The funding lands as Everhaze rolls out Lú, a conversational AI built for PR professionals, across Ireland and the UK from today.

Dublin-based PR-intelligence company Everhaze raised €450,000 from three Irish family offices ahead of the commercial launch of its conversational agentic AI product, Lú, across Ireland and the UK today (6 July).

The start-up is targeting PR agencies, which it said are facing growing pressure from clients and procurement teams to move to outcome- or capability-based pricing as AI reshapes the industry. The shift comes as the PR sector faces a labour and skills shortage even as demand for in-house roles continues to grow, according to Everhaze.

Everhaze cited the PRII Census 2025, which showed that 83pc 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 42pc in 2025, up from 25pc in 2019.

Lú is built as a conversational agentic AI that users can contact directly by text, voice note or phone call through WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack or Everhaze’s own platform, with the tool completing tasks on their behalf.

Everhaze said it has identified 48 separate tasks that Lú can carry out, including text editing, media list management, media monitoring and report generation.

James McCann, CEO of Everhaze, said demand for PR is growing faster than capacity across agencies and in-house teams. “It’s a fantastic endorsement of the importance of the discipline, but it’s increasingly the case that roles are being left unfilled and the industry’s workforce is burning out,” he 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.”

McCann previously founded tech PR agency ClearStory International, which counted Techstars, HubSpot and Coindesk among its clients, before selling the company to digital media agency Core Optimisation last year.

The three family offices backing Everhaze have a combined net worth of more than €350m: Astogo Holdings, the family office of Jim Curley, who sold his stake in Jones Engineering in 2022; the Kearns family office, former owners of the Institute of Education; and hotelier Mark Cosgrave, owner of the Hendrick Hotel in Smithfield.

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