Kotcha, a French startup, aims to make world-class running advice available to the masses via artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence-powered coaching is continuing to grow in the fitness industry, and it’s only been amplified by the running boom.
That’s where platforms like Kotcha, an AI run coach platform co-founded by running legend Eliud Kipchoge, come in. The French startup has raised €3.5 million ($4.1 million) to fuel its goal of making world-class coaching accessible to anyone.
“Running is a team sport,” said Kipchoge, an Olympian and the only person to complete a marathon in under two hours. “Without my coaches and teammates, I would never have pushed human limits. With Kotcha, we wanted to share not just the training structure, but the full support system that made it possible.”
Races are seeing an explosion in participants in recent years. The London Marathon, which received over 1.1 million entries for 2026 (twice as many as in 2024), as more runners — especially first-time marathoners — are turning to AI coaches like Runna or Kotcha to help their training.
Kipchoge co-founded the platform with the NN Running Team by combining elite running expertise with the tech founders’ startup knowledge, who spent time at his Kaptagat training camp, to imbue his philosophy into the app.
“We didn’t want another training plan generator,” explained co-founder Ben Dupont. “Magazines once offered generic plans, apps later digitized them with basic personalization. Kotcha is the next generation of training experience: an AI-powered app you can talk to, recreating the relationship between an athlete and his coaching team. This coaching team is the first step in bringing our vision to life, that running is actually a team sport.”
Kotcha aims to differentiate itself from other AI-powered coaches or generic training plans by offering an adaptable, personalized schedule and a robust coaching team of four AI coaches: a head coach, nutritionist, data analyst and a personal trainer, trained on NN Running Team methods.
“AI often lacks context and falls short of runners’ expectations,” Dupont said. “We’re building Kotcha to understand each runner’s goals, training load and patterns, so guidance feels like it comes from a coach who truly knows you.”
That philosophy has led to Kotcha’s trademark features like:
- New plans every week. Every Sunday, Kotcha reviews data and feedback to design the perfect next week for the runner. Kotcha will also take into account missed runs when designing the following week.
- Pre- and post-run guidance
- 24/7 answers to training, nutrition and recovery questions
The platform is also updating to allow the AI coach to adapt training plans in real time — if a user only has 30 minutes to run, the coach will automatically adjust the day’s session and update the following ones to keep them on track toward their goal.
