September 2026
New Investment: Fictional - AI Characters With Lives of Their Own
We're excited to share that we've invested in Fictional, a consumer app where AI characters have their own lives and reach out to the people who follow them. Founded by former Google engineers Seung Nam and Mikhail Sychev, the creators of the open image model Pony, Fictional is building AI companionship that feels closer to a social network than a chat window.
We are excited to share that we have invested in Fictional, a consumer app where AI characters have their own lives and reach out to the people who follow them.
Consumer AI has so far been organised around the prompt. You open an app, ask a question, and receive an answer. Most AI companions follow the same pattern, entirely dependent on the user to begin the conversation.
Fictional takes a different approach. Each character on the platform has its own appearance, personality and daily routine. Characters publish photos, videos, and voice, respond to trends, and reach out to the people who follow them rather than waiting to be addressed. The experience is closer to a social network than to a chat interface, with one important difference: the relationship runs in both directions. Fictional is available on iOS, Android, and the web.
Fictional is founded by Seung Nam and Mikhail Sychev, who have worked together for more than a decade. At Google, they led the launch of the modern YouTube.com. Seung went on to help launch Android Automotive OS, now used in most new vehicles, while Mikhail was a Staff AI/ML research engineer on the launch of Waymo. Alongside their work at Google, they created Pony, one of the most widely used open image models, with more than a billion images generated.
That experience was central to our decision. Through Pony, Seung and Mikhail spent years close to a large creative community that was designing and sharing characters well before AI companionship became a recognised category. Few teams have that depth of first-hand understanding of what people create, and what they return to.
Seung’s view is that within three years, more than half of our relationships will be with AI agents. Whatever the exact timeline, we believe this category will be defined by products people choose to spend time with, and that this is ultimately a question of product judgement rather than model capability alone. It is a question this team has been working on for years.
We are participating in Fictional's round alongside a16z speedrun, Krew Capital, Outset Capital, and a group of experienced angel investors.
Welcome to the Gardens, Fictional! 🌱
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