Your pocket-sized AI career coach is here as Preston-based Rocky Robots brings in £300,000 for motivation lessons

Digital coaching startup designed to guide and motivate young professionals Rocky Robots has raised £300,000 pre-seed investment from Jenson Funding Partners alongside other investors. The company is the developer of Rocky.AI, an app with an interactive sparring partner, powered by Artificial Intelligence, that encourages self-improvement and reflection to help ambitious workers build a growth mindset.

Founded in Preston in 2019 by Harry Novic, a member of the ICF’s ‘AI Coaching Standards Work Group’ and a corporate veteran, the Rocky.AI app works on a subscription basis following a free trial. The human-like chatbot interprets the user’s personal growth journey, enhancing skills from leadership to communication. With five-minute coaching sessions daily, users can start with a dose of morning motivation or reflect on the day’s lessons.

The investment will be used to enhance Rocky Robots and build on the existing customers across the core UK and North American markets, while continuing to enhance the product further.

In addition to the consumer-facing proposition, Rocky.AI is leveraged by HR departments and career coaches to digitally interact with clients and also includes a marketplace where authors can host AI-centric versions of their books. The aim is to deliver a connected hybrid support system where professionals and coaches can learn and educate respectively.

Talking about the new funding, Harry Novic, CEO and founder at Rocky Robots, said: “One-off training isn’t enough to help people upskill. To become successful, young professionals really need a buddy to coach them through their daily activities and monitor their learning to really change them for good. With AI, we’ve been able to create this mentoring personal assistant that is affordable and can be with users all the time.”

Jeffrey Faustin, CIO at Jenson Funding Partners, added: “As an investor, we’re always looking for scalable problem-solving solutions and what Harry has developed with Rocky.AI really represents that. Whether you’re in your twenties and just getting started in your career or in your forties and want to progress further, Rocky is designed to support the user accordingly, which is really inspiring.”