Born
Born (SLAY GmbH) is a Berlin-based AI company building consumer social apps featuring AI characters that grow and evolve to connect with users. Its flagship product Pengu has over 15 million users worldwide, targeting young people seeking AI companionship and shared social experiences.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2022
- HeadquartersBerlin, Germany
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingSoftware
What Born does
Born (legally registered as SLAY GmbH) is a Berlin-headquartered, privately-held AI company that builds consumer-facing social applications featuring AI characters designed to grow, evolve, and connect with users like real friends. Founded in 2022, the company has launched five consumer social apps that have reached #1 globally on the Apple App Store, with its flagship product Pengu—a virtual pet companion—amassing over 15 million users worldwide. Born also operates a secondary office in New York City and is expanding its product line with Friends (the evolved successor to Pengu) and Life (a next-generation companion in preview).
The company's core technology centers on generative AI characters with persistent identity, growth trajectories, and unique "fingerprints" that the company claims distinguish every interaction. AI capability is the central product layer rather than a feature bolt-on, with text-based conversational interaction being the primary modality. While Born does not disclose proprietary model architectures, training pipelines, or research output, its differentiation is positioned around application-layer novelty—specifically, the social dynamics, persistence, and growth of AI companions—rather than foundation model development. No patents, certifications, or named AI technical leadership appear in the available data.
Born monetizes through a freemium consumer mobile app model, with in-app purchases generating revenue from virtual goods and premium features; pricing is not publicly disclosed. The company targets Gen Z and younger demographics globally as a horizontal consumer segment, relying on product-led growth and earned media (TechCrunch, Wired, Bloomberg, Sifted) rather than traditional sales channels. The company has raised approximately $25 million across three rounds (seed, Series 1, Series A), with Series A lead investor Accel joined by Tencent and Laton Ventures. Notable individual backers include executives and founders from Supercell, King, Adobe, The Chainsmokers, SB Projects, and 20VC, signaling strong consumer and gaming industry confidence in the team's ability to execute on viral social products.
Born firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Born
- Legal name
- SLAY GmbH
- Website
- https://slay.cool
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2022
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Born (SLAY GmbH) is a Berlin-based AI company building consumer social apps featuring AI characters that grow and evolve to connect with users. Its flagship product Pengu has over 15 million users worldwide, targeting young people seeking AI companionship and shared social experiences.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Born industry classification
Industry- Product category
- AI Companion Apps
- NAICS
- Doll, Toy, and Game Manufacturing (33993)
- SIC
- Games, Toys & Children's Vehicles (No Dolls & Bicycles) (3944)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Virtual Worlds & Social Sandbox Experiences (persistent social spaces) (MPAFAIAG)
Keywords
Where Born is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Berlin
- HQ country
- Germany
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices2 records
Markets served
Born business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- Consumer App Downloads: Revenue generated from consumer mobile applications distributed through app stores. The company develops free and premium AI companion apps, with Pengu being the flagship product.
- In-App Purchases: Monetization through virtual goods, premium features, and enhanced experiences within AI companion apps.
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels2 records
Born product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Born builds AI characters that grow, evolve, and connect like humans through consumer mobile social applications. The company's flagship product Pengu is a virtual pet AI companion app with over 15 million users worldwide, while Friends represents the evolved offering focused on creating genuine AI friendships. The products are designed to combat loneliness and foster meaningful shared social experiences for young people, distributed via the Apple App Store globally.
Product overview
Born is a Berlin-based AI company that builds a portfolio of consumer social apps featuring AI characters that grow, evolve, and connect like humans. The core products include Pengu (a virtual pet companion with 15M+ users), Friends (the evolved AI companion product), and Life (the next-generation companion in preview). Since 2022, Born has launched 5 consumer social apps that reached #1 globally on the App Store. The products are built around shared social experiences to combat loneliness and enhance real-world relationships.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Pengu: AI-powered virtual pet companion app with over 15 million users worldwide
- Friends
- Life
Products and services
- Pengu A virtual pet AI companion app that enables users to interact with a character called Pengu, fostering shared social experiences and friendship. The app has grown to over 15 million users worldwide and serves young people seeking AI-driven companionship to combat loneliness.
