According to EU-Startups, three former Factorial executives—Pau Ramon, Jordi Robert, and Josep Jaume Rey—have bootstrapped a new Barcelona-based company called Ramensoft with €400,000 of their own capital. Founded in 2025, the company’s mission is to build tools that enhance creator creativity and autonomy online. Their first product is a writing and newsletter platform named Fika, specifically aimed at journalists, experts, and professionals. The platform focuses on letting creators build independent publications, control their voice, and monetize via subscriptions, all while featuring automatic translation into six languages. The founders are positioning Fika as a direct counter to algorithm-generated content, arguing that human writing and real audience connection are more vital than ever.
The human-tech pivot
Here’s the thing: the premise is fascinating, but also incredibly challenging. The market for newsletter and blogging platforms is brutally crowded. You’ve got Substack, Ghost, Beehiiv, and a dozen others. So what’s Fika’s real differentiator? It seems to be this philosophical stance of “human-first” tech, where features like tone-preserving translation are meant to support the writer, not replace them. It’s a noble sentiment, especially coming from a team with deep HR-tech experience from Factorial. They’re not just selling software; they’re selling an ideology. But in a space where convenience and audience reach often trump philosophy, that’s a tough sell. Can a “feel” be a feature?
The monetization question
They mention subscriptions and sponsorships, which is table stakes. The automatic translation is a clever, practical feature for global audience building—if it truly preserves nuance. That’s a big “if.” Anyone who’s used even the best AI translation knows it can strip out personality. If Fika has cracked that code technically, it could be a genuine advantage. But the bigger question is the audience. Are professionals and journalists, who are already stretched thin, looking for yet another platform to manage? Or are they just trying to get their words into the existing ecosystems where readers already are? Fika’s success hinges on convincing creators that owning a slightly nicer corner of the internet is worth the extra effort.
Bootstrapping as a statement
Using €400k of their own money is a powerful statement. It means no VC pressure to chase hyper-growth with AI-generated spam or aggressive, platform-lock-in tactics. They can theoretically stay true to that “human-centric” mission. But it also means their runway is finite. They’ll need to convert users to paying customers quickly and efficiently. The risk is building a beautiful, principled product for a niche that’s too small or too hard to reach. I think their Factorial background gives them credibility in building scalable B2B tools, but this is a different game. It’s a B2B2C play where you have to delight both the writer and their readers.
The broader battle
Basically, Ramensoft is entering a meta-battle that’s defining this era of the web. It’s human curation versus algorithmic feeds, owned audiences versus rented social media land. Platforms like Fika are betting that a fatigue with AI-generated sludge is setting in. They might be right. But winning requires more than a good idea; it requires solving the distribution and discovery problem for creators, which is the hardest part. If they can make it stupidly simple for a quality writer to find and retain a dedicated, paying audience, then they’re onto something. If not, they’ll be a lovely, well-funded footnote. The next year will show if their bet on humanity pays off.
