Heywa Labs
3 known investors
Heywa builds AI-native "Generative UX" systems that generate and adapt user interfaces in real time. It offers a consumer app for visual information discovery and Heywa Studio, a platform that turns business data into interactive, on-brand experiences to guide customers.
Also known as Heywa · Heywa Labs Ltd
Founders & leadership
Investors · 3
Also in the syndicate · 2
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Heywa Labs is a London-based artificial intelligence company founded in 2025 that develops what it terms Generative UX (GenUX): an interaction layer positioned above models and data but below applications, intended to generate dynamic, adaptive interfaces rather than ranked link lists or long text responses. The company's stated premise is that generative models have advanced faster than the interfaces used to access them, and that search result pages and chatbots are poorly suited to exploration, comparison and everyday decision-making.
Its first consumer product, Heywa, is a mobile-first app and web platform that renders answers as structured, visual "stories" built from tappable cards which reorganise as the user taps, compares and branches. Coverage cites roughly two seconds to first meaningful interaction and reports that users engage with multiple cards per query. Target use cases include cooking, travel, DIY, fitness and personal growth. The app is described as live on the App Store in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada and accessible through the company's website. A second offering, Heywa Studio, is described by the company as an AI-native discovery platform for businesses that converts a company's own data into interactive, on-brand experiences to guide customers toward a choice.
The company was founded by Milena Nikolić (Co-Founder & CEO, formerly CTO at Trainline and Engineering Director at Google Play) and Martín Sturla (Co-Founder & CTO, previously an engineering lead at Google working on Google AI Search and the Play Integrity API). The wider founding team is described as including people with senior product and engineering roles at Google, Apple, Snap/Snapchat and Trainline, in search, discovery, personalisation and large-scale consumer systems.
Founding story
Heywa Labs was established in 2025 in London and founded by Milena Nikolić, with Martín Sturla as co-founder and CTO. The founders' stated motivation was frustration that generative AI had not changed how people interact with information: search engines return lists of links and chatbots return blocks of text, neither of which matches how people explore, learn or decide. The team, drawn from senior product and engineering roles at companies including Google, Apple, Snap and Trainline, set out to build an interaction layer — Generative UX — from first principles, with the Heywa consumer app as its first at-scale test.
Business model
Heywa Labs operates a consumer application (Heywa) alongside a business-facing platform (Heywa Studio) that turns customer data into interactive, on-brand discovery experiences. The consumer product is characterised both as a standalone offering and as a demonstration and testbed for the underlying Generative UX system, which the company intends to extend into a platform generating interactive experiences across multiple products and use cases. Third-party profiles describe the company as spanning B2C and B2B/SaaS models.
A third-party investor-data profile describes the revenue model as primarily subscription-based, with tiered pricing plans giving access to premium features of the Heywa app, and notes that partnerships with businesses may add further revenue opportunities. The company's own materials describe Heywa Studio as a platform for business customers but do not state pricing.
Traction
The Heywa consumer app is live on the App Store in the US, UK and Canada and available via the web. Coverage reports that users engage with multiple cards per query rather than consuming a single answer. The team is reported at ten to twelve people, with women represented across engineering, operations and leadership. A $5 million seed round closed in February 2026. One third-party investor database notes the company has completed its first deal.
Latest developments
In February 2026 Heywa Labs announced a $5 million (reported as £3.7 million in UK coverage) seed round led by Cherry Ventures, with participation from Openseed, Pareto, Plug & Play, Ventures Together and angel investors, to fund product development and research, hiring across engineering, design and growth, and international expansion. The company stated that the following year would focus on turning Generative UX into a scalable platform capable of generating interactive experiences across different products and use cases, while deepening the consumer experience so that exploration can be revisited, built on and shared. A third-party profile cites plans to launch new features by mid-2026.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history
Market position
Heywa Labs positions itself in the emerging generative-interface segment, competing conceptually with traditional search engines that return ranked links and chat-based assistants that return long text, as well as earlier generative-interface attempts that the company argues produce static layouts that do not adapt after display. Its differentiating claim is a continuously adapting interaction layer rather than model-level improvement. Trade coverage frames the company as part of a broader pattern of UK startups tackling AI interface and product problems and testing consumer-first AI interfaces in English-speaking markets before wider European expansion.
The company differentiates on the interface layer rather than the model: output is structured, visual and interactive, with card-based flows that reorganise instantly on each tap and branch into new comparisons, in contrast to ranked links, walls of text, or generative interfaces that render a fixed layout. Speed (approximately two seconds to first meaningful interaction) and mobile-first visual reasoning are emphasised, along with a founding team drawn from large-scale consumer platforms.
Technology
The core technology is a Generative UX system that sits above underlying AI models and data and below the application layer, generating and maintaining interactive experiences dynamically rather than producing static layouts. Output takes the form of structured visual stories composed of tappable cards that reconfigure in real time as user intent shifts, enabling branching comparisons. The design is mobile-first and optimised for visual reasoning rather than dense reading, with a reported time-to-first-meaningful-interaction of about two seconds. The founders state the system was built from first principles, giving a small team leverage to generate, adapt and maintain experiences automatically.
Go-to-market
Consumer-first distribution via the App Store in the US, UK and Canada plus web access, using the Heywa app as a public demonstration of Generative UX. Seed proceeds are earmarked for product development and research, hiring across engineering, design and growth, and international expansion; third-party profiles cite marketing and partnerships with local businesses as further expansion levers. Heywa Studio provides a separate business-facing channel for the same underlying system.
Consumers using mobile devices for everyday exploration and decision-making tasks such as cooking, travel planning, DIY, fitness and personal growth, initially in English-speaking markets (US, UK, Canada), with stated ambitions across North America and Europe. Heywa Studio targets businesses seeking to turn their own data into interactive, guided discovery experiences for their customers.
Geography
Headquartered in London (Camden), United Kingdom. The consumer app is available in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada, with stated plans for further international expansion across North America and Europe.
History
Founded in 2025 and headquartered in London (Camden). In February 2026 the company publicly announced a $5 million seed round led by Cherry Ventures, with its first consumer product, Heywa, live on the App Store in the US, UK and Canada. Team size is reported at ten to twelve people, with plans to hire across engineering, design and growth. The company has also introduced Heywa Studio, a business-facing discovery platform.
Compiled by commissioned research from 8 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Timeline · 3
launches, deals, and filingsHeywa Labs announced a $5 million seed round (reported as £3.7 million in UK coverage) led by Cherry Ventures with participation from Openseed, Pareto, Plug & Play, Ventures Together and angel investors, to fund product development and research, hiring across engineering, design and growth, and international expansion.
$5M source ↗
The company's first consumer product, Heywa, is live on the App Store in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada and accessible via the web, generating structured visual stories made of tappable cards.
Heywa Labs presents Heywa Studio, an AI-native discovery platform that converts a business's data into interactive, on-brand experiences to guide customers to a choice.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
▸Research sources · 8
primary sources listed
- Heywa Labs Asset Profile | Preqinpreqin.com · web
8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Heywa Labs do?
- London-based AI company building "Generative UX" — adaptive visual interfaces — behind the Heywa consumer app and Heywa Studio.
- Who founded Heywa Labs?
- Heywa Labs was founded by Martín Sturla, Milena Nikolić.
- Who are Heywa Labs's investors?
- Heywa Labs's investors include Cherry Ventures.