Romanian startup eYou has secured €300,000 in pre-seed funding as it prepares to launch a new social media platform designed to combat misinformation. The round was backed by Fil Rouge Capital, a fund known for investing in early-stage technology companies with a combined M&A and financing track record exceeding €4 billion.
The investment will support product development and early community building ahead of eYou’s public launch planned for May 2026.
Positioned as a European alternative to global platforms such as X and Facebook, the company aims to reshape how online discussions unfold by embedding verification tools directly into the social media experience.
Fact-checking is built directly into the conversation
At the heart of eYou’s design is a feature that allows users to verify claims without leaving the conversation. When someone clicks on a post, a pop-up assessment appears summarising whether the claim is accurate, questionable or misleading.
The analysis draws on credible, neutral sources to provide readers with a quick overview of the evidence supporting the statement. Instead of slowing discussions down, the founders believe this approach will allow debates to continue while giving participants the tools to challenge misinformation in real time.
The idea responds to a growing frustration among internet users who increasingly struggle to distinguish reliable information from viral falsehoods. By making verification a native feature of the platform rather than a separate step, eYou hopes to encourage more informed online interactions.
A transparent algorithm that users can control
Another key feature of the platform focuses on transparency. On most social networks, recommendation systems operate as hidden engines that quietly determine what users see. eYou takes a different approach by allowing people to view and edit the digital profile the algorithm builds about them.
Users can adjust the signals shaping their feed, enabling them to expand the range of perspectives they encounter. The goal is to help people move beyond algorithm-driven echo chambers and discover a broader mix of viewpoints.
This level of control aims to restore trust in recommendation systems by removing the sense that an invisible algorithm is shaping conversations behind the scenes.
Origin of this startup
The motivation behind eYou came from a clear observation: social media has drifted away from its original purpose. Platforms that were meant to connect people and democratise information have increasingly become engines of polarisation, manipulation, and disinformation.
At the same time, Europe has no major global social media platform of its own. European public conversations are therefore largely shaped by foreign-owned companies operating under non-European legal frameworks.
eYou was created as a response to this imbalance. The ambition is to build a trustworthy European alternative: a platform designed to inform rather than manipulate, to encourage exposure to diverse viewpoints rather than reinforce echo chambers, and to restore transparency, responsibility, and trust to the digital public square. In short, eYou is not just another social media app. It is an attempt to reset how digital public conversation works.
As per Grégoire Vigroux, Chief Commercial Officer, “At eYou, we believe social media is fundamentally broken. Social media was originally designed to connect people. Instead, many platforms today manipulate attention, amplify polarisation, and allow misinformation to spread at scale. Research shows that fake news spreads six times faster than factual information, highlighting structural flaws in current social media architectures. At the same time, Europe currently lacks its own large-scale global social media platforms.”
He added, “eYou addresses this gap by building a European social platform centred around data protection and privacy by design, built-in AI-powered fact-checking, and a customisable content architecture that gives users control over what they see. Our goal is to restore trust in social media without sacrificing usability or enjoyment.”
Experienced founders behind this idea
Founded by French entrepreneurs Grégoire Vigroux and Jasseem Allybokus. Vigroux is a serial entrepreneur based in Bucharest who has achieved four startup exits over the past two decades.
During this time, he has founded, scaled, and invested in mission-driven companies across technology, education, and mobile apps. His entrepreneurial journey began with CallPoint, a startup that grew into TELUS Digital Europe, now employing more than 7000 people across Romania and Bulgaria.
Since then, he has founded several startups, including Beyond Business School, an Executive MBA program developing Romania’s next generation of leaders; Bonapp (Munch group), an app fighting food waste; and Fenix, a refurbished smartphone startup that was acquired by Recommerce Group just fourteen months after launch.
Most recently, he has cofounded eYou, a European social media platform focused on restoring trust in online conversations, where he serves as Chief Commercial Officer.
CEO and cofounder of eYou, Jasseem Allybokus, is an entrepreneur and software engineer based in Bucharest. With more than a decade of experience in software engineering, data, business intelligence, and technology leadership, he has built a career at the intersection of engineering, product innovation, AI, and entrepreneurship.
He studied in Mauritius before continuing his education in France at Université René Descartes (Paris V). Over the years, he has held technology and data roles at companies including SFR, Air France, and Ecrilib. He later served as Chief Technology Officer at Visiperf, a French scale-up company, where he led technology strategy and the development of large-scale digital and data-driven platforms.
A European vision for the future of online debate
The timing of eYou’s launch reflects growing concern across Europe about the spread of disinformation, the influence of opaque algorithms and the dominance of non-European technology companies in shaping public discourse.
The company has been built around European privacy and data protection standards. Although designed for a global audience, the platform is rooted in European principles of transparency and digital responsibility.
As part of its early rollout, eYou has opened a public waitlist ahead of the May 2026 launch. Users can register to secure their preferred username and receive early access to the platform. Those who join during this phase will be recognised as founding members of the community and receive a special “Early Believer” badge and other benefits.
With its focus on transparency, verification and user control, eYou hopes to create a digital space where conversations are shaped less by misinformation and more by trust.
Diversity statistics
Regarding diversity, he detailed, “Our team is international by design. My co-founder, Jasseem, comes from a Mauritian background with Indian heritage. Our broader team brings together several nationalities and perspectives, including Romania, Croatia, and France. We believe that building a social platform designed for diverse public conversations requires a team that already reflects that diversity in culture, experience, and thinking.”
Plans for the next five years
The co-founder went on to state, “Over the next three to five years, our goal is to establish eYou as a credible European alternative in the global social media ecosystem. Our roadmap includes several key milestones:
- Launching the platform and refining the product through early user feedback
- Expanding the platform across European markets
- Building strategic partnerships with influencers, communities, and media organisations aligned with our values
- Continuing to strengthen our AI-powered trust and fact-checking technologies
Our ambition is to reach 25 million registered users and 10 million monthly active users by 2030. But beyond growth metrics, our broader objective is to contribute to a healthier digital public sphere in which online conversations are more transparent, more balanced, and more trustworthy.”
“Unlike traditional social networks that amplify engagement at any cost, eYou has been built to prioritise trust,” said Vigroux. “Social media was originally meant to connect people and democratise information. But over time, it has also become a powerful engine for polarisation and misinformation. We believe there is a real need, and urgent demand, for a new type of platform built around transparency, accountability and trust.”
Jasseem Allybokus, cofounder and CEO, is a serial exited entrepreneur and former CTO of digital marketing company Visiperf. “Most social platforms today are designed to show users more of what they already agree with,” said Allybokus. “That reinforces echo chambers and allows misinformation to spread faster than facts. eYou introduces a radically different approach to online discussion – one built around European principles of transparency, accountability, and exposure to diverse viewpoints. By combining a feed that encourages diverse perspectives with instant fact-checking tools, eYou users can verify claims in real time, understand the sources behind those claims, and engage in more informed conversations.”
“Our motto is ‘capital for the bold,’ and eYou embodies exactly that,” said Matei Dumitrescu, partner at Fil Rouge Capital. “The founders bring strong entrepreneurial experience, a clear vision, and they are tackling one of the most important challenges facing digital platforms today: trust. eYou has the potential to become the leading European social media player.”
