Dublin-based PR-intelligence company Everhaze has raised €450,000 from three Irish family offices on the eve of the commercial launch of its conversational agentic AI product, Lú, across Ireland and the UK, targeting PR agencies and in-house teams facing growing capacity pressures, workforce burnout and a structural shift toward outcome-based pricing models.

The funding, reported by Silicon Republic, was provided by Astogo Holdings, the family office of Jim Curley; the Kearns family office, former owners of the Institute of Education; and hotelier Mark Cosgrave, owner of the Hendrick Hotel in Smithfield, whose combined net worth exceeds €350 million.

Lú is built as a conversational agentic AI that users can engage directly by text, voice note or phone call through WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack or Everhaze's own platform. The tool can carry out 48 identified tasks on behalf of users, including text editing, media list management, media monitoring and report generation.

James McCann, CEO of Everhaze, said: "More tools and more AI have equalled more labour, more pressure and less accessibility, as the skills gap widens. With Lú, we are seeking to rebalance those dynamics and fundamentally address the industry's key challenges."

The PRII Census 2025, cited by Everhaze, found that 83% of PR professionals are working beyond their contracted hours, putting in an average of almost 10 extra hours per week. The Irish in-house public-sector share of the PR workforce grew to 42% in 2025, up from 25% in 2019, reflecting sustained demand for communications professionals that the available workforce is struggling to meet.

McCann previously founded tech PR agency ClearStory International, which counted Techstars, HubSpot and Coindesk among its clients, before selling the firm to digital media agency Core Optimisation last year. Everhaze is positioning Lú as a response to a sector where demand is growing faster than capacity and where clients and procurement teams are increasingly pushing agencies toward capability-based pricing structures.

The launch places Everhaze at the intersection of AI-driven automation and professional services, targeting a communications sector where productivity tools have so far added complexity rather than reducing it, according to the company.