Empathic AI training platform TRAIT receives €1 million in seed funding

Berlin — TRAIT, the inno­va­tive trai­ning app, has recei­ved around €1 million in a seed finan­cing round from HTGF, the angel club better ventures and other private inves­tors. The funding will support the further deve­lo­p­ment of their AI trai­ning plat­form, which offers a perso­na­li­zed and empa­the­tic trai­ning expe­ri­ence for runners. The Berlin-based start-up has made it its mission to help people achieve their indi­vi­dual trai­ning goals and lead a more sustainable, active and fulfil­ling life. At the heart of the company is the desire to combine science-based trai­ning with a sense of commu­nity. The team’s rese­arch found that people weren’t reaching their goals because of a lack of statis­tics or trai­ning sessi­ons, but because their plans either lacked flexi­bi­lity or they didn’t have a support network when they needed it. These are two important issues that TRAIT addres­ses so that no one is left behind when life gets in the way. The start-up relaun­ched its trai­ning app for runners today under the new name “TRAIT”. The previous version of the app achie­ved considera­ble growth with highly indi­vi­dua­li­zed running trai­ning plans and a virtual coach — down­loads increased by 178% annu­ally. The team around foun­ders Raphael Jung and Matthias Ettrich built on this with the aim of provi­ding runners with even more tail­o­red support. The seed funding will enable TRAIT to realize its vision of an empa­the­tic and adap­tive trai­ning envi­ron­ment that focu­ses not only on perfor­mance but also on the well-being of runners. The foun­ders want to set a new stan­dard in the indus­try with their app by empha­si­zing the importance of human inter­ac­tion and social support. “With TRAIT, we have deve­lo­ped an app that beha­ves as empa­the­ti­cally and under­stan­din­gly as a human coach would. We help people to find access to sport again. We use sports science and AI trai­ning and combine them with social “stan­ding up for each other”. With the support of HTGF, selec­ted busi­ness angels from better ventures and other private inves­tors, we are ready to revo­lu­tio­nize the way people think about being fit,” explains Raphael Jung, co-foun­­der and CEO. “We are exci­ted about TRAIT’s vision and approach to create an empa­thic and adap­tive AI trai­ning plat­form for athle­tes that streng­thens people not only physi­cally but also mentally,” says Johan­nes Dier­kes, Invest­ment Mana­ger at HTGF. About TRAIT TRAIT is based in Berlin and was foun­ded by Raphael Jung and Matthias Ettrich. Since 2021, the company has opera­ted under the name “Twaiv” and focu­sed on AI-gene­ra­­ted, adap­tive trai­ning plans before relaun­ching under the name TRAIT in July 2024. Since its foun­da­tion, the company has expe­ri­en­ced rapid growth with an annual increase in down­loads of 178%. Trait has recei­ved around € 1 million in seed finan­cing from HTGF, the angel club better ventures and other inves­tors. About High-Tech Grün­der­fonds The seed inves­tor High-Tech Grün­der­fonds (HTGF) finan­ces tech­no­logy start-ups with growth poten­tial and has supported more than 750 start-ups since 2005. With the launch of the fourth fund, HTGF has around 1.4 billion euros under manage­ment. The team of expe­ri­en­ced invest­ment mana­gers and start-up experts supports the young compa­nies with know-how, entre­pre­neu­rial spirit and passion. The focus is on high-tech start-ups in the fields of digi­tal tech, indus­trial tech, life scien­ces, chemis­try and rela­ted busi­ness areas. To date, exter­nal inves­tors have inves­ted around EUR 6 billion in the HTGF port­fo­lio in more than 2,000 follow-up finan­cing rounds. In addi­tion, the fund has alre­ady successfully sold shares in more than 180 compa­nies. Fund inves­tors in the public-private part­ner­ship include the German Fede­ral Minis­try for Econo­mic Affairs and Climate Protec­tion, KfW Capi­tal, and 45 compa­nies from a wide range of industries.