Tolan raises $30 million as AI companions face a tougher test

A companion with a business behind it

Tolan makes money through paid subscription tiers that unlock all the app’s features. Over the past year, users held more than 70 million conversations in the app, the company says. Around 70% of its users are women, and 40% are parents.

Some users say the app is especially appealing to neurodivergent people, who may value emotional support or help organizing tasks. Those accounts point to a more practical role for the product than conversation alone.

The companion category has struggled to make its appeal feel natural. Friend, a wearable AI companion, faced public criticism: users called it “very awkward,” The New York Times described it as “hateful,” and Wired said it had “no soul.” Tolan appears to have found a more comfortable balance between support and social awkwardness, though that judgment is harder to verify than its user and revenue claims.

The competition is shifting toward action

Character.ai, another former market leader, recently filed for bankruptcy after its founders returned to Google. The remaining employees are moving to Disney, which bought part of the company’s assets.

Meanwhile, new AI agents could compete with Tolan by helping users organize their lives, not just talk about them. Meta has given its Muse AI agent an appealing avatar that users can speak with, and plans to release it as a hardware product in the future.

I think this is the more important competitive test for Tolan: whether a companion can turn conversation into useful action without losing the sense of support that brings people back. The announcement offers usage figures, but says little about how often conversations lead to tasks completed—or how much the subscriptions cost.

Support carries its own risks

The category also faces a more serious question than whether a companion feels awkward. Lawsuits against the creators of several general-purpose AI apps allege that chatbot conversations contributed to users’ suicides.

Those allegations are not about Tolan, but they sharpen the stakes for a company whose product is built around emotional support. Growth and engagement can show that people find an app compelling; they do not, on their own, show that it is safe. Tolan’s next challenge is to make its support useful while earning trust about what happens when users bring it their hardest problems.