Wabi Raises $55M at $1.25B Valuation in IVP-Led Round for Shared AI

Wabi, the San Francisco-based personal AI assistant startup founded by Replika creator Eugenia Kuyda, has raised $55 million at a $1.25 billion valuation in a round led by IVP.

Andreessen Horowitz, Forerunner and the Amazon Alexa Fund also participated, along with angels and founders including Tobi Lütke, Marc Benioff, Marissa Mayer, Dick Costolo and Alex Pall. The company's announcement does not name the round; SiliconANGLE described it as a seed round. Tech Funding News put Wabi's total funding at roughly $75 million including the new capital.

From AI Companions to a Multiplayer Assistant

Kuyda previously founded Replika, the AI companion platform. With Wabi, she is building a personal AI assistant designed for shared use, combining an AI agent, personalized mini-apps and shared spaces where friends, partners, families and groups can work together.

The company's examples range from shared restaurant lists and family meal plans that turn into grocery lists to trivia games and trackers for groups. SiliconANGLE reported that the interface centers on a group chat with an embedded assistant that can, for instance, suggest nearby restaurants based on the conversation. A Plaid integration generates personal budgets and flags unused subscriptions, and a Gmail connector powers alerts for important messages. Users can also build simple apps for to-do lists and event planning, and the assistant can generate simple 2D games inside the chat.

"AI shouldn't just save people time. It should help them spend it better," Kuyda said.

A Fast Climb After Launch

The round follows what the company calls strong early demand after Wabi's recent public launch. Wabi did not disclose user numbers. The app is available on iOS, Android and Mac, with Windows coming soon. Tech Funding News reported that Wabi 2.0 relaunched on Sept. 28, followed by the public launch on Oct. 19.

TechCrunch reported that Wabi raised a $20 million pre-seed round when it first launched in 2025. Tech Funding News reported that the new funding arrived 31 days after Wabi pivoted from building apps to building an AI messenger, and that the app is currently free with no clear business model. Wabi says the new capital will support continued product development and expansion.

"Eugenia has a unique sense for where AI is headed and a track record of great taste in building it," said Alex Lim, general partner at IVP.

Anish Acharya, general partner at a16z, said the firm has backed Kuyda since Wabi's pre-seed.

Why It Matters

Most AI assistants are built for one user typing into one box. Wabi is betting that the more valuable use case is social: the group chat where plans, budgets and to-do lists already take shape. A $1.25 billion valuation this early signals that investors see Kuyda's track record in consumer AI as a meaningful advantage in a crowded field.

The open questions are the ones the funding doesn't answer. Wabi has disclosed no user figures and, per Tech Funding News, no clear business model yet. The new capital buys time to prove that shared AI can hold attention in a market where the largest platforms are also building assistants into the apps people already use.

Source

PR Newswire — Wabi Raises $55 Million At A $1.25 Billion Valuation, Following Strong Early Demand