Caffeinated Capital is a technology venture capital firm that partners with founders at the inception stage and invest throughout the life of the company.

Caffeinated Capital

Pace Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm focused on series A investments. The new firm was founded by Chris Paik and Jordan Cooper in 2019 and currently has a $400M worth of funds under management. Pace Capital is based in New York City.

Pace Capital

Abstract is a venture capital firm based in San Francisco with $1.5 billion in assets under management. We are sector-agnostic, focused on seed and early stage founders. Our reputation among founders is built on fierce loyalty, unparalleled connections, and a relentless drive to help them win.

Abstract

Friend

Friend creates a toy companion that promotes self-esteem through meaningful discussions.

Friend is an AI companion device in the form of a wearable pendant that connects to a smartphone via Bluetooth. The USD 99 device features an always-listening microphone that enables users to engage in conversations with their AI companion, which responds through text messages in a companion mobile app. Powered by Anthropic AI's Claude 3.5 language model, the device aims to provide emotional support and companionship rather than focusing on productivity features. The Friend pendant offers approximately 15 hours of battery life and includes features like ambient listening and context-aware responses based on the user's surroundings and conversations.

Friend - Product Information, Latest Updates, and Reviews 2024

Covid-era whiz kid is back, and he brought a Friend — a wearable, always listening, $99 AI companion

Glamorous Best Friend of UnitedHealthcare CEO Assassination Suspect Luigi Mangione Breaks Silence on How She Was 'Blindsided' by Arrest — As He's Charged with Murder and 'Ghost Gun' is Discovered

Wear This AI Friend Around Your Neck

Real life Silicon Valley vs Black Mirror crossover playing out over AI ‘Friend’

Pitch-A-Friend Cleveland to allow friends of singles to ‘pitch’ friends to future dates via slide show

Why Companies Are Buying Million-Dollar Domains—and Why It’s Paying Off

Meet the AI startup that wants to give you a friend

Maybe Friend wasn't crazy for spending $1.8M on a domain after all

AI ‘Friend’ Company Spent $1.8 Million and Most of Its Funds on Domain Name

Friend.com didn't spend 75% of its capital on its domain name - Domain Name Wire

Minute Elf On The Shelf Ideas That Are Easy And Cute

Who killed UnitedHealthcare’s CEO and why? A suspect and manifesto – NBC Chicago

Friend’s AI chatbots have issues — and they want your help

Friend.com: The Key to Avi Schiffmann’s New AI Product and Strategic Investment

AI wearables startup Friend sparks controversy with bold marketing move

sales - Friend.com Acquired By Avi For an Ai Wearable Company

Your new AI Friend is almost ready to meet you

Leighton Meester Still Isn’t a Movie Star. She’s More Interesting That Way

Exploring the limitless possibilities of AI

Generative AI Applications

Friend is an AI companion device in the form of a wearable pendant that connects to a smartphone via Bluetooth. The USD 99 device features an always-listening microphone that enables users to engage in conversations with their AI companion, which responds through text messages in a companion mobile app. Powered by Anthropic AI's Claude 3.5 language model, the device aims to provide emotional support and companionship rather than focusing on productivity features. The Friend pendant offers approximately 15 hours of battery life and includes features like ambient listening and context-aware responses based on the user's surroundings and conversations.
The device can proactively send messages and insights about the user's experiences throughout the day. While the physical pendant stores the AI companion's memories and personality, Friend does not store any audio recordings or transcripts of conversations. The product, designed in partnership with Bould (the team behind the Nest Thermostat), comes with two gray lanyards and a white case, along with a USB-C charging cable. As of early 2024, Friend is available for pre-order in the US and Canada, with shipping planned to begin in January 2025.
Users can interact with their AI companion by either pressing and holding the pendant to initiate conversation or letting it passively listen and respond to ongoing activities. If a user loses or damages their Friend device, there is no recovery plan for the AI companion's memories. The product is currently only supported on iOS devices, with Android support planned based on future demand.
Key customers and partnerships
Friend has approximately 10,000 users engaging with its AI companions, with some users reportedly chatting with their AI friends for up to 10 hours at a time. The company collaborated with Bould, the design team behind the Nest Thermostat, to create the pendant's hardware design. The first 5,000 pilot units are planned to be distributed, with the company intending to hand-deliver the initial prototypes to top users in January 2025.

Friend is an AI companion device in the form of a wearable pendant that connects to a smartphone via Bluetooth. The USD 99 device features an always-listening microphone that enables users to engage in conversations with their AI companion, which responds through text messages in a companion mobile app. Powered by Anthropic AI's Claude 3.5 language model, the device aims to provide emotional support and companionship rather than focusing on productivity features. The Friend pendant offers approximately 15 hours of battery life and includes features like ambient listening and context-aware responses based on the user's surroundings and conversations.The device can proactively send messages and insights about the user's experiences throughout the day. While the physical pendant stores the AI companion's memories and personality, Friend does not store any audio recordings or transcripts of conversations. As of early 2024, Friend was available for pre-order in the US and Canada, with shipping planned to begin in January 2025.Key customers and partnershipsThe company collaborated with Bould, the design team behind the Nest Thermostat, to create the pendant's hardware design. The first 5,000 pilot units are planned to be distributed, with the company intending to hand-deliver the initial prototypes to top users in January 2025.

DeckRobot is a platform compatible with Microsoft PowerPoint that leverages AI to transform raw slides into enterprise-ready presentations. DeckRobot AI transforms draft slides into professional, on-brand slides by adapting graphics from a vast library of slide examples. Users can apply an unlimited number of styles to any slide deck, including old documents, client materials, or web-sourced slides.DeckRobot offers enhancements for individual slides, such as adding approved icons and images, object alignment, slide resizing, and text validation through AI checks. DeckRobot's plugin acts as a time-saving tool for PowerPoint users, reducing manual work and potentially saving up to 80% of working time. The plugin emphasizes creating visually appealing presentations that adhere to company brand guidelines while maintaining content quality.Key customers and partnershipsAs of April 2024, the company reportedly worked with 70% of the largest consulting and audit companies.

