Paris-based startup Kotcha, co-founded with marathon legend Eliud Kipchoge and the NN Running Team, has raised €3.5 million in pre-seed funding to make professional running coaching available to runners worldwide. The round was led by Racine2, operated by Serena and makesense, with participation from True Global, Motier Ventures and other investors from the consumer, health and sports sectors.
Kotcha uses AI to recreate the athlete and coach relationship, delivering adaptive, personalised guidance that evolves with each runner’s performance. The app aims to bridge the gap between generic training apps, which typically cost around €20 per month, and human coaches, who can cost up to €100 per month. With demand for running races growing rapidly, the London Marathon alone received over 1.1 million entries for 2026, twice as many as in 2024, Kotcha offers a scalable solution to meet the rising interest while maintaining the personal support of real coaching.
“Running is a team sport,” said Eliud Kipchoge, the only person to complete a marathon in under two hours. “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.”
Kipchoge and the NN Running Team were directly involved in the app’s development. “Sharing our knowledge has always been our mission. Creating an app was the next step, but we needed the right partners,” said Marleen Vink-Rennings, Marketing Director at NN Running Team.
The founding team includes Eliud Kipchoge, Ben Dupont (CEO), Michel-André Chirita (CTO), Dimitri Dor (CMO) and the NN Running Team. The team combines elite running expertise with startup experience, having worked together at Kipchoge’s Kaptagat training camp to embed his philosophy into the platform.
“We didn’t want another training plan generator,” said Ben Dupont. “Magazines once offered generic plans, and apps later digitised them with basic personalisation. Kotcha is the next generation of training experience, an AI-powered app you can talk to, recreating the relationship between an athlete and their coaching team. This coaching team is the first step in bringing our vision to life, that running is actually a team sport.”
Validated with over 300 runners, Kotcha delivers a reliable and adaptive experience for athletes of all levels. Unlike most running apps that lock users into rigid 12 or 16-week plans, Kotcha recreates the feel of a real coaching team with four AI coaches: Head Coach, Nutritionist, Data Analyst and Personal Trainer, all trained on NN Running Team methods.
“AI often lacks context and falls short of runners’ expectations,” added Dupont. “We’re building Kotcha to understand each runner’s goals, training load and patterns, so guidance feels like it comes from a coach who truly knows you.”
Key features include weekly personalised training plans that adjust based on performance and feedback, pre- and post-run guidance, and round-the-clock answers to training, nutrition and recovery questions. In the coming weeks, Kotcha will also allow real-time plan adjustments, automatically modifying sessions when users have limited time due to work or personal commitments.
“Our objective is not to replace human coaches, but to make coaching more accessible and to help more people achieve their running goals,” said Marleen Vink-Rennings.
“This is just the starting line,” said Dupont. “We raised this round to bring our vision to life, enhancing physical, mental and social well-being through running.”
Margaux Bussière, Principal at Racine2, added, “Few activities shape both body and mind like running. Kotcha brings that experience into a new era, connecting technology, empathy and precision in a way that feels genuinely human. It’s the youngest company we’ve ever backed, and one we chose to support from day one because its ambition resonates deeply with our values.”
Kotcha is available from 23 October on the App Store worldwide in French and English, designed for runners training for races from 10k to marathon distances.
Read the orginal article: https://www.eu-startups.com/2025/10/paris-based-kotcha-raises-e3-5-million-to-make-elite-running-coaching-accessible-to-everyone/
