Palta: A technology company focused on health and well-being

Palta is a co-founding company, which invests in health-focused startups

With a core mission of delivering meaningful contributions to people’s lives, Palta has several successful projects, among them are Flo, a leading period-tracking service with 56 million active users, Simple, an innovative mindful nutrition app, and Prisma Labs, the creator of Lensa, an AI-photo editing application.

“One of Palta’s significant milestones occurred in 2017 when Google acquired AIMatter, a company under Palta’s umbrella, which developed a neural network platform to detect and process images quickly on mobile devices,” Co-founder and Board Member of Palta, Alexey Gubarev said.

“Another remarkable acquisition took place in 2022, when Farfetch acquired Palta’s portfolio startup Wannaby Inc, which has developed technology allowing users to virtually try on shoes, accessories and cosmetics — an innovation that revolutionised the online shopping experience.”

“Palta remains dedicated to reinvesting all profits back into the business, focusing on enhancing product quality. Despite this ongoing commitment to growth, the value of Palta’s apps is over $1 billion,” he added.

How does partnering with Palta benefit founders?
“Partnering with Palta means more than just financial backing. We’re co-founders who support startups from the ground up, financing them up to Round A. Our collaboration is intensive. We work closely with each startup, having weekly strategy meetings and using our expert marketing team to boost their message.

“Plus, startups in our portfolio get access to Palta Brain, an advanced analytics platform. This way, they have the tools and data they need to make smart choices and grow confidently with our support.”

What are some of the challenges in Cyprus’ startup and innovation scene, and how does Palta tackle these to stay ahead of the game?
“In Cyprus, the startup and innovation scene faces a challenge due to a shortage of highly skilled professionals in crucial fields like data science, AI, etc. Palta is strategically tackling this hurdle by actively relocating specialists to the island, establishing a culture conducive for their growth and expertise. This helps create a better environment for them to thrive and keeps Palta staying ahead of the competition.”

What kind of technologies does Palta use to offer its clients a premiere service?
“Palta utilises all the new technologies, including AI and machine learning, because the only way to stay in the lead is to evolve faster than competitors. The secret to business growth lies in understanding that if you’re developing at the same pace as the market, you’re stagnating. If the market is growing by 20 per cent per year, you should aim to grow by 40-50 per cent to truly succeed as a company.”

Do you offer any customised solutions according to certain clients’ needs?
“Currently, offering clients customised solutions is challenging because it still requires using an algorithmic method – simply put, this means a set of instructions for a specific task.

“At Palta, we firmly believe in achieving a personalised touch through the power of AI. Advanced AI models and tools like ChatGPT can now provide clients with customized solutions that previously only personal trainers and personal doctors could offer.”

What do you believe are the most important things for building a sustainable company?
“A sustainable company is one that sets improving its metrics even by a little bit as part of its KPIs each month. When it comes to applications, you should enhance your retention rate, improve the product, and ensure that users spend more time on the app every month. Creating a good product involves understanding what happens with it and how users react to it.

“Let’s take Flo as an example. When a woman chooses Flo, we aspire to make her a lifelong part of our community. Every woman deals with lots of challenges and changes in her life. Flo is an app designed to provide support, knowledge, and a safe space where she can seek answers to questions that might otherwise be difficult to ask. And by this moment almost six million kids were born due to our application. If you prioritise client satisfaction, you’ll achieve successful retention.”

Do you believe Cyprus provides a nurturing environment for innovation companies and startups? If so, what are the benefits? Are there any areas that need improvement?
“Cyprus provides an investment-friendly environment due to the government’s programme supporting the development of the IT sector. This certainly helps. Additionally, initiatives like TechIsland assist in fostering the community. It’s significant that Cyprus, through TechIsland, wants IT companies to feel welcome, which is great. It’s a positive aspect that there’s a special organisation to aid in working, registering companies, and resolving issues. All these initiatives generate a positive impact.

“But Cyprus needs to make more things digital and speed up paperwork like opening bank accounts or getting migration papers. One of the biggest problems is the shortage of housing and spaces in schools.”

Can you tell us about some of the initiatives Palta has undertaken, as well as the support offered to philanthropic/humanitarian causes?
“Palta supports the non-profit organisation TechIsland and the charity City Friends Club and participates in other initiatives both in Cyprus and beyond. The portfolio companies also have their own social responsibility programmes. In 2022, Flo donated to the Ukrainian Red Cross and provided Flo Premium for free to over 2.1 million Ukrainians. This enabled them to access personalised health insights and medically credible information.”

What are some of the trends set to level up in 2024?
“We believe in the strengthening of AI assistants. And we think that AI will bring more changes in video processing and related areas. Palta itself is looking in that direction.”

What are your plans for the future?
“Palta has always carefully launched new products; for us, it’s always been a strategic decision. We aim to launch no more than one or two projects per year. In 2024, we plan to implement an AI assistant into one of our products. This will provide the opportunity for a personalised approach, giving people what they want.”