In a world that’s quickly filling up with AI-generated content, a startup called First Voyage wants to help people avoid all of AI’s mischief and create the habits they want. And it does this through a companion AI app: Call Momo Self Carethe app offers a digital pet called Momo that you can take care of and in return, it will remind you to complete habit-forming tasks.
Users can set reminders for tasks they want to complete and Momo will remind you of them. Similar to tap the Focus Friend productivity appMomo also rewards you with coins for completing tasks that can be used to purchase in-app items to further customize the pet. Users can also talk to Momo about self-care, and the AI companion will suggest habits and tasks based on what you want to achieve.
“Momo helps users become the best versions of themselves, and users reward Momo with care, affection and cute accessories,” co-founder and CEO Besart Çopa told TechCrunch. He started the company with Egehan Ozsoy, who serves as CTO.
On Monday, First Voyage said it had raised $2.5 million in a seed funding round from a16z speedrun, SignalFire, True Global and other investors.
Copa said Momo users have already created more than 2 million tasks on the platform, and the most popular habits are related to productivity, spirituality and mindfulness.
But with the wave of AI apps and games hitting the market, not to mention the growing influence of AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude, and Grok, there’s growing concern that these new so-called “companions” can do more harm than good.
Çopa, for one, believes that relationships between AI characters and humans will only increase in the coming years. But he noted that the growing number of AI apps targeting wellness and self-care are at least better than those targeting basic urges.
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“We are happy so many founders [and] startups are working in the AI self-care wellness space instead of creating buzz,” he said, adding that “AI’s ability to personalize will take the impact of these relationships to another level.”
He noted that Momo has baked in safeguards such as instant service filters to make sure conversations between the AI and users stay within appropriate boundaries.
Fresh cash from the fundraiser will be used to launch Momo on the Android app store (it’s already available on iOS). The First Voyage team also hopes to make Momo smarter in the way it interacts with people.
“We hope Momo and the community around it will become a defining consumer brand that uses the best of artificial intelligence, animation and gamification to improve as many lives as possible,” Çopa said.
