risks grinding to a halt.

This funding round is seen as a strategic step toward rapid scaling.

The company has already recruited an AI engineer and a user research specialist. With the investment, Perry will expand the team, continue developing its software and AI models, and expand into Germany, France, and the United Kingdom.

Lead image: Perry team | Photo: Uncredited