Trace.Space, a Riga, Latvia-based startup, has raised $4 million in seed funding to accelerate the development of its AI-driven platform for industrial product engineering. The company's innovative approach is poised to disrupt the traditional product engineering landscape, currently dominated by legacy software providers like IBM and Dassault.

The Trace.Space platform is specifically designed to support the development of complex products, such as electric and autonomous vehicles, satellites, robots, semiconductors, and medical devices. By leveraging cloud computing and AI, the platform enables manufacturers and suppliers to collaborate more efficiently, reducing response times and accelerating product development.

According to Janis Vavere, co-Founder and CEO of Trace.Space, traditional solutions are struggling to keep up with the increasing complexity of modern products. "Every company in the world that builds complex regulated products in automotive, medical, aerospace, and so on, faces the issue that these products are becoming more and more complex, especially to design," Vavere explained in an interview with TechCrunch. "The legacy tools and processes are struggling. IBM's tools for this were designed in the late 80s. It's a desktop client and needs to be installed on every computer."

Vavere's experience working on Jama Software, a modern design platform, highlighted the need for a cloud-based, AI-driven approach. "It's now the right moment to combine modern software architectures and UIs with AI, and apply them to these industries. Companies are looking for something better right now," he emphasized.

Trace.Space's platform is not a mere 'AI wrapper,' but rather a sophisticated solution that utilizes AI models like Llama, deterministic AI libraries, and aspects of OpenAI's LLM. This comprehensive approach sets the company apart from other startups in the space, such as Luminary and Dessia Technologies, which are also working to automate engineering processes through AI.

The $4 million seed funding round was led by Cherry Ventures, with participation from Riga-based Outlast Fund, as well as earlier investors Nebular, Fiedler, and Change Ventures. The investment will enable Trace.Space to further develop its platform and expand its team.

The rise of AI-driven startups like Trace.Space is a significant development in the product engineering landscape. As Western manufacturers face increasing pressure to compete with their Asian counterparts, the need for innovative solutions that can accelerate product development has never been more pressing. With its cloud-based, AI-powered platform, Trace.Space is well-positioned to capitalize on this trend and drive meaningful change in the industry.

As the product engineering landscape continues to evolve, it will be interesting to see how legacy providers respond to the emergence of AI-driven startups like Trace.Space. One thing is clear, however: the future of product engineering will be shaped by the innovative application of AI and cloud computing, and Trace.Space is at the forefront of this revolution.