Brescia-based startup Gyver has raised €1.4 million in pre-seed funding to develop AI-powered hiring infrastructure for Europe’s skilled trades sector, beginning with electricians. The round was led by Brighteye, with participation from āltitude, Vento Ventures, Zanichelli Venture, Antler, and several business angels. The company aims to address a growing labour shortage that is increasingly affecting construction, electrification, industrial maintenance, and energy-transition projects across Europe.
Tackling a Critical Skilled Labour Gap
Gyver was founded by Francesco Defendi, Leo Acciarri, and Mattia Zarrelli after their experience building a general contracting business focused on solar installations for industrial SMEs. During that work, the founders saw first-hand how difficult it was for companies to find qualified electricians quickly and reliably. Their conclusion was that traditional recruitment channels were not built for the way skilled tradespeople actually find work.
Europe’s electrical workforce is large, but demand is rising faster than existing hiring systems can support. Brighteye partner David Guérin said the continent has 2.7 million electrical workers and a €3 billion hiring market that remains underserved. He noted that electrification, industrial maintenance needs, and ageing demographics are widening the gap between supply and demand.
AI Platform Built Around Trust
Gyver is building an AI conversational platform that recreates the referral-based hiring process digitally. Instead of relying only on conventional job-board listings, the platform is designed to match electricians with employers through trust-led, word-of-mouth-style dynamics at scale. This approach reflects how many blue-collar professionals already discover opportunities, but adds automation, structure, and data-driven matching.
The startup’s first product focus is recruitment, but its ambitions extend beyond job matching. Gyver plans to add upskilling, learning, and workforce productivity tools for electricians over time. These could include support for technical areas such as electrical design and PLC programming, helping workers develop skills while improving employer access to qualified talent.
Why the Market Matters
The timing is significant because Europe’s energy transition depends heavily on skilled electrical labour. Solar installations, grid upgrades, EV infrastructure, industrial automation, and building electrification all require electricians, yet many employers still rely on fragmented or outdated hiring channels. Generalist platforms such as Indeed and StepStone often struggle to serve blue-collar trades effectively, while specialist platforms remain limited and fragmented.
Gyver wants to position itself as a core infrastructure provider for this market as AI reshapes recruitment. The company argues that electricians represent a critical category of workers whose value is increasing rather than declining in the AI era. Defendi has framed the profession as a combination of technical intelligence and manual craft that cannot simply be replaced by automation.
Expansion Plans
The new capital will be used to develop Gyver’s AI agents and workflows, with a particular focus on improving match quality and the employer experience. The company will initially concentrate on Italy, which it describes as one of Europe’s largest construction and electrical contracting markets. After establishing its model there, Gyver plans to expand across the European Union.
Its broader challenge will be proving that AI can improve hiring outcomes in a sector where trust, certification, practical experience, and availability are all decisive. If successful, the platform could help employers reduce project delays while giving electricians access to better opportunities and career-development tools. That would place Gyver at the intersection of HRtech, climate infrastructure, and the future of skilled work.
Gyver’s €1.4 million pre-seed round highlights growing investor interest in technology serving overlooked segments of the labour market. By focusing on electricians, the company is targeting a workforce central to Europe’s energy security and industrial modernization. Its success will depend on whether it can turn informal referral networks into scalable digital infrastructure without losing the trust that makes those networks work.