Rocky Robots, the self-improvement AI sparring partner, KOs investors in pre-seed round

Leveraging his background in talent development and product management, Harry Novic developed the Rocky.AI solution to provide individuals a pocket-sized career coach

Rocky Robots, the digital coaching startup designed to guide and motivate young professionals, has closed a £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. 

Rocky was founded in 2019 by Harry Novic, a member of the ICF’s ‘AI Coaching Standards Work Group’ and a corporate veteran with experience of sales, software, talent development and product management in the technology space. During that time, he was responsible for training and educating managers to become high performers, which is where the inspiration for Rocky.AI came from.

Sensing an opportunity to help professionals unlock their full potential with technology, Harry believed that artificial intelligence was the way to deliver ongoing daily support to achieve their desired objectives for progression. The Rocky.AI app itself, which works on a subscription basis following a free trial, consists of three main features:

1. Interactive coaching: The Rocky.AI 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.
2. Recommendation engine: This bite-size learning option aligns with the coaching conversations and assigns the user with short insightful articles curated on the app to support their development.
3. Targeted tracking: Building on the coaching and recommendations, targeted tracking sends notifications and reminders to users to keep them aligned with their goals and objectives.

The pre-seed investment will be used to scale 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.

Harry Novic, CEO and founder at Rocky Robots, says: “In my previous career, I concluded that 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.

“We’re ecstatic to have received the backing of Jenson and look forward to expanding on our vision of helping professionals to develop themselves and be part of their personal growth path to success in their careers.”

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.” 

About Jenson Funding Partners LLP

Jenson Funding Partners is the approachable startup investment firm specialising in working with founders throughout their early-stage growth – from pre-seed to Series A. Its diverse and experienced team understands what a business needs at each stage and combines quickly deployed capital with hands-on support to successfully scale the companies in their

portfolio and deliver returns for investors. Jenson Funding Partners have launched five SEIS and four EIS Funds. We are now on our 13th tranche and have invested more than £18.5 million in over 110 entrepreneurial UK businesses which have typically launched their product or service and are typically close to or post-revenue. In addition, we have supported 25 follow-on funding rounds, all at a premium to initial launch cost based on external valuations. Jenson Funding Partners LLP is the Fund Manager of the Jenson SEIS and EIS Funds and is authorised by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (‘FCA’) and its FCA registration number is 820516.

About Rocky Robots LTD

Rocky is the AI friend and coach in your pocket for challenges at work and building a growth mindset. The app is available on Apple App Store (iOS), Google Play Store (Android) and Amazon Alexa and can be tried out for personal usage. Coaches and HR departments are invited to a free demo of ‘Rocky for Coaches’ to enhance their offer for their clients and managers and improve engagement rates.