It’s not a secret! The more we have progressed technologically, the less focused we have become. Smartphone addiction is one of the best examples. Too much distraction, low-level of focus, and whatnot! The scariest part is that it can affect our physical and mental health.
However, it has created a massive market for apps focused on mindfulness, digital wellbeing, productivity, and so on. However, these solutions require users (us) to be proactive, and the root issues remain unaddressed. The way we interact with phones remains unchanged.
As our personal and professional lives become more tied to our phones, Blloc co-founders Adham Badr and Mladen Hoyss are building a more balanced home screen experience to supercharge your productivity.
Raised $2M funding
The German-based company has recently hit the headlines as it raised $2M funding in a round led by Speedinvest, with participation from Softbank’s new early-stage fund, Emerge.
The funding will enable Blloc to build and grow its app ‘Ratio’, expand its technical team, and fuel user acquisition.
The company is also backed by consumer experts, including Rainfall Ventures (Robinhood, Casper, Webflow), Ian Hogarth (co-founder of Songkick), Martin Sinner (co-founder of Idealo), Vital Laptenok (co-founder of BetterMe), Milosh Citakovic (co-founder of Evermed), Aaron Windfield (co-founder of Pippa), and Vladimir Vukicevic (co-founder of Better&Better).
Ratio: An app to boost productivity & mindfulness
Based out of Berlin, Blloc has developed Ratio, a homescreen app to boost productivity & mindfulness.
Blloc says it has purposefully designed the app to reduce distractions and give users more awareness about their digital habits.
“Since the mid-2000s, the look and feel of most smartphones have changed surprisingly little. If you think about how your apps are displayed, homescreens haven’t changed much since
Blackberry hit the market. We still use homescreens and app notifications designed to grab users’ attention and maximise engagement with them,” said Adham Badr, CEO & co-founder at Blloc. “From the moment you unlock your phone in the morning to when you put it down at night, your phone is designed to distract you. We’re changing that.”
How does it work?
The app turns the homescreen into a space for productivity. By auto-organizing users’ apps and pulling messaging platforms (including WhatsApp, SMS, Telegram, Signal, FB Messenger, and Instagram) into one unified inbox, the app turns smartphones into a productivity power tool.
It also has ‘Universal Search’ , a feature that allows people to find anything on the web or on their phones in one space.
“Ratio is an app that takes over your original homescreen and creates a completely new smartphone experience — based on humane design principles. We prioritize your digital wellbeing, uninterrupted connection, and personal productivity,” mentions the company in the blog.
Available exclusively on Android, the app has over 600,000 installs.
Investors
Speedinvest is a venture capital fund based out of Vienna investing in pre-seed, seed, and early-stage tech startups. It has €400M AUM, 40 investors, and offices in Berlin, London, Munich, Paris, Vienna, and San Francisco.
“Given the frequency of our daily interactions, homescreens are one of the most undisrupted spaces of digital real estate in our lives today. Distraction and disorganisation on our phones has gone unaddressed and Blloc’s beautifully designed app and vision have us really excited for the company’s potential as we see the trend towards mindfulness and increased productivity,” commented Michael Schuster, Partner at Speedinvest.
