Марія Бровінська Startup 21 May 2025, 09:00

Ukrainians have created an AI fitness messenger called ChAthlete, which motivates people to exercise. How is it structured? A competitor to BetterMe, Zing Ai, and Fitify, which plans to cover the sex-fitness niche and conquer users from 50 countries

A team of Ukrainian startups has developed an AI fitness messenger called ChAthlete, which can become a gentle guide to the world of fitness for everyone. dev.ua spoke with the founder and team of the project, which plans to conquer 50 countries and develop sex fitness and beyond.

How it all began

The idea to create the product came from the founder of the startup, and now the CEO of the project, Kyrylo Omelchenko, who moved to Italy and decided to continue playing sports as soon as he had more or less settled down. But it turned out to be difficult for a Ukrainian without knowledge of Italian to find a gym and a trainer. When a trainer was finally found, he agreed to online consultations, however, when it came time for training, the trainer was constantly out of touch, says Kyrylo.

That’s why the man decided to try the mobile fitness apps available on the market. «This option turned out to be terrible. Not a single one had the function of personalizing workouts, did not take into account the user’s wishes or, for example, existing sports injuries. It was also very annoying that in order to fully establish a sports life, it was necessary to use several applications at the same time. For example, you needed a water tracker, a timer, a calorie tracker, and much more. For all this, you had to install a lot of programs, and I would like to have everything in one application,» says the founder of the service.

The lack of the ability to personalize workouts became a particular pain point for Kyrylo. «You couldn’t change the workouts or create your own. In addition, you didn’t always have enough time and energy to complete the workouts, and you couldn’t change the duration or number of sets. Often, the apps also lacked the technique for performing the exercises, which potentially threatened sports injuries. Since there was no way to connect with a trainer, it felt like you were training in vain — time was passing, but there was no result,» the startuper shares.

After talking to his friends, Kyrylo realized that they were concerned about the same problems. The lack of knowledge of the languages of the countries they moved to made it very difficult to find a coach. And those who stayed in Ukraine or knew a foreign language needed more support from a coach and the opportunity to talk about their sports life outside of training.

It was the expectations described above that prompted Kirill to create his own application.

«I wanted to take into account my own extensive experience and cover all needs with one application. The result was not just an application, but an entire fitness ecosystem, where the user will find everything they need for their fitness life,» says Kyrylo.

Team and money

ChAthlete team: founder Kyrylo Omelchenko, marketing director Oleksandr Vasyliev

A team of 15 people is working on creating the application. According to Kyrylo, the marketing team is mostly outsourced. The project is also being advised by investors and judges from startup accelerators.

The founder invested $20,000 of his own funds and 8 months of time in the product. The application is based on gpt-4o-mini, and the architecture includes a switch to Gemini at runtime if there are problems with ChatGPT, explained to dev.ua the project’s support person Vyacheslav Bilyi.

«It is AI that builds a personal training plan based on the answers from the user’s questionnaire. Further, AI is also used in the Chats tab, where there are chats with a trainer, nutritionist, restaurant assistant, and the „No Time“ chat. In these chats, it is AI that responds, trained by real people, specialists,» he says.

ChAthlete Marketing Director Oleksandr Vasiliev says that the service’s competitors are large and well-known fitness apps, including BetterMe, Zing Ai, Fitify, and others.

The application is currently available inthe AppStore and will soon appear on Google Play. The founder plans to monetize the service using the model of an annual premium subscription after a seven-day trial. According to Oleksandr, income will also be generated through additional features, such as changing the theme color, access to exclusive chats with a virtual trainer, nutritionist, and restaurant assistant. The team is not currently considering attracting advertisers to monetize the project.

«The choice of monetization model was significantly influenced by our research into conversion-enhancing techniques and analysis of product owners' blogs. In addition, it was influenced by the desire of each team member to abandon embedding advertising in the application,» explains Kyrylo.

How ChAthlete works

The first thing that the user will see when launching the application is a few bright screens that briefly describe the purpose and functionality of the application. This is followed by a standard registration stage, which allows you to register either by manually entering data or by registering via Google or Apple.

