Simplicity raises the largest pre-seed investment in the region

Simplicity, an application that connects local governments with citizens, has raised €1 million in a pre-seed round led by Zero Gravity Capital.

The idea for such a service came to founders Juraj Gago and Andrej Krupa while studying in Denmark. They’ve realized that there was no credible source to receive important city information from.

The simplicity app allows citizens to receive all announcements instantly, communicate directly with the city’s management, and send suggestions. Users don’t need to worry about privacy issues as there is no need to register an account or provide any personal information. Maybe that’s why user retention – perhaps the most important metric in applications – is excellent, over 60%.

Social media is crowded with spam, hatred, and misinformation. It makes it difficult to reach people with important news. Then, there are city websites that are barely visited, and that’s pretty much it. That’s where Simplicity steps in.

The first few cities were signed on a pro-bono basis. Before pitching to investors, Juraj and Andrej wanted to make sure the model worked.  “We think that the product needs to be well-tested before attracting investments,” says J. Gago, adding that a big part of their strategy was to verify the technology and get paying customers on board before attracting additional resources for further expansion.

The Simplicity application gained credibility and recognition across Slovakia relatively fast. The next step is an expansion to other countries across Europe and beyond. Today, Simplicity solutions are used in over 50 cities, and the application is used by more than 80 000 citizens.