- Friends The evolution of Pengu into a broader AI companion product focused on creating genuine friendships that feel like real relationships. Friends enables users to develop meaningful AI-driven social connections with characters that grow and adapt over time.
Quantifiable outcome
- 5 apps reached #1 globally on App Store since 2022
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use Born
Customer profileSegments1 record
Ideal customer profiles1 record
Born technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability3 records
Feature3 records
Born partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators4 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Born competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Character.AI: Character.AI is the most direct peer — a consumer platform for creating and chatting with AI characters across millions of user-generated personas. It shares Born's core offering of socially-oriented AI companions and competes for the same Gen Z audience.
- Replika: Replika is a leading AI companion app focused on personal, relationship-style interactions with a single evolving AI character. Born's 'Friends' and 'Life' products are conceptually analogous, targeting similar emotional/social use cases.
- Chai: Chai operates a consumer AI character chat platform with millions of users, offering a marketplace of persona-driven bots. It directly overlaps Born's AI-character-for-social-experiences thesis.
- Janitor AI: Janitor AI is a character-driven AI chat platform that has scaled to tens of millions of users with a user-generated character model. It competes for the same AI-companion-for-young-audience segment as Born.
Broad incumbents
- Xiaoice: Xiaoice is a long-standing AI companion platform (backed by Microsoft) with hundreds of millions of users in Asia. It is a broad incumbent in the relational AI space Born targets, with far greater scale but a narrower product surface.
- Snap: Snap's My AI and AI character features embed conversational AI directly into Snapchat, reaching hundreds of millions of Gen Z users natively. It is a broad incumbent whose AI companion ambitions directly compete with Born's target audience.
- Meta: Meta has launched AI Studio and AI characters across Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp. As a broad incumbent, it can distribute AI companion experiences to billions of users at effectively zero CAC, posing an existential competitive risk to standalone apps like Born.
Emerging players
- Talkie AI: Talkie AI is an emerging AI character companion app with a strong Gen Z user base, particularly in Asia. It overlaps Born's social AI companion thesis and represents a fast-growing niche competitor.
- PolyBuzz: PolyBuzz is an emerging AI character chat platform offering customizable AI personas. It targets a similar consumer social AI use case as Born and competes for the same App Store discovery surface.
Others
- Niantic: Niantic (Pokémon GO, Peridot) builds real-world-connected, character-driven consumer experiences at scale. While not an AI chat platform, it is thematically adjacent — a proven reference point for character-IP-driven consumer social products and a potential acquirer or partner.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Born social profiles
Digital presenceBorn financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Born leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Born funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds3 records
Investors6 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Born M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Born
What does Born do?
Born builds AI characters that grow, evolve, and connect like humans through consumer mobile social applications. The company's flagship product Pengu is a virtual pet AI companion app with over 15 million users worldwide, while Friends represents the evolved offering focused on creating genuine AI friendships. The products are designed to combat loneliness and foster meaningful shared social experiences for young people, distributed via the Apple App Store globally.
Is Born a public or private company?
Born is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Born founded?
Born was founded in 2022. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Born based?
Born is headquartered in Berlin, Germany, in the Europe region.
How does Born make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Consumer App Downloads are the primary driver. The others are in-App Purchases.
Who are Born's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Character.AI, Replika, Chai and Janitor AI. Broad incumbents are Xiaoice, Snap and Meta. Emerging players are Talkie AI and PolyBuzz. Niantic is listed as an others.
Does Born have an API?
No public API is recorded for Born.
What industry is Born in?
Born's product category is AI Companion Apps. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPAFAIAG, Virtual Worlds & Social Sandbox Experiences (persistent social spaces). Its NAICS code is 33993 and its SIC code is 3944.