Veterans from the European startup scene, which have launched multiple consumer apps in the past, have emerged from stealth on Tuesday with a new app. In the face of that, GroupHug simply generates memes from the Group WhatsApp chat archive. But it covers the wider play.
GroupHug is led by Felix Petersen, one of Europe’s most experienced and veteran B2C founders who built the Amen and Plazes app.
Currently, all users that can run on GroupHug export text from Group WhatsApp chat and generate interesting images from the content.
However, this is a taster for future events. The underlying part of this simple exercise to get beta users is the app still in stealth mode. However, Petersen suggests to TechCrunch, and the company plans to launch a platform to generate more value from WhatsApp groups using generator AI.
“I think we cracked AI humor. For now, GroupHug creates jokes based on what happened in the group. Turns WhatsApp chat into memes. “There’s this world of group chats where most of what’s happening on Reddit and X is going on in public. But everything in WhatsApp groups are not part of the public internet. That’s a chance.”
The startup is raising a 1.5 million euro ($1.7 million) seed round, led by Berlin-based Blueyard VC, alongside Tiny VC, Charles Songhurst (Metaboard member) and Atlantic Lab.
Petersen is joined by Joseph Zienandozi, who recently left his famous multi-channel travel brand Lost Inn. The third founder is Matthew Balazsi, who has been working on AI and ML for the past decade.