What Elokence does

Elokence SAS is a French artificial intelligence company founded in 2007 in Mainvilliers (Eure-et-Loir) by computer engineer Arnaud Mégret (Telecom Sud Paris). The company develops and operates interactive entertainment applications built on proprietary predictive machine learning models. Its flagship product, Akinator, is an AI-powered character-guessing game in which the system attempts to identify a real or fictional character the player is thinking of through a series of adaptive questions; the application is available on web, mobile (iOS, Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry), and voice assistants (Amazon Alexa, Google Home) in 13–16+ languages. A second product, Pépitch, applies the same interactive-questioning paradigm to movie recommendations.

The underlying technology consists of a proprietary AI guessing algorithm developed since 2010, combined with a continuously expanding knowledge base of more than 100,000 characters that is updated daily from live gameplay. In 2018 the company announced an efficient algorithm for building and querying large knowledge models of high complexity. The business model is product-led and consumer-facing: Akinator was originally distributed as a paid mobile app at €1.59 per unit and has since transitioned to a freemium model with in-app purchases, complemented by voice platform distribution. The company is privately held, bootstrapped, and founder-controlled, with approximately 11 team members across R&D, mobile, web, product, marketing, and administration, operating from offices at 10 Avenue Gustave Eiffel, Chartres.

Elokence's most recent disclosed revenue figure is €2.4 million in 2012 with seven employees (Viuz, June 2013), and the company has been operationally active through 2024, with active job postings and continued product updates. There is no public disclosure of more recent revenue, funding, or external investment.

Name

Elokence

Legal name

Elokence SAS

Website

https://elokence.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2007

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Elokence SAS is a French AI entertainment company founded in 2007, best known for Akinator, an AI-powered character-guessing game available across web, mobile, and voice assistants in 13+ languages, serving global mass-market casual gamers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Mainvilliers

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Mobile Application Sales: Akinator originally sold as a paid app at €1.59 per unit on mobile app stores. Over 5 million mobile app copies have been sold globally. The app has also transitioned to freemium models.
2. App Store Revenue: Revenue generated through app store sales and in-app purchases. Generated €2.4M revenue in 2012 with 7 employees.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Elokence develops and distributes AI-powered consumer entertainment applications. Its flagship product, Akinator, is a character-guessing game in which a proprietary AI algorithm asks users a series of questions to identify real or fictional characters they are thinking of, drawing on a knowledge base of over 100,000 characters that is updated daily. The company also offers Pépitch, a movie recommendation app that helps users decide what to watch through an interactive questionnaire.

Product overview

Elokence is a French AI company that develops intelligent games and services. Its portfolio consists of two main products: Akinator, a character-guessing game launched in 2007 that uses proprietary AI algorithms to guess characters through questions (available on web, mobile apps, Alexa, and Google Home), and Pépitch, a movie recommendation app that helps users discover films through an interactive questionnaire. Both products leverage Elokence's core AI capabilities in knowledge retrieval and predictive analytics.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Akinator: AI-powered guessing game where players think of a real or fictional character and Akinator attempts to guess it through a series of questions. Built on an algorithm managing question selection and a database of 100,000+ characters updated daily.
• Pépitch

Products and services

• Akinator An AI-powered character guessing game available to general consumers on web, mobile apps (iOS, Android, Windows, BlackBerry), and voice assistants (Alexa, Google Home) in 13+ languages. Players think of a real or fictional character; the AI algorithm asks questions and attempts to identify the character from a knowledge base of over 100,000 entries.
• Pépitch A movie recommendation application that helps individual consumers decide what to watch by asking them questions and suggesting film ideas, including forgotten cinema gems.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 1.3 billion games played since 2007
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

AI capability4 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Amazon AlexacoreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2018Akinator launched as a Voice Skill on Amazon Alexa in 2018, making it playable via voice commands on all Echo devices. The skill is available in 16 languages including Arabic, Hebrew, and Korean, with expansion plans for Vietnam and China. The Amazon Alexa team visited Elokence in France for a feature episode of Alexa Innovators showcasing the collaboration.
• Google PlaycoreGTM or Marketing PartnerElokence was selected by Google Play to represent France in the #WeArePlay campaign, positioning Akinator as a flagship French app in the Google Play ecosystem. This provided prominent promotional placement for the app.
• Amazon EchocoreTechnology or IntegrationAkinator is available as a voice-activated Skill on Amazon Echo and all Alexa-enabled devices, allowing users to play the guessing game hands-free by speaking to their Echo device. The skill was launched in 2018.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Replika: Consumer AI companion app built by Luka Inc. that, like Akinator, leverages proprietary AI to create a personalized interactive entertainment experience for mass-market consumers. Both are AI-first consumer entertainment products with mobile distribution.
• PlaySimple: Mobile trivia and word-game publisher with a portfolio of casual entertainment apps. Comparable as a mass-market mobile casual gaming company targeting the same broad consumer entertainment segment via app stores.
• Character.AI: AI platform where users interact with millions of user-generated characters via conversation. Closely comparable to Akinator in its character-centric AI entertainment mechanic and consumer mobile-first distribution, though focused on free-form chat rather than guessing.
• Volley: Developer of voice-controlled AI games and entertainment apps for Alexa and Google Home. Closely comparable to Elokence's voice-first Akinator distribution strategy and use of conversational AI to deliver interactive entertainment experiences.

Broad incumbents

• Outfit7: Creator of the Talking Tom franchise and other character-driven mobile entertainment apps with billions of downloads. Comparable in global character-based casual mobile entertainment, though driven by animation and IP rather than AI.
• Zynga: Large mobile and social casual gaming publisher with global distribution across iOS, Android, and web. Comparable in casual mobile gaming distribution and freemium monetization, but with a much broader and more diversified portfolio.
• King: Major casual mobile gaming company behind Candy Crush, with hundreds of millions of players globally. Comparable as a casual mobile gaming category leader, though King operates a much broader portfolio and lacks Akinator's AI-driven core mechanic.
• Niantic: Mobile gaming innovator behind Pokémon GO and other location/AR-based games. Comparable as a tech-forward mobile gaming company pushing new interaction modalities, though at much larger scale and focused on AR rather than AI.

Emerging players

• Woebot Health: AI-powered consumer wellness chatbot that engages users in conversational interactions. Comparable as an early-stage consumer AI app with proprietary conversational algorithms, though focused on mental wellness rather than entertainment.
• Sensy: Voice-AI entertainment app delivering interactive trivia and content on smart speakers. Comparable to Akinator's voice-first engagement model on Alexa/Google Home, focused on conversational entertainment for casual users.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/elokence
• Facebookfacebook.com/Akinator
• LinkedInfr.linkedin.com/company/elokence

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Elokence