How Startup Holmes Plans to Automate Software Testing in the AI Development Era
Holmes, a startup from Ghent, raised €1.1M to build an autonomous QA platform that learns real user behavior and continuously tests applications—replacing fragile manual test scripts that struggle to keep up with AI‑a... The platform automatically learns product workflows, runs testing agents across those flows, and...
Holmes, a startup from Ghent, raised €1.1M to build an autonomous QA platform that learns real user behavior and continuously tests applications—replacing fragile manual test scripts that struggle to keep up with AI‑a...
The platform automatically learns product workflows, runs testing agents across those flows, and reports issues directly inside the tools developers already use.
The company was founded by Robin Praet, Robbrecht Delrue, and Sofie Buyse and backed by Syndicate One along with prominent Belgian tech founders and early‑stage funds.
How does the Ghent-based startup Holmes plan to solve the growing software QA bottleneck caused by AI‑accelerated development, what autonomoAutonomous QA platforms aim to continuously test user workflows as AI accelerates software development.
AI Prompt
Create a landscape editorial hero image for this Studio Global article: How does the Ghent-based startup Holmes plan to solve the growing software QA bottleneck caused by AI‑accelerated development, what autonomo. Article summary: Holmes plans to address the QA bottleneck by automating software testing for AI-era development, where code is produced faster than traditional QA teams can manually test it. Its platform uses autonomous QA that learns r. Topic tags: general, general web, education, user generated. Reference image context from search candidates: Reference image 1: visual subject "# AI Testing Platform Holmes Raised €1.1 Million Funding. Holmes, a Belgium-based technology company trying to develop a AI-assisted software quality assurance tool, has raised €1." source context "AI Testing Platform Holmes Raised €1.1 Million Funding" Reference image 2: visual subject "Founded in 202
openai.com
Software development is speeding up dramatically as AI coding assistants generate more and more production code. But one part of the engineering pipeline hasn’t kept pace: quality assurance.
Ghent‑based startup Holmes launched with €1.1 million in pre‑seed funding to tackle this growing gap. Its goal is simple but ambitious—replace manual QA scripts with autonomous testing agents that continuously explore and verify real user flows in modern applications.
The Growing QA Bottleneck in the AI Coding Era
AI tools are enabling developers to ship code faster than ever. Some large technology companies report that a significant share of new code is already AI‑generated, accelerating the pace of releases and changes.
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What is the short answer to "How Startup Holmes Plans to Automate Software Testing in the AI Development Era"?
Holmes, a startup from Ghent, raised €1.1M to build an autonomous QA platform that learns real user behavior and continuously tests applications—replacing fragile manual test scripts that struggle to keep up with AI‑a...
What are the key points to validate first?
Holmes, a startup from Ghent, raised €1.1M to build an autonomous QA platform that learns real user behavior and continuously tests applications—replacing fragile manual test scripts that struggle to keep up with AI‑a... The platform automatically learns product workflows, runs testing agents across those flows, and reports issues directly inside the tools developers already use.
What should I do next in practice?
The company was founded by Robin Praet, Robbrecht Delrue, and Sofie Buyse and backed by Syndicate One along with prominent Belgian tech founders and early‑stage funds.
How Startup Holmes Plans to Automate Software Testing in the AI Development Era
Holmes, a startup from Ghent, raised €1.1M to build an autonomous QA platform that learns real user behavior and continuously tests applications—replacing fragile manual test scripts that struggle to keep up with AI‑a... The platform automatically learns product workflows, runs testing agents across those flows, and...
Holmes, a startup from Ghent, raised €1.1M to build an autonomous QA platform that learns real user behavior and continuously tests applications—replacing fragile manual test scripts that struggle to keep up with AI‑a...
The platform automatically learns product workflows, runs testing agents across those flows, and reports issues directly inside the tools developers already use.
The company was founded by Robin Praet, Robbrecht Delrue, and Sofie Buyse and backed by Syndicate One along with prominent Belgian tech founders and early‑stage funds.
How does the Ghent-based startup Holmes plan to solve the growing software QA bottleneck caused by AI‑accelerated development, what autonomoAutonomous QA platforms aim to continuously test user workflows as AI accelerates software development.
AI Prompt
Create a landscape editorial hero image for this Studio Global article: How does the Ghent-based startup Holmes plan to solve the growing software QA bottleneck caused by AI‑accelerated development, what autonomo. Article summary: Holmes plans to address the QA bottleneck by automating software testing for AI-era development, where code is produced faster than traditional QA teams can manually test it. Its platform uses autonomous QA that learns r. Topic tags: general, general web, education, user generated. Reference image context from search candidates: Reference image 1: visual subject "# AI Testing Platform Holmes Raised €1.1 Million Funding. Holmes, a Belgium-based technology company trying to develop a AI-assisted software quality assurance tool, has raised €1." source context "AI Testing Platform Holmes Raised €1.1 Million Funding" Reference image 2: visual subject "Founded in 202
openai.com
Software development is speeding up dramatically as AI coding assistants generate more and more production code. But one part of the engineering pipeline hasn’t kept pace: quality assurance.
Ghent‑based startup Holmes launched with €1.1 million in pre‑seed funding to tackle this growing gap. Its goal is simple but ambitious—replace manual QA scripts with autonomous testing agents that continuously explore and verify real user flows in modern applications.
The Growing QA Bottleneck in the AI Coding Era
AI tools are enabling developers to ship code faster than ever. Some large technology companies report that a significant share of new code is already AI‑generated, accelerating the pace of releases and changes.
Studio Global AI
Continue your research
This page includes a source-backed answer you can continue inside Studio Global.
