Wabi Raises $55 Million at $1.25 Billion Valuation for AI Agent Expansion

Wabi, an AI startup founded by Replika creator Eugenia Kuyda, said Thursday it raised $55 million at a $1.25 billion valuation, as investors continue betting on the race to build a leading AI assistant. The round was led by IVP, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, Forerunner, the Amazon Alexa Fund and angel investors including Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, Marissa Mayer, Dick Costolo and Alex Pall. Wabi originally let users build apps through prompts before pivoting last month to a "personal agent" model, dubbed Wabi 2.0, that generates interfaces for tasks such as meal planning, restaurant tracking and fitness plans. The funding follows a surge of investor interest in AI agents, with Instinct reportedly raising at a $10 billion valuation in September and Tolan securing $30 million.