Since the main distinguishing feature of ChAthlete is maximum personalization and smooth implementation into the user’s fitness life on an ongoing basis, after registration, the user is given a questionnaire to complete in order to identify the input data and all the important points that the user would like to take into account on his fitness journey. The questionnaire covers all the important points: from choosing body parameters to dietary preferences and choosing free time for training. The questionnaire contains personalized questions, by answering which, the user will receive an assessment of his body parameters, a personal training and nutrition plan that will suit him and will be as accessible as possible for work and understanding. This data can be changed at any time.

The app also features chats with an AI trainer, a nutritionist, and a home and restaurant nutrition assistant. All of these AI assistants are trained by real people and are available 24/7. They can help you with any questions you may have and even have the ability to send photos.

«You don’t have to put up with open-ended questions about training, nutrition, equipment, or what to order at a restaurant to fit into your calorie intake — just ask the appropriate assistant a question and get a detailed and personalized answer that will meet all your needs,» says Kyrylo.

ChAthlete allows the user to track their nutrition, enter each ingredient of all meals, not just by name, but also by weight. The user will always be able to review their diet for any day and see the exact number of calories, as well as how it affects their body, training results and health.

The tracker system and continuous statistics collection give the user a clear understanding and tracking of all aspects of their fitness life, providing the opportunity to view their fitness level progress, calorie history, weight, number of steps, engagement, and much more. All the user’s progress in achieving their fitness goals will be displayed in the form of convenient and intuitive graphs. This will allow you to compare your results and draw conclusions, which will provide additional motivation.

In addition, ChAthlete offers a training calendar where you can create your own personal workout, or choose from 14 highly detailed templates that include information on the correct technique for performing exercises. You can choose your fitness level, change the number of sets, working weight, time and other parameters in ready-made templates to adjust them to your needs. There is also an option to create your own workout by selecting exercises by name, muscle group or equipment. At the end of the workout, users receive motivational greetings and statistics of the workout results.

«If a user doesn’t have the time, desire, or mood to workout, they can always find an alternative for themselves. We motivate users with a personalized approach, not rigid frameworks. You can always complete the suggested minimum workout or limit yourself to, for example, a short walk or run,» says Kirill.

According to the founder of the application, the focus of the service is not only on achievements, but also on the process — energy, well-being and confidence. «We show that fitness should be a part of life, not its center. At ChAthlete you will never encounter condemnation or negative emotions due to minimal effort, because we are not a strict coach, but a smart assistant who understands, gives choices and helps to move forward,» explains the founder. For those who, for various reasons, sometimes fall out of sports due to the frantic pace of life: there is a «rescue button» — a chat assistant when there is no time, when there is stress and no motivation or strength. «We do not let you fall out of the rhythm, which often destroys habits and makes it difficult to return,» explains the founder of the startup.

Plans and prospects

Currently, the app developers plan to attract as many users as possible, as well as develop the product in terms of functionality towards various trackers: water, sleep, and other parameters, etc.

Then, says Kyrylo, synchronization with various smart watches, fitness bracelets and other health and nutrition applications and programs is planned. Also, according to him, in the future various personalization functions are envisaged, namely: author’s programs, trainer courses, chats with these trainers, known in different countries. «Next there will be online training via video conferences — both group and individual,» says the founder.

In addition, the plans include scaling the product to over 50 countries. «Our plan includes Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, Switzerland), Europe (Germany, Italy, Spain, France), and the Western world (North and South America, the USA, and Canada),» says Kirill.

They also plan to introduce an element of sociality into the application: auto-posting on social networks, various achievements. «In this way, we promote a healthy lifestyle in the society of different countries. People will receive more energy and knowledge about how to do a useful exercise at home in 20 minutes, how to train with a child in the evening, while walking the dog, etc. — that is, how to maintain their health without spending a lot of time on it,» says ChAthlete Marketing Director Oleksandr Vasiliev.

In addition, the developers of the service assure that ChAthlete has plans to develop unique fitness areas: in particular, sexual fitness and highly specialized programs for football players, basketball players, volleyball players, cyclists, etc.

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