How Kinzen is aiming to create a vaccine for the ‘infodemic’

Journalists Áine Kerr and Mark Little know a lot about internet virality from previous start-up Storyful which they are bringing to their second venture, an anti-disinformation fix for the internet

Áine Kerr and Mark Little, founders of Kinzen, which uses artificial intelligence to tackle online disinformation. Picture: Fergal Phillips

“It’s like Schrodinger’s cat,” Mark Little says of the nerve jangling experience of launching a start-up. “The cat’s dead and alive at the very same moment.”

Sitting at a picnic table in Dublin’s Merrion Square in bright spring sunshine, he and co-founder Áine Kerr reflect on a rollercoaster year at Kinzen, their tech venture.

“That’s what happens to every start-up at some point,” Little goes on to say. “Where, you know you’re out of money, you haven’t got the customers, and you’re pitching someone for the money that will give you the ability to get the customers.