companies

Earkick

Free, sign-up-free AI mental health companion represented by a cartoon panda that tracks mood and offers real-time chat support without collecting personal data.

Earkick was founded in 2021 by Karin Andrea Stephan and Dr. Herbert Bay, two Swiss serial entrepreneurs with backgrounds in computer vision and speech emotion research, who wanted a mental health tool people could start using instantly, without creating an account or handing over personal information. The app's defining trait is that anonymity: no email, no sign-up wall, just an open chat with a bandana-wearing panda avatar. Under the hood, Earkick pairs a conversational chatbot with mood and habit tracking, and the company has talked publicly about layering in vocal biomarker and sentiment analysis so the app can pick up on stress signals in how someone speaks, not just what they type. It's positioned as an always-available companion for self-care check-ins rather than a clinical or diagnostic tool. Headquartered in San Francisco with a small team, Earkick has raised a modest amount of funding, reportedly around $1.5 million, from backers including LDV Capital, and operates on a freemium model that layers a paid tier on top of its free, no-signup core experience.

Founded

2021

Headquarters

San Francisco, United States

Sector

consumer