Running participation is booming globally, with over 1.1 million entries recorded for the 2026 London Marathon. Despite this growing interest, access to professional coaching remains limited. Most runners must choose between generic fitness apps costing around €20 per month or expensive human coaches charging roughly €100 per month.
French startup Kotcha aims to bridge this gap by delivering world-class, personalised coaching powered by AI at a scale accessible to all runners. The app uses advanced AI technology to recreate the coaching relationship, offering adaptive training plans, personalised feedback, and real-time support.
Today, Kotcha raised €3.5 million in a funding round led by Racine2 (operated by Serena and makesense), with participation from True Global, Motier Ventures, and investors across sports, health, and consumer sectors.
This capital will support the expansion of Kotcha’s operations across Europe and internationally, including the hiring of more engineers and sports scientists, as well as further development of its AI coaching engine.
Bridging the coaching gap
Kotcha was co-founded by marathon world record holder Eliud Kipchoge, alongside Ben Dupont (CEO), Michel-André Chirita (CTO), Dimitri Dor (CMO), and the NN Running Team. The founding team brings together elite athletic expertise and startup experience.
Kipchoge’s personal philosophy that “running is a team sport” shapes the company’s mission: to make coaching more accessible and supportive for every runner worldwide. Their vision is to enhance physical, mental, and social well-being through running by combining elite athlete methods with innovative technology.
Dupont told TFN, “At the core of Kotcha, we have trained a generative AI model on hours of interviews and work sessions with Kipchoge’s team. It materialises in the app into 4 AI characters that the users can talk to. A head coach, a physical trainer, a nutritionist and a data analyst. Each has been trained specifically with the expertise from the NN Running Team, in order to recreate this experience of having a team with you every step of the way.”
He added, “The AI coaches will give you a brief and debrief for every single run you do. And you can reach out to them at any time to ask questions related to your training.”
Unlike most apps, such as Runna, Strava, Humango, and Ochy, that offer fixed 12- or 16-week plans, Kotcha automatically updates training schedules daily, considers missed sessions, and provides briefings before runs and debriefs afterwards.
The app also offers 24/7 answers to user questions on training, nutrition, and recovery. This multi-dimensional, AI-powered coaching experience re-creates the team support structure of professional athletes, providing highly personalised and human-like guidance at scale.
What’s next?
Kotcha is available in French and English on the App Store, with training plans for runners preparing for races from 10K up to full marathons. The app offers a free trial week and a subscription price of €14.99/month ($14.99/month).
In the coming weeks, Kotcha plans to introduce real-time adaptive coaching that can instantly adjust training sessions based on users’ changing schedules.
The company aims to expand geographically beyond Europe and continue refining its AI technology and team, with the ultimate goal of making elite-level coaching accessible to runners globally, improving well-being through the power of running.
