Shapes Secures $8M to Bring AI Characters Into Human Group Conversations

Shapes, a social chat app that integrates AI characters into real human group conversations, has raised $8 million in seed funding led by Lightspeed, with participation from AI Capital Partners and AI Grant. Founded in 2022 by Anushk Mittal and Noorie Dhingra, the app has surpassed 400,000 monthly active users and grown sixfold since the start of the year.

Unlike one-on-one AI companion apps, Shapes embeds AI characters directly into group chats, where they interact alongside humans with their own personalities and autonomous messaging behavior. The founders argue this model addresses risks of AI-induced social isolation by keeping AI within the context of real human relationships.

Users have already created three million custom AI characters on the platform. Shapes plans to use the funding for product development and user acquisition.