Investors are spreading bets across the AI assistant race, and one of the more unusual entrants just got much more expensive. Wabi, founded by Replika creator Eugenia Kuyda, has raised $55M at a $1.25B valuation, TechCrunch reported.
IVP led the round. Andreessen Horowitz, Forerunner and the Amazon Alexa Fund joined, along with angels including Shopify chief executive Tobi Lütke, Salesforce’s Marc Benioff, former Yahoo head Marissa Mayer, former Twitter chief Dick Costolo and The Chainsmokers’ Alex Pall.
From prompt-built apps to a messenger
Wabi began as a tool that let anyone build an app with a prompt. Last month it announced a pivot to what it calls Wabi 2.0 – a personal agent that spins up the interfaces you need mid-conversation, whether that is meal planning, tracking restaurants, arranging a date night or building a fitness plan.
The reframing is what convinced backers. IVP general partner Alex Lim said Kuyda has a record of anticipating where AI is heading, and that Wabi reaches past the text box and command line entirely.
A hot and crowded category
The capital lands in a frenzied market for agents. Instinct reportedly raised another billion at a $10B valuation in September, and Tolan, which makes an AI companion, just closed $30M. Kuyda’s previous company, Replika, built a large audience around AI companionship before she stepped back from it.
The open question is whether a personal agent that generates little apps on demand becomes a habit or a novelty. At a $1.25B mark, investors are betting several million users will answer that for them.
