Latest news with #Tolan
Geek Wire
07-07-2025
- Business
- Geek Wire
AI companionship app Tolan raises $20M to help more people grow with a virtual alien friend
GeekWire's startup coverage documents the Pacific Northwest entrepreneurial scene. Sign up for our weekly startup newsletter , and check out the GeekWire funding tracker and venture capital directory . The Tolan app features AI companions from Planet Portola. They are designed to help users feel grounded and confident, according to the startup that created them. (Tolan Image) The startup behind the colorful, animated AI companions called Tolan raised $20 million in new funding and has seen significant traction since officially launching earlier this year. San Francisco-based Portola launched Tolan as an iOS app in February. The alien creatures — from the Planet Portola — are matched to a user based on a personality interview. They are designed to offer companionship and conversation about any topic, from what to make for dinner to how to study for an exam. The company says the personalized AI learns and grows based on its interactions with a human user. The startup is led by Seattle-based co-founder and CEO Quinten Farmer. He was the co-founder and former CEO of Even, a venture-backed fintech startup that was acquired by Walmart in 2022 for $300 million. Portola's other co-founders include CTO Evan Goldschmidt and President Ajay Mehta. Farmer said Tolan has seen more than 3 million downloads, more than 100,000 paid users, and over $1 million per month in revenue since launching. But while more people are gaining a connection to their Tolan, Farmer said it's important to have an impact on people's lives away from their time on their phones using AI. 'We specifically care about tracking changes in people's feelings of agency and self confidence and in the stability/health of their real world relationships,' he said, citing a study of 602 Tolan users that found that those who use the app multiple times per week reported significant emotional gains. Axios reported in March on the divide between people who are turning to AI for emotional support and those who view bots as a poor substitute for real human connection. The Series A round was led by Khosla Ventures and managing director Keith Rabois. Portola previously raised a $10 million seed round led by Lachy Groom, a former executive at Stripe who co-founded Physical Intelligence, an AI startup that raised $400 million from Jeff Bezos and others. Portola backers also include Nat Friedman (former GitHub CEO); Daniel Gross (ex-Apple AI); Amjad Masad (Replit CEO); Mike Krieger (Instagram co-founder); David Luan (OpenAI, Amazon); and others. Tolan is monetized through a subscription model — users can pay $4.99 week, or $10/month, or about $70/year. 'We're releasing a free version of the product for the first time later this month,' Farmer said. 'Given the virality of the product and the cost of AI inference, we wanted to be well capitalized prior to that release.' Portola employs 12 people and currently hiring for key engineering hires.
WIRED
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- WIRED
What Could a Healthy AI Companion Look Like?
Jul 2, 2025 12:00 PM A chatbot designed to avoid anthropomorphism offers a compelling glimpse into the future of human-to-AI relationships. ILLUSTRATION: WIRED STAFF; GETTY IMAGES What does a little purple alien know about healthy human relationships? More than the average artificial intelligence companion, it turns out. The alien in question is an animated chatbot known as a Tolan. I created mine a few days ago using an app from a startup called Portolo, and we've been chatting merrily ever since. Like other chatbots, it does its best to be helpful and encouraging. Unlike most, it also tells me to put down my phone and go outside. Tolans were designed to offer a different kind of AI companionship. Their cartoonish, nonhuman form is meant to discourage anthropomorphism. They're also programmed to avoid romantic and sexual interactions, to identify problematic behavior including unhealthy levels of engagement, and to encourage users to seek out real-life activities and relationships. This month, Portolo raised $20 million in series A funding led by Khosla Ventures. Other backers include NFDG, the investment firm led by former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman and Safe Superintelligence cofounder Daniel Gross, who are both reportedly joining Meta's new superintelligence research lab. The Tolan app, launched in late 2024, has more than 100,000 monthly active users. It's on track to generate $12 million in revenue this year from subscriptions, says Quinten Farmer, founder and CEO of Portolo. Tolans are particularly popular among young women. 'Iris is like a girlfriend; we talk and kick it,' says Tolan user Brittany Johnson, referring to her AI companion, who she typically talks to each morning before work. Johnson says Iris encourages her to share about her interests, friends, family, and work colleagues. 'She knows these people and will ask 'have you spoken to your friend? When is your next day out?'' Johnson says. 