Wabi, the ‘YouTube of Apps,’ Raises $20M Pre-Seed Funding
▼ Summary
– Eugenia Kuyda founded Replika in 2017 and now leads Wabi, a new social platform for creating and sharing mini apps using prompts.
– Wabi has raised $20 million in pre-seed funding from notable investors like Naval Ravikant and Garry Tan, who believe in Kuyda’s consumer trend predictions.
– The platform enables non-technical users to build apps through simple prompts, handling all technical aspects like UI and databases automatically.
– Wabi includes social features such as liking, commenting, and remixing apps, positioning it as a “social app store” for community-driven discovery and creativity.
– The startup is in early development, with plans to improve app reliability and monetize through network effects, avoiding ads to maintain a positive user experience.
Wabi, a new platform positioning itself as the YouTube for applications, has secured $20 million in pre-seed funding to fuel its vision of democratizing software creation. The startup enables users to generate and share mini apps instantly using simple prompts, eliminating the need for coding knowledge or technical infrastructure. Founded by Eugenia Kuyda, who previously launched the pioneering AI companion Replika, Wabi aims to transform how everyday people interact with and build digital tools.
Kuyda’s track record in anticipating consumer AI trends attracted a notable group of investors. Backers include AngelList co-founder Naval Ravikant, Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan, Twitch co-founder Justin Kan, Replit CEO Amjad Masad, Notion co-founder Akshay Kothari, Neuralink co-founder DJ Seo, and Conviction founder Sarah Guo. Anish Acharya, general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, remarked on Kuyda’s foresight, noting her rare ability to predict what users will want next.
Wabi enters a competitive field already populated by tools like Cursor, Lovable, Emergent, and Bloom. Its unique approach integrates creation, discovery, and hosting into one seamless environment, no app store required. Kuyda explained that the platform is designed for individuals with no technical background. A user can simply type “build me an AI therapy app,” and Wabi handles everything from suggesting features to generating the final product, completely hiding the underlying code.
Recently, Wabi rolled out social capabilities to its beta testers. These include liking, commenting on, and remixing existing apps, plus browsing user profiles to see what others have built or enjoyed. The platform’s Explore section currently highlights new and trending apps, with plans to introduce algorithmic personalization soon. Onboarding will also become more tailored, automatically generating starter apps for newcomers.
The platform has generated considerable buzz on social media, with founders, designers, and investors praising its simplicity. Even Google DeepMind product lead Logan Kilpatrick publicly endorsed Wabi. Kuyda emphasized the importance of the social layer, stating it sparks creativity and turns mini apps into conversation starters or community hubs.
Wabi’s core offering resembles ChatGPT’s GPT store or Quora’s Poe, allowing users to build small apps that address everyday needs. It stands out by managing all technical details, such as creating icons, setting up databases, and designing the user interface. For AI-generated content, users can select their preferred foundational model, like ChatGPT or Gemini, and even modify the prompts Wabi generates.
While creating a basic app is straightforward, some debugging may be necessary. For instance, a dog picture app might repeat images, or a news summary app could display outdated dates. Users must take some responsibility for maintaining their creations to prevent the discovery feed from filling with neglected apps.
Kuyda acknowledges that Wabi is still evolving. A significant portion of the new funding will expand the product team and improve out-of-the-box app reliability. Part of the capital will also subsidize platform usage while the company explores monetization options. Kuyda has ruled out advertising, citing her commitment to a positive user experience, as demonstrated with Replika.
Acharya believes strong network effects will eventually make monetization straightforward. He envisions a future where professional creators emerge on Wabi, much like YouTube’s evolution from amateur clips to high-production content. He sees even greater potential in software, noting that while video content loses value over time, software compounds in usefulness.
This vision aligns with Acharya’s concept of “disposable software”, small, flexible apps that people can create and discard effortlessly. He views software as the ultimate frontier for participation, suggesting that Wabi could revive the eclectic, experimental spirit of the early web. In a digital landscape dominated by uniform platforms like Instagram and TikTok, Wabi promises to reintroduce individuality and creativity, letting anyone build and share software within minutes.
(Source: TechCrunch)