Wabi, the startup founded by Eugenia Kuyda — who previously started the AI companion company Replika — announced it raised $55 million and is now valued at $1.25 billion. The company revealed the funding on Thursday.
From prompt-based app builder to agentic messenger
Wabi initially focused on enabling people to build apps using prompts. Over the past month the company shifted its strategy and repositioned itself as an AI messenger and a “personal agent,” sometimes referred to as Wabi 2.0.
The firm says the new Wabi will create interfaces and mini-apps to help users complete tasks. Examples the company mentions include meal planning, tracking local restaurants, planning date nights, creating fitness plans, and designing specialized trivia games.
Investors and context
The funding round was led by IVP, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Forerunner, the Amazon Alexa Fund, and several angel investors including Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, former Yahoo! head Marissa Mayer, former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, and Alex Pall of The Chainsmokers.
Alex Lim, general partner at IVP, said Kuyda has a distinct sense of where AI is heading and a clear vision for how people will interact with AI beyond text boxes or command lines. Lim described Wabi as the expression of that vision and said IVP is excited to support the company.
The new financing suggests investors see potential in Wabi’s agentic approach amid a heated market for AI agents. The space has drawn large rounds recently: for example, the viral AI agent Instinct raised another $1 billion in September at a $10 billion valuation, and Tolan, an AI companion maker, raised $30 million.
Why this matters
Wabi’s strategic shift and the fresh capital show investors are backing multiple approaches to building AI assistants. If Wabi succeeds in delivering agent-driven mini-apps and interfaces that help with everyday tasks, it could become a competitive option alongside other AI agent offerings that aim to automate user interfaces and routine activities.
The company did not disclose further details about product availability or its revenue model in the announcement.
