Replika creator secures $20 million in pre-seed funding for Wabi, envisioned as the ‘YouTube for apps’

Eugenia Kuyda anticipated the rise of consumer AI before it became mainstream. She launched Replika, a pioneering AI companion company, back in 2017—well ahead of ChatGPT’s debut. The platform now boasts 35 million users.

Kuyda has returned with a fresh venture named Wabi, which she likens to a YouTube for applications—a social network where anyone can generate mini apps using prompts and share them with others. Wabi, which entered beta last month, signals a new era in consumer AI, one where custom software is commonplace.

Wabi has secured $20 million in pre-seed investment from an impressive roster of angel investors, including AngelList’s Naval Ravikant, Y Combinator’s Garry Tan, Twitch’s Justin Kan, Replit’s Amjad Masad, Notion’s Akshay Kothari, Neuralink’s DJ Seo, and Conviction’s Sarah Guo.

“[Kuyda] was ahead of the curve with AI companions, even when it wasn’t clear where things were headed,” said Anish Acharya, a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, in a conversation with TechCrunch. “It’s rare to find someone with such a knack for predicting consumer trends, and we believe she’s doing it again.”

Kuyda is stepping into a rapidly evolving space. Tools like Cursor and Lovable have drawn significant venture capital, while no-code AI platforms such as Emergent, Replit, and Bloom are enabling non-developers to build apps via prompts. Wabi stands out by offering a unified platform for building, discovering, and hosting apps—eliminating the need for a traditional app store.

“The goal was to empower people with no coding or tech background to quickly make apps for their everyday needs,” Kuyda explained during her appearance at Disrupt last week to discuss AI companions. “Just type something like ‘make me an AI therapy app’—that’s all it takes. The platform will suggest features and help you brainstorm, but it will handle the app creation. You don’t need to be a prompt expert, and you never see the code.”

Earlier this week, Wabi rolled out new social features to its beta testers, including the ability to like, comment on, and remix any app, as well as view user profiles to see what others have created, enjoyed, or used.

Since Wabi began sending out invitations to select users, X has been abuzz with excitement. Founders, designers, and investors worldwide have shared their experiences with Wabi’s straightforward app creation process. Even Logan Kilpatrick, a product lead at Google DeepMind, has praised the platform.

“We see the social aspect as absolutely essential, since it sparks creativity and discovery, turning these mini apps into catalysts for communities and conversations,” Kuyda said.

Currently, Wabi’s Explore section highlights trending and newly created apps, but Kuyda mentioned that it will become more algorithm-driven in the future. The company also plans to introduce personalized onboarding soon, automatically generating starter apps for newcomers.

Wabi’s main value proposition is similar to ChatGPT’s GPT store or Quora’s Poe bot: users can build mini apps with prompts to address specific needs. What sets Wabi apart is its seamless experience—users don’t have to worry about technical setup. Even with just a few lines of input, Wabi takes care of creating icons, setting up databases, and designing the app’s interface.

Kuyda told TechCrunch that for apps requiring AI-generated content, users can access the settings to select their preferred foundational model—such as ChatGPT or Gemini—and even edit the prompts Wabi generates.

Building a simple app is straightforward, but you may need to troubleshoot issues, which is a normal part of the development process.

For instance, we made an app that displayed a daily dog photo and fact. After several days, we noticed it was showing the same dogs repeatedly. In another user’s daily news app, all the summary images were dated October 1, 2023, even though the news stories were older, and one of the sources was, unexpectedly, Wikipedia.

It’s up to users to maintain their apps; otherwise, the discovery section of these coding platforms could become cluttered with neglected mini apps.

Kuyda acknowledges that Wabi is still in its early stages and that the team is working on ensuring apps are ready to use immediately. She noted that model limitations are improving daily, and a significant portion of the $20 million investment will be used to expand Wabi’s product team.

Some of the funding is also being used to subsidize Wabi’s operations until a revenue model is established. Kuyda emphasized that she has no plans to introduce ads, as they tend to create negative user experiences and encourage undesirable incentives.

“When I built Replika, we never had ads,” she said. “I think ads make for a poor user experience. I prefer to create products that people genuinely enjoy using.”

Acharya believes that once Wabi’s network effects kick in, monetization will follow naturally. He envisions a future where, instead of aspiring to be TikTok influencers, many young people will create software on Wabi as a form of professional expression.

“If you look at YouTube’s history, it began with people uploading shaky, low-budget videos,” he said. “Now, two decades later, the production quality is extremely high.”

Acharya also pointed out that software offers even greater potential, since “video content loses value over time, but software’s value can grow.” If someone creates a successful app, it can remain useful and relevant for years.

This concept aligns with Acharya’s vision for the future of “disposable software”—small, adaptable apps that users can create and discard as easily as opening a new browser tab or chatting with ChatGPT.

“I see software as the ultimate way for people to participate,” Acharya said. “The internet has enabled anyone to share their thoughts, but it’s ironic that, even though the web is built on software, so few people have actually created it.”

So, what might Web 3.0 look like if everyone could build and distribute software in just minutes?

“The internet feels a bit sterile these days—we’re all using the same Instagram, the same TikTok, our home screens look identical, and apps have become monotonous,” he said. “With Wabi, I think we have a chance to bring back some of that quirky, rebellious spirit of the early web.”