Kotcha powers up with €3.5M to scale AI coaching for runners

France-based
startup Kotcha, an AI-powered running coaching app, has raised €3.5 million to
make high-quality coaching accessible to all runners. The round was led by
Racine² (operated by Serena and makesense), with participation from TrueGlobal, Motier Ventures, and other consumer, health, running, and sports
investors.

Kotcha uses AI
to recreate the athlete–coach relationship, delivering adaptive, personalised
training guidance at scale.

Race demand is
rising rapidly, with the London Marathon receiving more than 1.1 million
entries for 2026, which is twice as many as in 2024. Despite this growing
interest, access to personalised coaching remains limited. Many runners still
choose between generic apps that cost around €20 per month and human coaches
who charge about €100 per month.

Kotcha aims to close this gap by offering an
AI coaching team that adapts in real time to each runner’s needs.

Founded by
marathon legend Eliud Kipchoge, Ben Dupont (CEO), Michel-André Chirita (CTO),
Dimitri Dor (CMO), and the NN Running Team, Kotcha is built on the belief that
running is a team sport and no one should run alone. The three tech founders
worked closely with Kipchoge and his team to embed that philosophy
in the product.

Running is a
team sport. Without my coaches and teammates, I would never have pushed human
limits. With Kotcha, we wanted to share not just the training structure but the
full support system that made it possible,

says Eliud Kipchoge.

Most running
apps restrict athletes to fixed 12 or 16-week training plans. Kotcha takes a
different approach by recreating the experience of a real coaching staff with
four AI coaches: a Head Coach, Nutritionist, Data Analyst, and Personal
Trainer, each trained in NN Running Team methods. Tested with more than 300
runners, Kotcha provides a reliable and adaptive experience for athletes of all
levels.

AI often lacks
the context to meet runners’ expectations. Kotcha is
designed to understand each runner’s goals, training load, and patterns, so
guidance feels like it comes from a coach who truly knows you,

shares Ben Dupont.

The vision
shows up in everyday features. Each Sunday, Kotcha reviews recent data and
feedback to plan the week ahead, automatically adjusting for missed sessions.
Before and after each run, it provides briefings and debriefs. Runners can ask
questions about training, nutrition, or recovery at any time and get immediate
answers.

This pre-seed round will support Kotcha’s launch and
help bring its vision to life in Europe and beyond.