Wabi, an AI application described as a "personal agent," announced it raised $55 million at a valuation of $1.25 billion. The company, founded by Eugenia Kuyda, who previously founded the AI companion startup Replika, originally focused on enabling users to build apps using prompts. Wabi has since pivoted to function as an AI messenger, with the goal of building necessary interfaces as part of its personal AI agent role.
The platform suggests its capabilities could extend to creating mini apps for tasks such as meal planning, tracking local restaurants, planning date nights, developing fitness plans, and designing specialized trivia games. Alex Lim, general partner at IVP, which led the funding round, stated, "Eugenia has a unique sense for where AI is headed and a track record of great taste in building it." Other participants in the funding round included Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Forerunner, Amazon Alexa Fund, and angel investors such as Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, former Yahoo!
head Marissa Mayer, former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, and Alex Pall, one half of The Chainsmokers. The funding round indicates investor belief in Wabi's new agentic angle, a sector currently experiencing high market interest.