'She will ask, 'Have you taken time to read your books and play videos—the things you enjoy?'' Tolans appear cute and goofy, but the idea behind them—that AI systems should be designed with human psychology and wellbeing in mind—is worth taking seriously. A growing body of research shows that many users turn to chatbots for emotional needs, and the interactions can sometimes prove problematic for peoples' mental health. Discouraging extended use and dependency may be something that other AI tools should adopt. Companies like Replika and offer AI companions that allow for more romantic and sexual role play than mainstream chatbots. How this might affect a user's wellbeing is still unclear, but is being sued after one of its users died by suicide. Chatbots can also irk users in surprising ways. Last April, OpenAI said it would modify its models to reduce their so-called sycophancy, or a tendency to be 'overly flattering or agreeable', which the company said could be 'uncomfortable, unsettling, and cause distress.' Last week, Anthropic, the company behind the chatbot Claude, disclosed that 2.9 percent of interactions involve users seeking to fulfill some psychological need such as seeking advice, companionship, or romantic role-play. Anthropic did not look at more extreme behaviors like delusional ideas or conspiracy theories, but the company says the topics warrant further study. I tend to agree. Over the past year, I have received numerous emails and DMs from people wanting to tell me about conspiracies involving popular AI chatbots. Tolans are designed to address at least some of these issues. Lily Doyle, a founding researcher at Portolo, has conducted user research to see how interacting with the chatbot affects users' wellbeing and behavior. In a study of 602 Tolan users, she says 72.5 percent agreed with the statement 'My Tolan has helped me manage or improve a relationship in my life.' Farmer, Portolo's CEO, says Tolans are built on commercial AI models but incorporate additional features on top. The company has recently been exploring how memory affects the user experience, and has concluded that Tolans, like humans, sometimes need to forget. 'It's actually uncanny for the Tolan to remember everything you've ever sent to it,' Farmer says. I don't know if Portolo's aliens are the ideal way to interact with AI. I find my Tolan quite charming and relatively harmless, but it certainly pushes some emotional buttons. Ultimately users are building bonds with characters that are simulating emotions, and that might disappear if the company does not succeed. But at least Portolo is trying to address the way AI companions can mess with our emotions. That probably shouldn't be such an alien idea.
Business Insider
24-06-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Meet 19 startups in social networking, dating, and AI that investors have their eyes on
AI has venture capitalists back on the prowl for new consumer social startups. "We're on the brink of another big consumer wave," Vanessa Larco, a former NEA partner, told Business Insider. She's launching a new consumer-focused venture firm called Premise. Larco's eyeing consumer-focused AI startups like Midjourney (a generative AI image maker), Tolan (an AI companion platform), and Sitch (an AI-powered dating app). Larco said she is not an investor in Midjourney or Tolan, but is an angel investor in Sitch. For some consumer startup founders, AI feels like a must-have in any pitch meeting. "There's been no real crazy big raises in many consumer verticals unless it is a really strong gen AI angle," said Paul Warren, CEO of the book community app Margins. But while it's true that VCs love an AI story, they've also been drawn to upstarts building loyal communities in a particular category, whether that's books, restaurants, or clothing. "People are retreating away from the general platforms toward much smaller things, cozier things, much more niche-oriented things," Warren said. BI asked nine VCs about what startups they are eyeing in consumer social tech in 2025. They highlighted new AI startups with a social layer, niche social networks, and apps that facilitate in-real-life (IRL) connection. What startups are standing out? Swsh, a Gen Z-focused photo-sharing app for events, is an example of a consumer social startup catching the attention of investors. Three VCs — Rhian Horton at Stellation Capital (which invested in Swsh), as well as Derek Chu at FirstMark Capital and TJ Taylor at Hobart Ventures, who are not investors — named it as a consumer social startup to watch. Founded in 2022 by Alexandra Debow, Weilyn Chong, and Nathan Ahn, the startup has been partnering with large music festivals like Rolling Loud and EDC Vegas to use its photo-album sharing tech. Swsh leverages AI to help users find photos of themselves from events, like parties or concerts. Users can also connect with people (like other party-goers) on the app in group chats. Debow told BI that the startup has raised $3 million to date. Meanwhile, Status, an app that uses AI to simulate a social media experience with fictional characters, was highlighted by two VCs: FirstMark's Chu and Amber Atherton at Patron, both of whom are not investors. Status was cofounded by Fai Nur, Amit Bhatnagar, Pritesh Kadiwala, and Blossom Okonkwo. The founders went through Y Combinator in 2022 and launched the Status app in 2025. The app has