What is the short answer to "How Startup Holmes Plans to Automate Software Testing in the AI Development Era"?
Holmes, a startup from Ghent, raised €1.1M to build an autonomous QA platform that learns real user behavior and continuously tests applications—replacing fragile manual test scripts that struggle to keep up with AI‑a...
What are the key points to validate first?
Holmes, a startup from Ghent, raised €1.1M to build an autonomous QA platform that learns real user behavior and continuously tests applications—replacing fragile manual test scripts that struggle to keep up with AI‑a... The platform automatically learns product workflows, runs testing agents across those flows, and reports issues directly inside the tools developers already use.
What should I do next in practice?
The company was founded by Robin Praet, Robbrecht Delrue, and Sofie Buyse and backed by Syndicate One along with prominent Belgian tech founders and early‑stage funds.
However, traditional QA workflows were built for slower development cycles. They often rely on engineers writing and maintaining manual test scripts, which break easily as interfaces change and struggle to cover the full range of real user behavior.
Holmes is designed to solve that mismatch by making testing autonomous rather than script‑based.
How Holmes’ Autonomous QA Platform Works
Instead of requiring teams to manually define test cases, Holmes learns how an application behaves and tests it continuously.
Key capabilities include:
Learning real user flows: The system observes how users interact with a product and builds an understanding of typical workflows.
Autonomous testing agents: AI agents continuously run through these workflows to detect issues before users encounter them.
Script‑free testing: Because tests are generated from observed behavior, teams don’t have to maintain brittle test scripts.
Integration with existing tools: The platform runs inside tools development teams already use, fitting into existing engineering workflows.
In practical terms, teams can provide a product URL and allow the system to explore the application, run tests across key flows, and report problems automatically.
Founders Behind Holmes
Holmes was founded in Ghent by three entrepreneurs:
Robin Praet
Robbrecht Delrue
Sofie Buyse
The founding team has prior startup experience and previous exits, which helped shape the company’s approach to solving real engineering workflow problems.
Investors Backing the €1.1M Pre‑Seed Round
Holmes launched with €1.1 million in pre‑seed funding to build and scale its autonomous QA platform.
The round was led by Syndicate One, with participation from several well‑known figures in the Belgian startup ecosystem, including:
Roeland Delrue and Willem Delbare, founders of cybersecurity startup Aikido
Louis Jonckheere, co‑founder of Showpad
Thomas Van Overbeke, serial entrepreneur
Investment funds NewSchool.vc, RDY Capital, and 100IN
The investor group reflects strong backing from experienced operators within the region’s technology ecosystem.
What the Funding Will Support
The pre‑seed capital will primarily be used to:
further develop the autonomous QA platform
expand the engineering team
scale adoption beyond early collaborators and design partners
At the time of launch, Holmes was already working with around 30 design partners to refine the product in real development environments.
Why Autonomous QA Is Becoming Critical
As AI tools accelerate the speed of software creation, the main challenge for engineering teams is shifting from writing code to ensuring that rapidly changing systems still behave correctly for users.
Platforms like Holmes aim to close that gap by turning testing into a continuous, AI‑driven process rather than a manual task that slows down releases. If the approach works, QA could evolve from a bottleneck into an automated safety layer for the AI‑generated software era.
However, traditional QA workflows were built for slower development cycles. They often rely on engineers writing and maintaining manual test scripts, which break easily as interfaces change and struggle to cover the full range of real user behavior.
Holmes is designed to solve that mismatch by making testing autonomous rather than script‑based.
How Holmes’ Autonomous QA Platform Works
Instead of requiring teams to manually define test cases, Holmes learns how an application behaves and tests it continuously.
Key capabilities include:
Learning real user flows: The system observes how users interact with a product and builds an understanding of typical workflows.
Autonomous testing agents: AI agents continuously run through these workflows to detect issues before users encounter them.
Script‑free testing: Because tests are generated from observed behavior, teams don’t have to maintain brittle test scripts.
Integration with existing tools: The platform runs inside tools development teams already use, fitting into existing engineering workflows.
In practical terms, teams can provide a product URL and allow the system to explore the application, run tests across key flows, and report problems automatically.
Founders Behind Holmes
Holmes was founded in Ghent by three entrepreneurs:
Robin Praet
Robbrecht Delrue
Sofie Buyse
The founding team has prior startup experience and previous exits, which helped shape the company’s approach to solving real engineering workflow problems.
Investors Backing the €1.1M Pre‑Seed Round
Holmes launched with €1.1 million in pre‑seed funding to build and scale its autonomous QA platform.
The round was led by Syndicate One, with participation from several well‑known figures in the Belgian startup ecosystem, including:
Roeland Delrue and Willem Delbare, founders of cybersecurity startup Aikido
Louis Jonckheere, co‑founder of Showpad
Thomas Van Overbeke, serial entrepreneur
Investment funds NewSchool.vc, RDY Capital, and 100IN
The investor group reflects strong backing from experienced operators within the region’s technology ecosystem.
What the Funding Will Support
The pre‑seed capital will primarily be used to:
further develop the autonomous QA platform
expand the engineering team
scale adoption beyond early collaborators and design partners
At the time of launch, Holmes was already working with around 30 design partners to refine the product in real development environments.
Why Autonomous QA Is Becoming Critical
As AI tools accelerate the speed of software creation, the main challenge for engineering teams is shifting from writing code to ensuring that rapidly changing systems still behave correctly for users.
Platforms like Holmes aim to close that gap by turning testing into a continuous, AI‑driven process rather than a manual task that slows down releases. If the approach works, QA could evolve from a bottleneck into an automated safety layer for the AI‑generated software era.
