As the digital landscape becomes increasingly saturated with AI-generated material, the startup First Voyage aims to assist users in cutting through the noise and cultivating positive routines. Their approach centers on an AI companion application named Momo Self Care, which features a virtual pet called Momo. By caring for this digital companion, users receive reminders to follow through with their chosen habit-building activities.

Individuals can configure alerts for specific tasks, and Momo will prompt them accordingly. Much like the popular productivity tool Focus Friend, the app also incentivizes task completion with coins. These coins can be spent on in-app items to personalize the pet further. Additionally, users can discuss self-care topics with Momo, and the AI will suggest habits and tasks tailored to their goals.

This week, First Voyage announced it secured $2.5 million in seed funding from investors including a16z speedrun, SignalFire, and True Global.

According to the company, Momo users have already created over 2 million tasks on the platform, with the most popular habits focusing on productivity, spirituality, and mindfulness. Yet, amid a surge of new AI applications and toys—alongside the growing presence of chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude, and Grok—there is rising apprehension about whether these digital "companions" might do more harm than good.

The founder expressed confidence that relationships between AI characters and humans will expand significantly in the coming years. He pointed out, however, that the trend toward AI apps designed for wellness and self-care is a positive shift away from those catering to more primal urges. "We are happy so many founders [and] startups are working in the AI self-care wellness space instead of building waifus," he remarked, adding that "the personalization capability of AI will take the impact of these relationships to another level."

He also emphasized that Momo incorporates safety measures, such as prompt filters, to ensure conversations remain within appropriate boundaries. The newly acquired funds will support launching Momo on the Android app store, following its existing availability on iOS. The team at First Voyage further plans to enhance Momo's intelligence in user interactions.

"We hope Momo and the community around it become a defining consumer brand that uses the best of AI, animation, and gamification to improve as many lives as possible," the founder stated.