AI Companions Treat Loneliness the Way Cheap Substitutes Do

01 /The Concept

Seed investors back startups not because they've shipped a great solution, but because they've identified a great problem.

Case in point: Eigen hasn't launched a product yet. It hasn't even explained how its product will work. Yet it just closed a $15 million round led by respected venture firm Benchmark.

So what problem did Eigen identify that warranted such a quick, significant bet? Here's what the startup writes on its site.

The digital world is highly personalized – yet somehow feels impersonal. Every website recommends things "just for you," but you're talking to bots, not people, and your social feeds are full of strangers' posts. Despite more people and more content online than ever, the world around us feels like it's *shrinking*, not expanding.

The best part of being human, Eigen argues, is meeting people who expand your world in unexpected ways. People who push you toward new ideas. Who help you find collaborators for things you want to build. Who draw out sides of you that would otherwise stay hidden. And who introduce you to their networks – widening your life further still.

Eigen's mission: figure out whether AI can help people expand their lives, instead of contracting them. The vehicle: an AI "mutual friend" who can help make that happen.

As Fortune noted in its coverage of Eigen, the founders aren't building another AI companion like Replika – something to talk to when there's no one else around.

The founders acknowledge that the AI companion space is crowded. But they're asking a different question: "Can we make the world better for all of us together, not just for each of us individually?" The goal is to build mechanics that connect people – rather than isolate them in one-on-one relationships with bots.

The specific mechanics remain undisclosed – even to the journalists who covered the funding. But the founders say the market for this kind of product is "clear and obvious"

As a co-founder of Pinterest – now an investor in Eigen – put it: "Eigen's mutual friend shouldn't replace friends. It should strengthen friendships and expand their circle."

02 /Why It Matters

At its core, Eigen is tackling loneliness – a problem sharpened by the internet pulling people away from real-world interaction.

According to a recent American Psychological Association survey, 54% of US adults feel "isolated from others," 50% feel "left out," and 50% report a "lack of companionship." The percentages sum to more than 100 because some people checked multiple boxes.

Does loneliness convert into a market? Yes. The AI companion market reached $37 billion in 2025 and is projected to grow exponentially – estimates point to $550 billion by 2035.

Eigen is essentially betting it can disrupt that forecast – by pulling people *away* from AI companions and toward real human connections. If it works, the loneliness-tech market looks different.

Other startups are attacking the same problem from different angles.

French startup Budhiam ([related review](/review/jeta-roskosh-uzhe-stala-prodavatsja)) raised €2 million in January for an app where users can find a compatible conversation partner and meet them for coffee – not free of charge, but for €15 per half hour on average. The venues are partner cafés that receive new foot traffic; the conversation partners get a free coffee from the house.

Tobira ([related review](/review/k-tvoej-polze-i-vygode)) launched in March and focuses on new professional connections – including finding potential co-founders and collaborators. Each user deploys their own AI agent, which tries to match with other users' AI agents. If two agents determine their humans should meet, they notify both parties while preserving anonymity. The humans only exchange real identities if both approve the introduction.

Boardy ([related review](/review/produkt-kotoryj-sam-prinosit-investorov)) – which raised $11 million – works similarly for professional networking but with a single AI agent (named Boardy) that speaks with users over the phone and matches them with others it's already spoken to. Contact details are only shared when both parties say yes.

Even dating apps – once purely focused on physical matchmaking – have started pivoting toward genuine human compatibility. Known ([related review](/review/kak-izbezhat-popadalova)) raised $9.7 million in November for a dating app that starts with a psychological profiling interview and matches users on personality compatibility. Schmooze raised $7.5 million for an app that matches people based on which memes they swipe right on – using AI to build a personality model from someone's meme preferences rather than just surface-level tastes.

RealRoots ([related review](/review/okazyvaetsja-ljudi-gotovy-platit-ne-tolko-za-seks-no-i-za-druzhbu)) and Les Amis have both built group friendship apps specifically for women – AI-curated groups of people who meet in person, with new members requiring approval from existing participants.

03 /Opportunities

The shared problem across all of these is loneliness – and investor interest confirms it's a real market.

Worth noting: while the loneliness epidemic began with the rise of the internet, AI is accelerating it. Many people now spend significant time in extended conversations with general-purpose AI chatbots, which serve as a substitute – at least partially – for human contact.

The opportunity: build apps that give people back the joy of genuine human connection.

The approaches are strikingly varied. The pretexts for connection are equally wide: romantic potential, shared interests, professional goals, even just the desire to talk to someone. Choose the angle that resonates with you personally – being your own first test user matters in this category. Which approach would you take?