Slovak startup Elv.ai secures €500k to make the internet safer for debate

Bratislava-based Elv.ai, a startup that fights against cyberhate and misinformation, has secured €500,000 in funding from the Slovak CB ESPRI Impact One fund. The investment will help to expand its mission to protect media and public institutions on social networks.

• Elv.ai was co-founded by Jakub Šuster, Gabriel Tóth, Ľudovít Ďurman, and Milan Dubec in response to hybrid warfare and russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Originally, the startup was launched as a non-profit project by the Slovak communications agency New School Communications to filter hate content and protect online discussions.
• Currently, Elv.ai is based on a combination of technology and human factors. By utilizing machine learning and human moderators who control the AI and recognize possible linguistic nuances not picked up by technology, Elv.ai can identify and remove inappropriate and hateful content promptly.

We perceive that the media space has changed significantly and that the need to protect online discussions and social networks from hatred is growing. In our native Slovakia, we monitor and moderate the discussions of roughly one-third of the media market and help a number of major institutions that want to control the posts of their online discussions: without misinformation, hoaxes or hate speech. We are pleased that even in the Czech Republic, we have quickly found conscious media houses that consider it their duty to protect their fans and users from hateful and misinformation content,

Jakub Šuster, co-founder and CEO of Elv.ai, said.

• Since its launch in Slovakia, Elv.ai has recorded over 2,500,000 hateful or disinformation comments out of more than 16,000,000 and has identified over 5,000 fake profiles. In the Czech Republic, out of more than 2 million monitored comments on 44 profiles, up to 504,000 were hateful content, which is 24%. 
• Among the startup’s clients are the television stations Markíza and JOJ, the radio stations Expres and Evropa 2, and the online magazine Refresher. Now, it manages control over the content of discussions of more than 100 profiles for 30 clients, including Slovakian social media of the European Commission, Prima TV, and the Economia publishing house.

Slovak CB ESPRI Impact One fund, which focuses on projects with measurable positive social benefits, led the current round. Elv.ai will use the capital to accelerate its European expansion.