Friend
$99 always-listening AI companion pendant designed to be your real-time digital friend.
AI
📍 New York, NY
Founded 2024
Current Valuation
Private
PRIVATE
Friend is a $99 always-listening AI companion pendant designed by 21-year-old founder Avi Schiffmann (the Harvard dropout behind the viral 2020 COVID tracker) to act as a real-time digital friend. The company raised ~$2.5M in seed funding in 2024 — Schiffmann famously spent $1.8M of that buying the friend.com domain — and ran a $1M NYC subway ad campaign in late 2025 that drew polarizing public reaction.
Company Profile
Last Round
Seed — $3M (Jul 2024) · Lead: Caffeinated Capital
Founders & Key People
Avi Schiffmann
Investors
Caffeinated Capital · Perplexity (Aravind Srinivas) · Solana (Anatoly Yakovenko) · Z Fellows · Morning Brew Ventures
Products
- Friend pendant ($99 wearable)
- Friend mobile app (iOS)
- Friend.com web companion
Competitors
Replika · Character.AI · Rabbit R1 · Humane AI Pin (defunct) · Limitless Pendant
aiwearablesconsumer hardwarecompanion aiearly stage
Private-company numbers are not real-time. Reflects publicly disclosed valuations from press releases, news reports, and tender offers as of recent date. Refreshed quarterly.