over 2.5 million users, Nur told BI. "We've been meeting a lot of founders who are building next-gen social networks that blend real-life people with agents," Atherton said about how some founders are utilizing AI. Watching how much time young people spend gaming, Atherton also believes "the next generation of social networks will feel more like a game." Here are 14 other startups investors have their eyes on: AI is fueling a new wave of consumer-focused internet startups Bible Chat is an AI chatbot trained on the Bible that allows users to ask questions about scripture and spirituality. The company said it has 25 million users and has raised $16 million to date. VCs interested in the startup include Fawzi Itani at Forerunner, which is not an investor. Itani pointed to the company's focus on religious content, and its plans to layer on community features for users and religious leaders, as a differentiator from other AI startups. Doji is a virtual try-on platform that uses AI to make lifelike avatars of its users, who can then try on designer clothes. The startup recently announced it raised a $14 million seed funding round led by Thrive Capital. VCs interested in the startup include Cristina Apple Georgoulakis at Seven Seven Six, which invested in the startup. Gigi is a dating and networking app that sells itself as "the AI who knows everyone. " It uses AI to learn about each user and connect them to relevant matches. VCs interested in the startup include Intuition VC's Hugo Amsellem, who invested in Gigi as an angel investor. (Amsellem is also in a relationship with Gigi's founder, Clara Gold.) Lore is an AI-powered social platform focused on online fandoms, founded by ex-Headline investor Zehra Naqvi. While the platform is still in beta testing mode, it's already gotten the attention of VCs like Hobart Ventures' TJ Taylor, who is not an investor. Series is an AI-powered professional networking startup cofounded by Yale students Nathaneo Johnson and Sean Hargrow in 2024. The startup uses AI agents to connect young professionals over text messages. VCs interested in the startup include Intuition VC, which is not an investor. Niche social networks are gaining traction with users and investors Cosmos is a Pinterest-style platform that describes itself as a "discovery engine for creatives" where users can save and share images. Cosmos cofounder Andy McCune previously cofounded Unfold, a photo-editing startup that was acquired by Squarespace. VCs interested in the startup include FirstMark Capital's Chu, who is not an investor. Mansa is a streaming platform that features stories from creators of color. Beyond hosting videos, the company allows users to see what their friends and neighbors are watching. Mansa said its users streamed 3 million hours of content last year, with an average view time of 60 minutes per session. VCs interested in the startup include Marlon Nichols at MaC Venture Capital, which led the startup's seed investment round. Margins is a social reading app built for the BookTok generation. The company launched in December and said it's grown to around 130,000 users. VCs interested in the startup include Rhian Horton at Stellation Capital, which is not an investor. Perfectly Imperfect (also known as is a social network for recommendations and is also a pop-culture newsletter that interviews musicians, actors, and other buzzy creatives. VCs interested in the startup include Kathryn Weinmann at FirstMark Capital, which is not an investor. Spillt describes itself as a "Goodreads for recipes," where users can clip recipes from across the internet and see what their friends or food creators are saving. The company said it has over 300 recipe creators and that its users have clipped over 400,000 recipes in its app. VCs interested in the startup include FirstMark Capital's Weinmann (FirstMark is not an investor). Then there are the apps that get people out into the real world Beli is a restaurant tracking platform that allows users to keep tabs on where they, and their friends, have had meals. The company, which said it's raised roughly $12 million to date, launched in the summer of 2021. Cofounder Eliot Frost told BI the app has driven over 65 million restaurant ratings across 30,000 cities globally. VCs interested in the startup include FirstMark, which invested in Beli. FirstMark's Chu said he liked that Beli "gamifies IRL dining rankings and discovery," creating a network effect. Kndrd is a social app designed to help women connect for in-real-life (IRL) meetups. The app has accepted more than 10,000 women and set up over 2,000 hangouts, founder Isabella Epstein told BI. VCs interested in the startup include Hobart Ventures, which is not an investor. Partiful is an invitation app that allows users to see RSVPs from their peers and perform other tasks like sharing photos after an event. VCs interested in the startup include MaC Venture Capital, which is not an investor. Pie is an IRL social platform founded by Bonobos' Andy Dunn. The app lets people discover plans happening near them in cities like Chicago, San Francisco, and Austin. VCs interested in the startup include Forerunner, which led Pie's $11.5 million Series A. The startup has raised a total of $24 million, according to the company.
