Meet 19 startups in social networking, dating, and AI that investors have their eyes on
"We're on the brink of another big consumer wave," Vanessa Larco, a former NEA partner, told Business Insider. She's launching a new consumer-focused venture firm called Premise.
Larco's eyeing consumer-focused AI startups like Midjourney (a generative AI image maker), Tolan (an AI companion platform), and Sitch (an AI-powered dating app). Larco said she is not an investor in Midjourney or Tolan, but is an angel investor in Sitch.
For some consumer startup founders, AI feels like a must-have in any pitch meeting.
"There's been no real crazy big raises in many consumer verticals unless it is a really strong gen AI angle," said Paul Warren, CEO of the book community app Margins.
But while it's true that VCs love an AI story, they've also been drawn to upstarts building loyal communities in a particular category, whether that's books, restaurants, or clothing.
"People are retreating away from the general platforms toward much smaller things, cozier things, much more niche-oriented things," Warren said.
BI asked nine VCs about what startups they are eyeing in consumer social tech in 2025. They highlighted new AI startups with a social layer, niche social networks, and apps that facilitate in-real-life (IRL) connection.
What startups are standing out?
Swsh, a Gen Z-focused photo-sharing app for events, is an example of a consumer social startup catching the attention of investors.
Three VCs — Rhian Horton at Stellation Capital (which invested in Swsh), as well as Derek Chu at FirstMark Capital and TJ Taylor at Hobart Ventures, who are not investors — named it as a consumer social startup to watch.
Founded in 2022 by Alexandra Debow, Weilyn Chong, and Nathan Ahn, the startup has been partnering with large music festivals like Rolling Loud and EDC Vegas to use its photo-album sharing tech. Swsh leverages AI to help users find photos of themselves from events, like parties or concerts. Users can also connect with people (like other party-goers) on the app in group chats.
Debow told BI that the startup has raised $3 million to date.
Meanwhile, Status, an app that uses AI to simulate a social media experience with fictional characters, was highlighted by two VCs: FirstMark's Chu and Amber Atherton at Patron, both of whom are not investors.
Status was cofounded by Fai Nur, Amit Bhatnagar, Pritesh Kadiwala, and Blossom Okonkwo. The founders went through Y Combinator in 2022 and launched the Status app in 2025. The app has over 2.5 million users, Nur told BI.
"We've been meeting a lot of founders who are building next-gen social networks that blend real-life people with agents," Atherton said about how some founders are utilizing AI.
Watching how much time young people spend gaming, Atherton also believes "the next generation of social networks will feel more like a game."
Here are 14 other startups investors have their eyes on:
AI is fueling a new wave of consumer-focused internet startups
Bible Chat is an AI chatbot trained on the Bible that allows users to ask questions about scripture and spirituality. The company said it has 25 million users and has raised $16 million to date. VCs interested in the startup include Fawzi Itani at Forerunner, which is not an investor. Itani pointed to the company's focus on religious content, and its plans to layer on community features for users and religious leaders, as a differentiator from other AI startups.
Doji is a virtual try-on platform that uses AI to make lifelike avatars of its users, who can then try on designer clothes. The startup recently announced it raised a $14 million seed funding round led by Thrive Capital. VCs interested in the startup include Cristina Apple Georgoulakis at Seven Seven Six, which invested in the startup.
Gigi is a dating and networking app that sells itself as "the AI who knows everyone. " It uses AI to learn about each user and connect them to relevant matches. VCs interested in the startup include Intuition VC's Hugo Amsellem, who invested in Gigi as an angel investor. (Amsellem is also in a relationship with Gigi's founder, Clara Gold.)
Lore is an AI-powered social platform focused on online fandoms, founded by ex-Headline investor Zehra Naqvi. While the platform is still in beta testing mode, it's already gotten the attention of VCs like Hobart Ventures' TJ Taylor, who is not an investor.
Series is an AI-powered professional networking startup cofounded by Yale students Nathaneo Johnson and Sean Hargrow in 2024. The startup uses AI agents to connect young professionals over text messages. VCs interested in the startup include Intuition VC, which is not an investor.
Niche social networks are gaining traction with users and investors
Cosmos is a Pinterest-style platform that describes itself as a "discovery engine for creatives" where users can save and share images. Cosmos cofounder Andy McCune previously cofounded Unfold, a photo-editing startup that was acquired by Squarespace. VCs interested in the startup include FirstMark Capital's Chu, who is not an investor.
