Casablanca AI

Overview
Casablanca.ai is a Pforzheim deep-tech company, operated by Casablanca.AI GmbH and founded in 2020, whose software restores natural eye contact in video calls. It works as a virtual webcam between the physical camera and the conferencing application, correcting the image in real time so the speaker appears to look at the other participants rather than at the screen below the lens, with no additional hardware. Casablanca.AI GmbH filed for insolvency at the Pforzheim local court, announced on 14 October 2025.

Why this entity matters
Casablanca.ai is a compact case study in the economics of European deep tech. The problem it attacks is structural, and solving it computationally, in real time and without hardware, required foundational research rather than an application layer: the company ended up building a general face model rather than a feature. Its trajectory, from consumer-visible product to enterprise pivot to insolvency filing within five years, is a documented example of the gap between European deep-tech capability and the growth capital available to carry it to market.

Company history and product
The company was founded in Pforzheim in 2020 by Carsten Kraus, chief executive and principal shareholder, with Markus Vollmer and Ivan Alles. It appeared on the television investment programme Die Hoehle der Loewen in April 2024, where an on-air agreement with investor Carsten Maschmeyer was subsequently reported not to have completed after due diligence.

Public funding information is thin and inconsistent: a September 2022 convertible note is recorded in aggregator databases reporting roughly USD 2 million cumulative, while another data provider describes the company as bootstrapped. Neither is corroborated by a primary company announcement.

In 2025 it shifted toward enterprise B2B deployment and developed what it calls a Face Foundation Model, a general model for faces with intended applications in healthcare and automotive. That shift raised research costs and introduced longer enterprise approval and IT-security review cycles. On 14 October 2025 it was announced that Casablanca.AI GmbH had filed for insolvency at the Pforzheim local court and that Julia Braun of Menold Bezler had been appointed preliminary insolvency administrator, with the stated aim of finding investors to continue the business. As of this review no completed continuation solution or sale has been publicly reported.

Role in the DACH startup and technology ecosystem
Casablanca.ai belongs to the small group of German companies working on generative face and video models rather than on applications built over foreign models, placing it in the technology-sovereignty conversation. It also connects the DACH angel-investing layer to a deep-tech operating company: its founder is one of Germany's better-known business angels, and Casablanca.ai is the company he built and ran himself rather than backed.

Selected relationships and affiliations
Founder and chief executive: Carsten Kraus, principal shareholder, previously founder of FACT-Finder and Omikron, and one of Germany's best-known business angels. His Startuprad.io entity record is at https://www.startuprad.io/entities/carsten-kraus . Co-founders: Markus Vollmer, commercial, and Ivan Alles, technical. Insolvency administration: Julia Braun of Menold Bezler, preliminary insolvency administrator, with an investor process stated as ongoing.

Startuprad.io relevance
Casablanca.ai is the applied-AI and video-communication reference entity in the Startuprad.io graph. Five posts carry the Casablanca.ai tag: the founder interview with Carsten Kraus, a deep dive on gaze-correction technology, and three posts on angel investing and scaling in which he appears.

Public source context
Sources: the insolvency announcement of 14 October 2025 by preliminary administrator Julia Braun of Menold Bezler at https://www.menoldbezler.de/presse/julia-braun-zur-vorlaeufigen-insolvenzverwalterin-der-casablancaai-bestellt-investorensuche-laeuft ; independent coverage by StartingUp, INDat and the Pforzheimer Zeitung; WirtschaftsWoche on the 2024 Die Hoehle der Loewen appearance; CRN on the enterprise pivot; and https://www.casablanca.ai . Funding figures are aggregator-sourced and reported as unconfirmed.

Startuprad.io coverage of Casablanca.ai

Casablanca.ai appears in the following Startuprad.io interviews, analysis and long-form profiles.

How Carsten Kraus Picks Winners: AI-Driven Startup Investing from Germany’s Top Business Angel
Published: 12 May 2025
Last updated: 30 August 2026
Coverage type: Analysis
https://www.startuprad.io/post/how-carsten-kraus-picks-winners-ai-driven-startup-investing-from-germany-s-top-business-angel

Decoding Business Angel Investment: AI, Funding Strategies & DACH Insights
Published: 15 April 2025
Last updated: 9 May 2026
Coverage type: Analysis
https://www.startuprad.io/post/decoding-business-angel-investment-ai-funding-strategies-dach-insights

Scale Up: 5 Startup Growth Tips from a Pro
Published: 27 March 2025
Last updated: 14 August 2026
Coverage type: Analysis
https://www.startuprad.io/post/scale-up-5-startup-growth-tips-from-a-pro

Fix Eye Contact: AI Gaze Correction Tech Deep Dive
Published: 26 March 2025
Last updated: 14 August 2026
Coverage type: Analysis
https://www.startuprad.io/post/fix-eye-contact-ai-gaze-correction-tech-deep-dive

AI Revolutionizes Video Communication: An Interview with Carsten Kraus of Casablanca.ai
Published: 25 March 2025
Last updated: 29 August 2026
Coverage type: Interview
https://www.startuprad.io/post/ai-revolutionizes-video-communication-an-interview-with-carsten-kraus-of-casablanca-ai

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Canonical record: https://www.startuprad.io/entities/casablanca-ai