The competition to create "winner-level" AI assistants is intensifying, and investors are also diversifying their bets. On Thursday, another AI application, Wabi, announced that it had completed a $55 million financing round and its post-investment valuation reached $1.25 billion, operating under the identity of a "personal agent."
Wabi was founded by Eugenia Kuyda, who previously established the companion startup Replika. The initial focus of Wabi was to enable anyone to create applications using prompts. However, last month, the startup announced a shift towards a new direction, turning towards AI and messenger.
The current idea is that the new Wabi – which was called Wabi 2.0 at that time – can serve as your personal AI agent, building the interface you need to complete tasks.
The company stated that Wabi can be used to create mini-applications, with use cases including meal planning, tracking local restaurants, planning date nights, creating fitness plans, designing specialized knowledge quiz games, and more.
This new round of financing indicates that the investors of Wabi recognize that its new agency direction has certain potential, especially against the backdrop of the currently booming AI agency market. In September, the viral AI agency Instinct raised another $1 billion, with a valuation reaching $10 billion.
“Eugenia has a unique ability to predict the future direction of AI, and she also has an outstanding track record in product development,” said Alex Lim, a general partner of IVP who led this round of investment. “She has a clear vision of how people will interact with AI, a vision that goes far beyond just text boxes or command lines. Wabi is a manifestation of this vision, and we are delighted to support her.”
Other participants in this round also include Andreessen Horowitz ( a16z ), Forerunner, Amazon Alexa Fund, as well as some angel investors, such as the CEO of Shopify Tobi L ü tke, the CEO of Salesforce Marc Benioff, the former head of Yahoo Marissa Mayer, the former CEO of Twitter Dick Costolo, and The Chainsmokers's member Alex Pall.