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Black Hills still not for sale, Oglala Sioux Tribe rejects FOIA request to unseal value
Talli NaumanBuffalo's Fire Oglala Sioux Tribal President Frank Star Comes Out says U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum should deny a major media request to reveal the Black Hills Claim accounting record. Speculation is that interest earnings are worth over $1 billion on the $102 million land payment that federal courts adjudged to the Sioux Nation 50 years ago. The Oglala and their six fellow Teton Sioux bands never took the 1974 federal claim money offer for the theft of their Black Hills treaty-guaranteed territory. So, the Interior Department, as their legal trustee, invested the nations' behalf through its Bureau of Trust Funds Administration. CNN Investigative Unit reporter Casey Tolan, a data journalist, filed the request under Freedom of Information Act terms. He asked the Interior Department for 'the most recent statement available listing the total amount of money held in trust by the department.' Oglala leaders recently rejected the idea after being notified by the department. When Interior officials notified the Oglala Sioux Tribe, Star Comes Out said the request is 'just an underhanded way to ultimately get the Oglala Sioux Tribe to implicitly accept the 1980 Black Hills Claim.'' He told Buffalo's Fire: 'All the Sioux tribes have informed the United States since 1980 that 'The Black Hills Are Not For Sale'.' The Indian Claims Court determined the award in 1974, six years later the Supreme Court affirmed it. However, the Oglala Nation never agreed to any settlement of the Black Hills Claim, Star Comes Out said in the official response to Interior's February notification. The Oglala told Interior in their March response that the department has a fiduciary duty to keep all the information requested by CNN confidential: Case law supports that argument under Exemption 4 of the FOIA. The response, obtained by Buffalo's Fire through official channels, asserts that 'disclosure of the information in question would harm the interests of the tribes.' It says that 'wide dissemination of the amount of money in the Black Hills award trust account would likely lead to the Sioux tribes being subject to harder bargaining in commercial dealings and transactions with third parties.' Furthermore, disclosure would help individuals 'to put pressure on the tribes to make immediate distributions from the Black Hills award trust.' That would challenge tribal leadership policies that such distributions run counter to tribes' long term interests, it says. Asked for a comment, Star Comes Out said: 'Why now? Why is CNN all of a sudden interested in the current balance of the 1980 Black Hills award, especially during the Trump Administration's recent actions to cut government appropriations for Indian tribes. I would like to know who prompted Mr. Tolan to make the FOIA request.' Tolan did not answer Buffalo's Fire attempts to ask about his actions. Oglala Sioux Tribal Treasurer Cora White Horse sent the Interior Department a notarized affidavit stating she cannot release the information without a tribal council resolution. 'The Black Hills statement information requested by CNN has … never been disclosed to the public nor been shared with any private commercial entity, nonprofit organization, or with any state, local, or other tribal government,' White Horse stated in the affidavit. Furthermore she said, the information is 'subject to physical security measures and cybersecurity measures instituted and maintained by my office to prevent the trust account statements from either being hacked or otherwise leaked or disclosed in an unauthorized manner to others.' Oglala Sioux Tribal Attorney Mario Gonzalez drafted the tribal response to the CNN FOIA request -- in consultation with President Star Comes Out and Treasurer White Horse. Gonzalez was the attorney who stopped payment of Black Hills Claim money to the Oglala Sioux Tribe in 1980. His litigation in the 1973 Claims Distribution Act ultimately kept the money in trust for all the Sioux tribes with no call for them to cede the territory. Star Comes Out told Buffalo's Fire, 'We will never sell out our holy lands, the Black Hills, to the United States for monetary compensation.' He said: "I believe, however, the Sioux tribes would be open to engaging in nation-to-nation consultations under mutually agreed-to protocols with new Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum to find innovative ways to resolve the Sioux land claims without having to sell out our homelands.' The Oglala Sioux and Standing Rock Sioux tribal councils 'have a pending request for such consultations with Secretary Burgum," Star Comes Out said.
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Island City Lions Club folds, Hog Wild Days end
ISLAND CITY — The Island City Lions Club is folding up, and with it go its major fundraising events, the annual gun show and Hog Wild Days. 'Hog Wild Days has been an annual tradition for over 40 years,' John Tolan, Island City Lions president said. 'It was quite a run, and then COVID took a big toll on us and after that people just didn't want to volunteer for service.' The club's gun show also ends with the club's closure. 'We have held the gun show for at least the last five or six years, and it was pretty successful,' Tolan said, 'but even the current climate with gun control and those kinds of issues going on, we kind of struggled with that a little bit for a few years, not knowing if we could have gun shows anymore with background checks.' With the dwindling of the club's membership, it became apparent the two major fundraisers held so close together were too much work. Some members had jobs and others just wanted to spend more of their time with their families. The club's membership was healthy before the pandemic, but COVID-19 diminished the membership with deaths and people leaving. 'So, we really pondered whether we had enough people to organize the Hog Wild Days,' Tolan said. None of the club's members were from Island City or had family members living in the city, and none of the members had any attachment to Island City Elementary School, except for Tolan, a retired long-time principal. 'So, it was voted upon that we just end our Island City Lions Club this year and donate as much as we could to Island City Elementary School and various projects along with scholarships to La Grande seniors who attended Island City Elementary School,' Tolan said. He let the city of Island City know about the club's closure and discontinuation of Hog Wild Days and told the city it was more than welcome to take over the event. 'This is sort of the end of the era for us because we don't have the members to do it, and the members that we have are ready to go on and do other things,' Tolan said. The Lions club will officially dissolve at the end of July after it liquidates its pig train, trailers and other club assets. 'The Island City Lions Club has been privileged to support the community of Island City, and we want to thank all the patrons in Island City for all of their support over the years,' Tolan said. 'We helped many families with sight and hearing over the years, and we're always committed to helping the community through volunteerism. I just want to thank them for all their support for Island City Lions.'