DeckRobot

Based in Italy, Contents.com is a generative AI-powered multimedia creation tool directed at marketing teams, bloggers, publishers, web agencies, ecommerce sites, and large corporations looking to scale content output. The company operates as a SaaS platform that provides tools to support the entire content creation workflow, combining AI-generated output with manual finishing. Contents.com’s features include:1) Industry trends: Uses AI to provide an overview of popular content trends during a specified time period2) AI Chat: A natural language chatbot that can answer questions on any topic or be used to generate content ideas3) AI Writer: Generates content based on a selected template, including blog posts, social media posts, product descriptions, marketing emails, search engine optimized content, and summarized and rephrased content4) AI Art: Generates images based on text inputs, a selected style, and destination content type5) Text to Audio: Converts text documents into audio, with several AI voices available for selection and generates text transcripts from audio input6) AI Translation: Translates content into 25+ languages (January 2024) and offers human translation7) Professional writing services: Completion and review of AI-generated content or fully outsourced content creation by human writersContents.com also offers a customizable enterprise solution, enabling large organizations to automate their content creation processes.The firm claims that its solution can generate content 10x faster.In April 2023, Contents.com acquired Scribeur, its main French competitor, expanding its customer base to include major French and European brands. In the same month, the firm also acquired translation company Traduzione.it. In addition, in May 2023, the company acquired Scribox, an Italian content marketing marketplace, to leverage Scribox's expertise in custom content creation, SEO, and social media marketing.Key customers and partnershipsAs of May 2023, Contents.com’s users included Allianz, Billboard, IKEA, Oppo, and Accenture.

Contents.com

Estonia-based Alpha3D utilizes GenAI technologies to allow users to automatically convert text prompts or 2D images of real-world objects into interactive 3D digital assets. The platform aims at simplifying the 3D model creation process, making it more accessible and scalable for users regardless of their 3D-modeling knowledge. Alpha3D's technology has potential applications in various domains, such as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), virtual try-on (VTO), gaming, the metaverse, and even non-fungible tokens (NFTs), allowing a wide range of digital interactions and experiences​.The platform claims to automatically generate 3D content 10x faster and up to 100x cheaper than traditional methods, without requiring 3D modeling expertise.Key customers and partnershipsAs of September 2023, Alpha3D had managed to garner a user base of nearly 100,000 platform users, including Viva Technology, Threedium, Wanna, PwC, and FARFETCH.In June 2023, the company partnered with Tryme, a company specializing in custom software solutions, to advance the creation of AI-generated 3D models for eyewear by combining Alpha3D's rapid 2D-to-3D conversion with TRYME's virtual try-on platform.

Alpha3D

OASIS is a human-centric AI research lab that offers photorealistic AI avatars for remote work. Users can enter text, record audio, or write directly on the screen, and the AI will rewrite based on specified preferences or settings, allowing users to generate rewritten content for various purposes, such as improving clarity, style, or readability. The cross-platform app allows users to use the AI avatar when using a camera, including Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, FaceTime, and WhatsApp.

OASIS

Canada-based Maket specializes in utilizing GenAI to automate the design of residential floor plans, aiding architects, designers, and developers in efficiently creating various design iterations​. Additionally, Maket offers a suite of tools, including a virtual assistant for informed desig-making, assistance with navigating zoning codes, and regulatory compliance checks. The platform is also integrated with Rhino, Autodesk Autocad, and Autodesk Revit.Key customers and partnerships&nbsp;In April 2022, Maket formed a strategic partnership with <a href="https://mila.quebec/en/mila-and-maket-announce-a-new-partnership-to-leverage-ai-for-generative-architecture/#:~:text=MONTREAL%20%E2%80%93%20April%2020%2C%202022,architecture%2C%20engineering%20and%20construction">Mila</a>, a deep-learning research institute, to advance AI-powered architectural planning​.Key competitors: None comparable (Maket is the only design startup we have identified that uses GenAI to automate the design of residential floor plans.)

Maket

Companies that offer solutions to generate text from a prompt, where output is independent of previous interactions, such as specialized content creation tools

Companies that offer solutions to create and edit images and GIFs, including techniques such as inpainting, outpainting, upscaling, and stylizing

Companies that generate or synthesize voice and audio, including voice cloning, text-to-speech, and language translation

Companies that specialize in generating 3D content, including the creation of game assets (virtual worlds, non-playable characters), product visualization, and other 3D models

Companies that offer solutions to create and edit video content, including scene generation, background replacement, stylizing, and frame interpolation

Companies that offer solutions to generate contextually relevant text responses across multiple conversational exchanges, such as natural language chatbots

Generative AI applications are built on foundation models that are trained using advanced ML models

The technology allows the creation of digital avatars and virtual games

All companies within the space offer a product or service based on generative AI

The technology allows the creation of personalized content

Some applications leverage NLP to train models to process and respond to language-based prompts

Generative AI applications are built on in-house or third-party foundation models

<div>
 AI companion startup Friend secured USD 5.4 million in seed funding, taking its total funds to USD 8.5 million. The company's current market cap stands at USD 30 million.
 The fund will fuel the launch of its premier hardware product, the Friend pendant, set for a January release with an initial rollout of 5,000 units.
 With nearly 10,000 users on its platform, Friend's pendant is priced at USD 99. This device operates as a microphone that links to the firm's mobile app via Bluetooth. It's equipped with integrated light and audio sensors and GPS functionality.
 
</div>

Friend

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