The key facts
- Wabi raised $55 million at a $1.25 billion valuation, with the round led by IVP
- Participants include a16z, Forerunner, Amazon Alexa Fund, and angels such as Tobi Lütke and Marc Benioff
- The funding came a month after the pivot to the 'personal agent' concept
A new round after a strategy shift
Wabi, the startup founded by Eugenia Kuyda — who previously created the AI company Replika — has announced it raised $55 million at a $1.25 billion valuation. The round was led by IVP; participants include Andreessen Horowitz, Forerunner, Amazon Alexa Fund, as well as angel investors: Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, former Yahoo! chief Marissa Mayer, former Twitter chief Dick Costolo, and Alex Pall of The Chainsmokers. IVP general partner Alex Lim said in a statement that Kuyda has a
From a 'YouTube for apps' to a personal agent
Wabi was originally positioned as a service that lets anyone create apps using text prompts — the project was then called a 'YouTube for apps'. In September, the company announced a change of course: the new version, Wabi 2.0, works as an AI messenger where an agent builds the necessary interfaces 'on the fly' to complete tasks. The company cites examples of mini-apps for meal planning, tracking local restaurants, organizing dates, fitness plans, and specialized quizzes.
Context: investors are spreading their bets on AI agents
TechCrunch links investor interest to the heating-up AI agent market: in September, the viral agent Instinct raised $1 billion at a $10 billion valuation, while Tolan — the developer of a 'Muppet-like' AI companion — recently raised $30 million. Against this backdrop, Wabi's round looks like another bet in the race for the 'winning AI assistant,' where investors, in the publication's words, are spreading risk across several players.
