{"id":"97d9fa67-9355-44c9-9b07-5bff221ce3b9","companyId":"22098f52-af91-4aa3-a4dc-168715e1c244","modelName":"Friend","slug":"friend-pendant","description":"Friend is an always-listening wearable AI companion pendant (a necklace) made by the startup Friend, founded by Avi Schiffmann. Unlike the productivity recorders in this cohort, it is an emotional-companion device that texts the wearer. It is shipping to the US, Canada, and EU at $129 (it launched as a $99 preorder in 2024). A roughly $1M New York subway advertising campaign in late 2025 became a flashpoint for public backlash against consumer AI. Friend raised about $2.5M at a $50M valuation (led by Caffeinated Capital, with Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas as an individual angel); the friend.com domain was purchased for about $1.8M. The registry records it at commercial maturity, correcting the dispatch's preliminary research/promised label: it is verifiably shipping.","formFactor":"wearable","maturityStage":"commercial","lifecycleState":"active","supersededByModelId":null,"specs":{"notes":[{"label":"Verified","value":"Friend is an always-listening wearable AI companion pendant by Friend (founder Avi Schiffmann), now shipping to the US, Canada, and EU at $129 (it was a $99 preorder in 2024). It is an emotional-companion device that texts the wearer, explicitly not a productivity recorder. A ~$1M New York subway ad campaign in late 2025 drew significant public backlash (ads were defaced)."},{"label":"Verified funding","value":"Raised about $2.5M at a $50M valuation (led by Caffeinated Capital); the friend.com domain was bought for ~$1.8M. Perplexity involvement is CEO Aravind Srinivas personally as an angel, not Founders Fund."},{"label":"Status correction (vs dispatch)","value":"The dispatch labeled Friend research/promised; verified state is SHIPPING (commercial). Recorded maturity=commercial."},{"label":"Category","value":"AI-native wearable; form_factor=wearable. The companion/emotional sub-cohort (distinct from the productivity recorders Plaud/Limitless/Bee)."}],"pricing":"$99 preorder (2024) -> $129 current retail; one-time, no subscription at launch","function":"always-listening AI companion that texts the wearer (emotional companionship, NOT productivity)","formFactor":"wearable AI companion pendant (necklace)"},"manufacturerSerial":null,"reviewStatus":"reviewed","sources":[{"url":"https://friend.com/?page=hardware","title":"Friend official hardware page ($129 one-time; ships US/Canada/EU)","sourceName":"Friend (official)"},{"url":"https://techcrunch.com/2024/07/30/friend-is-an-ai-companion-backed-by-founders-of-solana-perplexity-and-zfellows/","title":"Friend's $99 AI-companion necklace; $2.5M raised at $50M valuation; investor list","sourceName":"TechCrunch"},{"url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friend_(product)","title":"Friend (Avi Schiffmann; $1.8M domain; ~$1M subway ad campaign; mixed-negative reception)","sourceName":"Wikipedia"},{"url":"https://www.tomsguide.com/ai/friend-is-a-dollar99-ai-necklace-that-wants-to-help-you-remake-the-movie-her","title":"Friend: a $99 always-listening AI necklace (companion framing)","sourceName":"Tom's Guide"},{"url":"https://decrypt.co/242629/friend-necklace-avi-schiffmann","title":"Friend $99 necklace raises $2.5M","sourceName":"Decrypt"},{"url":"https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/16/tech/friend-ai-device-backlash-ceo-avi-schiffmann","title":"How Friend became a symbol of AI backlash (shipping; subway-ad backlash)","sourceName":"CNN Business"}],"aliases":["Friend pendant","Friend necklace"],"collisionRisk":"low","reviewNote":null,"manufacturerTermForTeleop":null,"createdAt":"2026-06-03T16:57:28.196Z","updatedAt":"2026-06-03T16:57:28.196Z","jsonLd":{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Product","@id":"https://registry.deploy.report/models/friend-pendant","url":"https://registry.deploy.report/models/friend-pendant","name":"Friend","alternateName":["Friend pendant","Friend necklace"],"description":"Friend is an always-listening wearable AI companion pendant (a necklace) made by the startup Friend, founded by Avi Schiffmann. Unlike the productivity recorders in this cohort, it is an emotional-companion device that texts the wearer. It is shipping to the US, Canada, and EU at $129 (it launched as a $99 preorder in 2024). A roughly $1M New York subway advertising campaign in late 2025 became a flashpoint for public backlash against consumer AI. Friend raised about $2.5M at a $50M valuation (led by Caffeinated Capital, with Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas as an individual angel); the friend.com domain was purchased for about $1.8M. The registry records it at commercial maturity, correcting the dispatch's preliminary research/promised label: it is verifiably shipping.","identifier":"97d9fa67-9355-44c9-9b07-5bff221ce3b9","category":"wearable","publisher":{"@id":"https://deploy.report/#organization"}}}