3 Startups · $26.7M+ · AI Social + Construction + Workflow

What they're building

Eigen is not building a chatbot. It is not Replika. The distinction matters. Most AI social products put one user alone in a room with a bot and call it connection. Eigen is building what Paul Scherer calls a 'mutual friend': AI that creates shared synchronous experiences between people, expands their worlds through one another, and generates real belonging rather than the illusion of it. The website describes moments like learning something because someone nudged you toward it, deciding to build something together today, meeting a friend of a friend and becoming close immediately. The product is in development, but the thesis is clear: connection is the outcome, not conversation.

Why this matters

The loneliness epidemic is not a metaphor. The US Surgeon General declared it a public health crisis in 2023. Over 50% of adults in the US report measurable loneliness, with Gen Z recording the highest rates despite being the most digitally connected generation in history. Existing solutions have made it worse. Replika and Character.ai built $1B+ businesses, but the products are solo experiences. They create dependency, not connection. The market has validated the demand but failed on the mechanism. Eigen's bet is that the right product does not replace human relationships but catalyzes them: AI as introduction, as nudge, as context. The timing is right because the AI capability to create personalized, synchronous, multi-user experiences at quality has only just arrived. Benchmark has been sitting on this thesis for years. Sarah Tavel said publicly she'd been hunting this space and passed on every founder before Paul.