Mansa is a streaming platform that features stories from creators of color. Beyond hosting videos, the company allows users to see what their friends and neighbors are watching. Mansa said its users streamed 3 million hours of content last year, with an average view time of 60 minutes per session. VCs interested in the startup include Marlon Nichols at MaC Venture Capital, which led the startup's seed investment round.
Margins is a social reading app built for the BookTok generation. The company launched in December and said it's grown to around 130,000 users. VCs interested in the startup include Rhian Horton at Stellation Capital, which is not an investor.
Perfectly Imperfect (also known as PI.FYI) is a social network for recommendations and is also a pop-culture newsletter that interviews musicians, actors, and other buzzy creatives. VCs interested in the startup include Kathryn Weinmann at FirstMark Capital, which is not an investor.
Spillt describes itself as a "Goodreads for recipes," where users can clip recipes from across the internet and see what their friends or food creators are saving. The company said it has over 300 recipe creators and that its users have clipped over 400,000 recipes in its app. VCs interested in the startup include FirstMark Capital's Weinmann (FirstMark is not an investor).
Then there are the apps that get people out into the real world
Beli is a restaurant tracking platform that allows users to keep tabs on where they, and their friends, have had meals. The company, which said it's raised roughly $12 million to date, launched in the summer of 2021. Cofounder Eliot Frost told BI the app has driven over 65 million restaurant ratings across 30,000 cities globally. VCs interested in the startup include FirstMark, which invested in Beli. FirstMark's Chu said he liked that Beli "gamifies IRL dining rankings and discovery," creating a network effect.
Kndrd is a social app designed to help women connect for in-real-life (IRL) meetups. The app has accepted more than 10,000 women and set up over 2,000 hangouts, founder Isabella Epstein told BI. VCs interested in the startup include Hobart Ventures, which is not an investor.
Partiful is an invitation app that allows users to see RSVPs from their peers and perform other tasks like sharing photos after an event. VCs interested in the startup include MaC Venture Capital, which is not an investor.
Pie is an IRL social platform founded by Bonobos' Andy Dunn. The app lets people discover plans happening near them in cities like Chicago, San Francisco, and Austin. VCs interested in the startup include Forerunner, which led Pie's $11.5 million Series A. The startup has raised a total of $24 million, according to the company.
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Gen Z was growing obsessed with luxury watches. New tariffs on Switzerland could cool the expensive hobby
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Business Insider
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- Business Insider
The AT&T CEO's blunt memo is a test case for leaders
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We asked for their take on Stankey's message, tone, and what other senior executives could glean from the conversations his memo sparked about workplace loyalty. A shifting employee-employer contract Bill George, former chairman and CEO of Medtronic and executive education fellow at Harvard Business School, told Business Insider that AT&T was historically "one of the world's most paternalistic firms," and it rewarded loyalty. The world has changed, George said, and Stankey was telling employees that "we live in a very competitive world, and we have to focus on our customers." The AT&T chief explicitly lays out the end of a now-dated workplace contract between white-collar employers and employees, Business Insider's chief correspondent Aki Ito recently wrote. "The days of lifetime job security and pensions are long gone," said Ito. 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Rising Team's Dulski, a former Google and Yahoo executive, said she thought Stankey made it clear AT&T was listening to its employees by sharing the results of the company's recent employee engagement survey. "They said, 'We heard you,'" she said. "That is a good thing." Dulski said she would have opted for a different tone. The memo "starts from a place of lack of trust," she said. Dulski worried that focusing so much on employees who weren't aligned with the company's mission risked "alienating everyone, including their best employees." George echoed some of Dulski's concerns over tone. He said he thought the language used was "not at all thoughtful enough and empowering enough." Whether the memo was effective depends on Stankey's goal, said James D. White, former CEO of Jamba Juice and coauthor of the forthcoming book "Culture Design." "Direct, even blunt, communication can move things forward if employees already feel heard and respected," White wrote in an email to Business Insider. "If they don't, a message this firm can risk disengagement." Creating cultural change at a legacy company Creating a true cultural shift is challenging at such a big company, Dulski said. "It is hard, especially for large organizations, to do transformation at scale," said Dulski. (Her organization, Rising Team, helps companies enact these sorts of cultural changes through its software tools.) Of course, transformations don't happen overnight in any company. A good next step, said George, would be for Stankey to tour AT&T offices around the country, meet with workers, and learn more about customer concerns. "Have a dialogue with employees," suggested George. "Be serious about the cultural change. Customer focus doesn't come from the top. It can be guided from the top, but the customer focus is on one-to-one interactions."
