The investment will fund growth across auditing and engineering, with expansion expected across Ireland and the UK.

Dublin-based start-up Audrey AI has announced the closure of a $1.8m pre-seed funding round, which was led by Sure Valley Ventures and Delta Partners. There was additional participation from Enterprise Ireland, former CEO of Calypso Donnchadh Casey, former CBO of Wayflyer Conor Jones, alongside former Big 4 auditors.

Established in 2025 by Ryan Loughran and David Burke, who met on the Founders programme at Dogpatch Labs, Audrey AI develops AI solutions for financial auditors. The AI-powered platform aims to automate the most time-consuming parts of financial audit engagements.

The organisation has stated that the newly secured funds will be put towards the expansion of Audrey AI’s specialist audit and engineering teams, as the company expands its reach across Ireland, the UK and “beyond”.

Commenting on the announcement, Loughran, who is also the company’s CEO, said: “Developers have Copilot, lawyers have Harvey, but auditors still primarily work in Excel. We’re building AI that understands auditing deeply enough to raise the bar on quality, not just speed, freeing auditors to focus on the judgement and oversight that matters most.” 

A number of Irish organisations operating within the artificial intelligence space have already announced major investments in April. Start-up Otel AI, which is building an AI platform for hotel managers, recently announced a raise of €2m, bringing the company’s total funding to date to €2.8m. 

E-commerce technology company Zellor raised €850,000 in its very first external funding round. The start-up, which is led by CEO Niall O’Sullivan, received backing from Enterprise Ireland and a number of strategic Irish investors.

Galway-based AI security software start-up Octostar, which also has offices in Italy and the UK, raised €6.1m in an extended seed funding round. 

Updated, 1.05pm, 16 April 2026: This article was amended to clarify Audrey AI’s expansion plans.

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