Wabi, the personal AI assistant startup founded by Replika creator Eugenia Kuyda, said on Thursday that it has raised 55 million dollars at a valuation of 1.25 billion dollars. The round was led by IVP, with Andreessen Horowitz, Forerunner and the Amazon Alexa Fund also taking part. The funding lands only weeks after Wabi reshaped itself from an app-building tool into a messenger-style personal agent.
From app builder to messenger
Wabi did not start out as an agent company. Its original pitch let anyone build apps simply by writing prompts, aimed at people with an idea but no coding skill. Last month that pitch changed toward an AI messenger, where a personal agent does work for the user rather than handing them a finished app.
The new version, called Wabi 2.0, builds the interface a task needs when needed. Instead of opening a separate app for each job, the user asks in chat and Wabi assembles a task-specific mini app on the spot. The company points to meal planning, local restaurant tracking, date nights, fitness plans and trivia games as jobs those mini apps handle.
Group use is central to the design. Wabi describes itself as a shared-chat assistant, where an agent and user-built mini apps sit inside group conversations to help people coordinate dates, meals and trips together. That shared setting separates it from a solo chatbot, and is where the company believes a personal agent earns its daily place.
Who is backing it
IVP led the new round, and its general partner Alex Lim framed the bet around Kuyda herself. He credited her with a unique sense for where AI is headed and a vision for interaction far beyond the text box or command line. The statement is a founder bet as much as a product bet, resting on Kuyda’s Replika record.
The rest of the investor list is star-studded at this stage. Alongside Andreessen Horowitz, Forerunner and the Amazon Alexa Fund, angels include Shopify chief Tobi Lutke, Salesforce chief Marc Benioff, former Yahoo head Marissa Mayer, ex-Twitter chief Dick Costolo and Alex Pall of The Chainsmokers. Their presence signals that the round is about networks and distribution, not just capital.
The money follows an earlier raise. Wabi closed a 20 million dollar pre-seed round in November 2025, led by Andreessen Horowitz, which means the company has now raised 75 million dollars across two rounds in about eleven months. The lead investor changed hands between rounds, with IVP stepping in while Andreessen Horowitz stayed on as a participant.
Why It Matters
A valuation of 1.25 billion dollars for a product pivoted a month ago tells a story about the agent race. Investors are pricing in the founder, the category and the shift’s speed, rather than proven usage at scale, and Wabi remains free with no finalized way of making money yet. That valuation-revenue gap is the risk hanging over the bet.
The funding also shows how crowded the personal assistant race has become. OpenAI and Meta are competing for consumers’ AI attention, while viral agent startup Instinct raised another billion dollars in September at a 10 billion dollar valuation. Wabi’s answer is an assistant that builds what a group needs, rather than one that only answers questions.
The Amazon Alexa Fund’s participation is worth noting on its own. Amazon’s voice assistant business has a direct interest in personal agents’ reach, and its backing links Wabi to one of the largest existing assistant platforms. Whether that link becomes a distribution channel or stays a financial stake will shape how far Wabi can reach beyond its early audience.
For readers tracking agent funding, the pattern is familiar: this month’s Serval round, covered in our report on Serval’s funding round, showed investors paying for AI that does work inside companies. Wabi applies the same logic to personal life, betting that groups of friends and families will let an agent build their plans, not just suggest them.
Background
Kuyda founded Wabi after stepping down as chief executive of Replika, the AI companion app, in early 2025. Wabi launched publicly in October 2026, and the company said the new funding follows strong interest in that launch.
Source: Wabi funding report, Wabi valuation report
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