hello.app is a Barcelona-based startup that pays users in exchange for the unused storage space on their personal mobile devices. Its core product is a mobile app that lets users 'rent out' storage on phones, tablets, or laptops, positioning itself as a Web3 alternative to centralized cloud providers. The company plans to develop and launch apps on iOS and Android and to activate a "contribution node" function to consolidate the offering. Financially, hello.app completed a €500k seed round at a €16 million valuation and previously closed a €170k investment round plus a €130k loan from the National Innovation Company (Enisa). The company began operations in 2022, was founded by Álvaro Pintado Santaularia, and already reports nearly 200k users from more than 200 countries. hello.app aims to reach 3 million users by 2025 and to replace centralized server farms with a decentralized, collaborative storage network. Hello.app is developing a Web3 storage network that uses mobile devices to provide geo-redundant, encrypted, open-source, and user-controlled storage. The company intends to create an ecosystem centered on Web3 principles with an emphasis on encryption, decentralization, and user control. Hello.app has opened a €2 million seed investment round to fund development. This round complements a prior €170,000 financing from investors including Iese, Esade, Castiventures and Bcombinator and a €130,000 loan from the European Union cybersecurity agency Enisa. Taken together these financings amount to roughly €2.3 million to date. The company is based in Barcelona. Hello develops a decentralised Web3 ecosystem of applications, networks and infrastructure built on blockchain technology, decentralised storage and distributed databases. Its core approach emphasizes sustainable, scalable, efficient and user-controlled data storage to address centralisation and security limitations of traditional systems. The project aims to build what it describes as the most comprehensive decentralised system globally and to expand from Web3 into traditional Web2 markets. Hello has set a target of reaching 10 million users by the end of 2024. The startup recently closed an initial pre-seed round of €170,000 to be used for product development and go-to-market execution. Bcombinator has supported Hello through acceleration programs and the team is led by 18-year-old CEO Álvaro Pintado Santaularia and 20-year-old CTO Alexander Baikalov.

Total raised

$3M

Funding rounds

3

Latest round

Seed

Latest activity

Jul 2024