What Replika Is
Replika is an AI companion app that provides conversation, emotional support, and journaling for individual users. Operated by Luka, Inc., the app has accumulated more than 30 million registered users globally and is one of the longest-running consumer AI products in market.
How It Works
Users create a custom Replika avatar and interact through text and voice. The app provides open-ended conversation, mood tracking, guided breathing exercises, journaling prompts, and structured check-in rituals. A paid Ultra tier offers a more advanced language model and a manual memory-saving feature for long-term context.
Founders and Current Leadership
Replika was founded in 2017 by Eugenia Kuyda. Luka, Inc. is headquartered in San Francisco. As of May 2025, regulatory correspondence listed Dmytro Klochko as CEO. Kuyda has since moved on to launch Wabi, a separate startup that raised a $20M pre-seed in November 2025 from angels including Naval Ravikant, Garry Tan, Justin Kan, Amjad Masad, and Sarah Guo.
Funding and Current State
Replika has raised approximately $11.2M across four rounds, including backing from Khosla Ventures. The company has operated primarily on subscription revenue rather than additional venture capital. In April 2025, Italy's Garante data protection authority fined Luka, Inc. roughly €5 million for GDPR violations tied to data handling and age verification.
Differentiators and Repositioning
In 2026 Luka has firmly repositioned Replika as a wellness and emotional support product rather than the romantic AI partner it leaned into between 2019 and 2023. New features focus on journaling, breathing, and structured emotional check-ins rather than relationship simulation.