Czech Gen Z mental health app Elin.ai has raised €600,000 pre-seed funding from Presto Ventures, BD Partners and angel investors. In parallel with the funding, the company plans to launch a native mobile app with core functionality to provide immediate, real-time psychological support to Gen Z users.
Elin.ai improves the digital health of Gen Z and reduces the negative impact of online communication and content consumption on their mental health. Around 500 users will have access to the beta version of the Elin.ai app.
Elin.ai uses AI (large-scale language models) to provide accurate and personalized psychological responses to screenshots provided by Gen Z users. In chat format, the app then helps users understand and act on the content by providing context, advice and interventions that help protect their mental health.
Between 30 and 40 percent of teenagers in the US and EU suffer from depression and chronic anxiety due to social media. At the same time, there is a serious global shortage of psychiatric and psychotherapeutic care for children and adolescents, as documented in numerous studies, including a recent large-scale study by Professor Jonathan Haidt.
Elin.ai goes far beyond typical anxiety relief techniques like breathing exercises and meditation. It solves users' specific problems in real time. The app protects teens and young adults from falling into harmful thinking and emotional patterns caused by harmful, manipulative, or extreme content and intentionally distorted information.
CEO and co-founder Dr. Jan Romportl commented: “With the help of our core Gen Z community, we have completed a trial of the Elin.ai web app, with around 500 users having access to the app. Within the scope of our current pre-seed phase, we plan to fully launch the native mobile app and target at least 5,000 active users. In the second tranche of our pre-seed round, we will focus on international market research.”
