friend
not imaginary. preorder now at friend.com.
TL;DR
Product: Neck-worn, voice-activated AI companion device and companion web/chat experience
Founder / CEO: Avi Schiffmann
Preorders / Pricing: Preorders launched at $99
Employee count: 28
Reported capital: $7.9M (snapshot) ; reporting also cites ~$2.5M initial raise and later $8.5M in capital
Company Overview
Problem Domain
Loneliness and conversational AI companionship via wearable hardware and software
Industry
AI hardware and software
Funding Track Record
$2.5M (reported)
Reported initial raise commonly cited at roughly $2.5M with named angel and micro-VC investors
$8.5M (reported capital)
Later reporting referenced the company having $8.5M in capital and noted a ~$1.8M domain purchase
Investor Signal
“Investors include individual angels and micro-VCs such as Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas, Solana founders Anatoly Yakovenko and Raj Gokal, Raymond Tonsing (Caffeinated Capital), Cory Levy and others”