Friend
Friend is an AI Wearable Devices company founded in 2024 and based in New York, United States. It has raised $8.5M in total funding, most recently a Seed in 2024.
Founded by Harvard dropout Avi Schiffmann, Friend is a $99 neck-worn pendant that connects to a phone over Bluetooth and continuously listens, then proactively texts the user with reactions and conversation. Built on Anthropic's Claude, it is positioned explicitly as an emotional companion to combat loneliness rather than a note-taker or assistant. The company raised about $8.5M from investors including Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas, and famously spent roughly $1.8M of it acquiring the domain friend.com. Friend drew heavy public attention and criticism — over an aggressive New York subway ad campaign and the ethics of an always-on companion device — making it one of the most debated AI wearables.
Friend pushed the AI wearable conversation away from productivity toward emotional companionship, becoming a lightning rod for debate about loneliness, privacy, and parasocial AI.
friend.com ↗·AI Wearable Devices·
United States·private 
