The Prague-based app for mental health, Elin.ai, has raised €600,000 in a pre-seed round from Czech Presto Ventures, BD Partners, and angel investors, as Vestbee was told.
- Elin.ai was founded in 2023 by Jan Romportl, Petr Stanislav, and Jiri Horacek. It is a smartphone app for Gen Z that is aimed to reduce the negative impacts of online communication and content consumption on their mental well-being. It monitors a user's online activities and examines the content they create or consume.
- Elin.ai’s AI technology provides real-time psychological support to its Gen Z users. They can provide the app with a screenshot with any content they are bothered with, and the startup’s solution then acts as a chat tool, offering helpful context, guidance, or interventions to safeguard their mental health.
- To date, almost 500 users have access to the beta version of the Elin.ai app.
"Elin.ai actively protects teens and young adults from getting trapped in toxic thought and emotional patterns caused by harmful, manipulative or extreme content and intentionally distorted information. Beyond that, Elin.ai has tremendous potential to positively impact broader societal issues by reducing the need for compensatory behaviors like extremism, conspiracy theories, or rigid thinking," explains Prof. Jiri Horacek, CRDO of Elin.ai.
- Elin.ai is the most recent investment of Presto Ventures from its second fund, Presto II that was made to support early-stage B2B software startups and online marketplaces across CEE regions. Since its launch in 2022, it has already invested in 43 companies, as Premysl Rubes, Founder and Managing Partner at Presto Ventures, shared with Vestbee in his interview.
"Elin.ai is the only startup from our 60-strong portfolio that we backed in the so-called 'idea stage'. We have full confidence in the founding team and their mission,” said Premysl Rubes.
- Another Czech VC that invested in Elin.ai during this round is BD Partners, which focuses on substantial growth. It has around 15 startups in its portfolio and an initial ticket size of €100,000 to €2 million.
- Fresh €600,000 funding is going to be used by Elin.ai for a full release of the native mobile app, targeting a minimum of 5,000 active users.
