“We Believe Your Next Favorite Human…Isn’t” – Start-Up Says AI Companions Can Be Wholesome
- Born’s vision is one of AI that strengthens real-life friendships, led by its co-op pet app Pengu.
- Pengu has 15M daily users; Born raised $25M from Tencent, Accel, and top gaming investors.
- Future plans include a New York office, more Pengu characters, and a new social AI product.
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AI Friends
Born is a Berlin and New York-based start-up that believes AI can be used to foster healthy social relationships, rather than the isolated one-on-one interactions of current LLMs like ChatGPT and Claude. Its aim has evidently struck a chord with investors as the company has raised $25 million so far, from game/tech companies including Tencent and Supercell.
Co-founder Fabian Kamberi recently posted on LinkedIn about Born’s ethos, as well as the company’s plans to iterate upon its number one app, Pengu, which tasks players with co-operating to raise a Tamagotchi-like AI pet.
“AI friends aren’t therapists. They should be fun and social. The biggest misconception about Born is that we make people more lonely. This is default wrong and we proved it with Pengu – a social AI character you raise with your real life friends.”
“Millions of users build better real life relationships while being entertained through a cute IP. We will launch more characters within Pengu soon. We will push everyone’s imagination of how to engage and be entertained by AI friends, beyond the chatbot.”
New Name, Same Aim
Born was founded in 2022, initially as Slay, by Fabian Kamberi, Jannis Ringwald and Stefan Quernhorst. Their combined aim has always been to encourage communication and social interaction through AI, with Pengu the biggest app so far.
Kamberi featured in Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Europe list for 2025, and together he and his co-founders have created five number one apps on the App Store, with over 17 million downloads. Pengu is a freemium app with 15 million daily users, although Born hasn’t said how many of these are subscribers.
The rebrand was announced on Sept. 10, 2025, alongside news that the company had secured $15 million in funds from a Series A. This is the first round of funding that invites outside investors to take part in a company, and is typically followed by a Series B and C.
In the case of Born, its Series A investment primarily came from Tencent, Accel, and Laton Ventures. Tencent is the publisher of PUBG and Honor of Kings, plus the joint owner of several Ubisoft IPs like Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry. Accel is a venture capital firm that’s poured funding into the likes of Facebook and Deliveroo, plus AI companies Anthropic and Perplexity. Laton is also a venture capital firm, but one focused on the video game industry; its partnerships include Pine (a mobile game company) and Layer (AI content creation for game studios).
Supercell (Clash of Clans) Co-Founder Ilkka Paananen has also invested in Born, and said in a press release: “I decided to invest in Born because I was so impressed by Fabian and his vision to build this type of new social network.” Paananen was also joined as an angel investor by King (Candy Crush) Co-Founder Riccardo Zacconi, former Adobe CPO and A24 partner Scott Belsky, and The Chainsmokers’s Alexander Pall.
TikTok Loves It
Perhaps unsurprisingly for a game that encourages social interaction, Pengu is a top pick for TikTok, with the official Pengu account having 178,700 followers and over 22,000 tagged posts; although some refer to a crypto meme coin that’s linked to a web3 brand called Pudgy Penguins.
The majority of users are sharing footage of the app, with captions and narration referencing how they’re raising Pengu with the help of their best friend or partner. The App Store doesn’t list an official number for total downloads, but on Google Play it’s been downloaded 5 million times, so Born’s statement about fostering community appears to be paying off.
Plus, the social aspect isn’t just a marketing gimmick – it’s literally impossible to do anything on the app until players link up with at least one other person. Once they do, a Pengu will hatch and it’ll be possible to pay them attention by pressing a heart icon, feeding them, petting them, or flinging them around like a chubby ragdoll. Almost every action awards coins and XP, with new levels unlocking new cosmetics and mini-games.
Although it’s free to download, like many mobile games it runs on a freemium model, with cosmetics and backgrounds available to buy via an in-game store for coins and diamonds. There’s also a Pengu Pass subscription, which costs $4.99 a month for an individual up to $12.99 a month for a standard monthly plan.
It’s not clear how they differ, as the app only shows what a player can get when they reach a new level and have the Pass (extra cosmetics, in short). Weirdly, a Pass also allows a Pengu to sleep, suggesting the cute little penguin might suffer an insomnia-derived breakdown after a while if players don’t fork over any cash.
Players who want to open their wallets can spend real money on coin and diamond packages. These range from from a few dollars up to $169.99, although prices do fluctuate. It’s also possible to unlock extra items and coins via everyone’s favorite monetization ploy: watching lengthy, unskippable ads.
As for the future of Pengu and Born, the company has said in a press release: “The new funding will accelerate Born’s product roadmap and hiring of top consumer AI talent. This includes opening a US office in New York, scaling new characters for Pengu, and launching a new social AI product currently seeing strong traction in stealth.”
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