The company set up in late 2024 is building a product that aims to help AI software communicate and exchange information
An AI agent is a self-driving software programme that uses artificial intelligence to accomplish goals needing only some initial human input.
According to recent figures published by the Irish Venture Capital Association, investments in tech SMEs rose to €192m in the third quarter of last year, with AI and machine learning ranking as the third highest sector.
“This is the future of automation, and it needs a new kind of integration layer to manage the unique complexity, reliability and security issues that arise when AI becomes highly connected,” said Sean Blanchfield, co-founder and CEO of Jentic.
“We have a strong history of building category-leading middleware, and this funding will allow us to quickly expand our team and match the tremendous pace of AI development.”
Mr Blanchfield is a serial entrepreneur who previously co-founded DemonWare, which was acquired by US-company Activision Blizzard for $17m, and PageFair, which was sold to Canadian company Blockthrough.
He is joined by Dorothy Creaven as COO, Michael Cordner, co-founder of Mindconnex, and by Dr Tilman Schaefer, founding team member at DemonWare.
Jentic is in the process of building the integration layer to help developers connect their AI systems to various Application Programming Interface (APIs) – an intermediary that allows applications to communicate and exchange data.
“For developers, Jentic’s product will be automatically able to match them with the tools they need to complete different tasks. For executives, it provides an oversight of operations across their organisation,” according to the team.
The pre-seeding round was led by investment firm Elkstone with Sure Valley Ventures, TechOperators, and Shuttle, supported by other technology founders and leaders who joined the round as angel investors.
Niall McEvoy, head of venture at Elkstone, said: “We are committed to backing ground-breaking start-ups capable of transforming industries. Jentic’s clear vision to establish a universal AI integration layer aligns perfectly with our mission to drive technological innovation.”
Jentic says it will use the funding to expand its team and speed up the development of its product.
Mr Blanchfield added: “We’re helping developers to easily and securely hook their AI systems up to the world’s APIs. Currently, the team is working on increasing the capability of AI agents and helping organisations monitor and manage large-scale AI deployments.”
