Offer Yehudai doesn’t want you to fall in love with an AI bot.
He wants couples to use Arya — the relationship wellness AI startup he cofounded — to spice up their in-real-life intimacy.
“There is still taboo and stigma around intimacy,” Yehudai told Business Insider in an interview. Arya aims to make talking about those taboo topics more “accessible for couples” with its AI chatbot that embeds directly into users’ text messages.
Yehudai described the startup as a “concierge,” rather than another app or one-sided robot to vent to. Arya’s goal is to get couples — meaning both partners — fully onboarded so they can use the platform as an intimacy coach that recommends relationship or sex advice, and even toys for the bedroom. Arya also handles the e-commerce side of buying sex toys.
Yehudai compared Arya’s chatbot to the “Sex and the City” character Samantha Jones, who “will listen to me, will know my wife or my partner, and then say, ‘I know both of you, here is what you need.'”
Yehudai said the company also has a team of sex and relationship experts who support the couples on the platform when Arya’s AI models don’t have “high enough confidence in its answers.”
It uses models from OpenAI and Anthropic, and trains its tools on proprietary data around relationships and intimacy, Yehudai said.
Founded in 2022, Arya now has tens of thousands of couples onboarded to its platform, Yehudai said.
The startup recently raised $21 million in growth funding. This new round included $4 million in equity venture capital from Ibex Investors and $17 million in cohort financing led by the gaming-focused VC fund Bitkraft. Yehudai said the company chose to raise $17 million in non-equity financing to avoid diluting its shareholders as it grows. Bitkraft will fund the startup’s pursuit of new user “cohorts” and will be paid back by the revenue they generate.
The latest raise brings Arya’s total funding to $37 million, according to the company.
When pitching investors, the startup said it aimed to break even by the end of 2026.
Intimacy as an AI-powered business
Arya makes money through subscriptions, which start at $60 a month. It offers discounted multi-month plans at around $33 a month.
Cracking monetization early on as a startup has been crucial to Arya’s growth, Yehudai said.
He added that there’s a “white space” between people spending money on dating (like dating apps) and eventual costs like couples therapy or divorce. Ideally, its users sign up for Arya before they incur more expensive costs, like therapy.
One of Arya’s investors, Amber Atherton at VC fund Patron, told Business Insider last year that she was on the hunt for AI startups with tech that fueled IRL connections and deeper relationships.
Arya’s new funding will go toward expanding its product team, brand building, and acquiring new customers.
The company has 18 employees and works remotely across the US. Yehudai, like many other tech founders, recently moved from San Francisco to Miami.
Yehudai is looking to other wellness categories as a frame of reference for what Arya could grow into. While there are tools for fitness (like Strava), mental health (like BetterHelp), or broader wellness trackers (like Oura Ring), “we’re really lacking” in support for relationships, he said.
“Intimacy is just the hook,” Yehudai said. “It’s really about being that couple companion for as much and as long as they need us.”
Read the pitch deck that Arya used to pitch investors and raise $21 million:
Note: Some slides and details have been redacted.
Read the full article here
