Press Release
October 17, 2018
Hey raises €700,000 to increase Internet accessibility and improve peer-to-peer support across the web.
Based in La Hulpe, Belgian startup Hey intends to revolutionize the Internet. As of October 1st, they have secured nearly €700,000 in private investment to do so.
The venture was born of a frustration felt by the founding duo themselves: lack of interaction with other Internet users, which led to a shortage of peer support, missed warning signs, and an unsatisfied craving for insider info.
For CTO and co-founder Nabil Kamel, this realization came when considering code assistance: “I would be coding a Node module and hit a roadblock. In searching for the solution, I’d end up thinking, ‘I know there are other coders out there who have the answer, or a faster way, or a more efficient solution.’ And yet I couldn’t seem to access that information or connect to those people.” Kamel got to talking with Marc Jacobs, then friend and now Hey co-founder and CEO. “Marc was quick to understand the issue, and to get a sense of scalability—he’s a business mind, and he sees a much bigger picture. For him, this turned into an opportunity to connect all types of people—those who could benefit from an Internet that values helping one another.”
To remedy the lack of connection, Hey aims to provide an accessible, transparent, and community-based network. This will take shape in a browser extension added atop each web page, independent of the site owner. Users can take advantage of this space by asking questions, offering suggestions, and warning peers of untrustworthy activity, among other options. In practice, Hey’s platform will display on the right margin of users’ web browsers. Here, they can view all previous activity conducted on the same site page—posts, likes, and comments—and interact as they wish.
The project is built on three pillars: supporting community interaction, establishing a standard of transparency on the web, and ensuring that commentary can take place in its relevant context (that is, not on an external forum that takes finding, but rather on the original content page itself).
Hey’s founders are enthusiastic about the application’s potential. Jacobs considers ways it could’ve been useful in the past, and how it will prove helpful in the future: “Who hasn’t bought something online, only to realize an hour later that it was available for half the price elsewhere? Who hasn’t needed affirmation of software safety when downloading from the Internet? In this day and age, and this political sphere, who hasn’t dreamed of adding commentary directly to a politician’s website? … Hey offers everyone the freedom to share their reactions and recommendations anywhere on the web.”
Kamel says that the technology encourages supportive community engagement. “With Hey, every website is suddenly equipped with a free and open forum. And thanks to integrated algorithms and community-managed moderation, the platform guarantees total transparency in a space free of ‘trolls.’ Instead of doing harm, users help each other, and this help comes with benefits—earning reputation points, at some point even compensation.”
In order to close their first round of funding, the team at Hey relied on support from BeAngels, a network assisting with financial council and seed funds, as well as a dozen individual business angels, including François le Hodey (IPM Group), Frédéric de Broglie (former director at 3i France), and François Lagae (serial entrepreneur).
This capital will allow the company’s founders to focus full-time on the project and to begin building the community necessary for the social network’s success. The next step is twofold: recruit talent that will strengthen the team and prepare for the launch of an ICO (Initial Coin Offering), a crowdfunding campaign supported by the blockchain that will bring together a community of autonomous users looking to collaborate on a common project.
The duo’s aim is ambitious, but these young Belgians can already imagine competing with the world’s top social platforms. The difference? This time trust and supportive community are founding principles of the platform.
Marc Jacobs
Co-Founder & CEO