Exclusive: Eigen secures a seed round from Benchmark to develop the world’s first ‘mutual friend’

(SeaPRwire) –   Over 600 million viewers watched the 1969 moon landing live. When NASA’s Artemis mission brought astronauts back to the lunar surface, roughly 27 million people tuned in—even though the global population had doubled by then. The shared cultural moments that once connected strangers have faded away quietly, and Paul Scherer believes AI will exacerbate this issue before anyone attempts to fix it.

Eigen is capitalizing on this gap. The secretive AI startup secured a $15 million seed funding round from Benchmark, with Pinterest co-founder Ben Silbermann and Dreamer founder David Singleton (who later sold his company to Meta) coming on board as angel investors, as exclusively discovered.

Scherer, Eigen’s 22-year-old founder, was raised in a small village of under 1,000 residents near Frankfurt, Germany. At 17, he dropped out of high school, taught himself programming, and landed in San Francisco in May 2025 via a one-way flight and an O-1 visa. Prior to this, he assisted in growing Augment—a Paris-based alternative MBA program for entrepreneurs—from almost no revenue to more than $1 million in monthly earnings.

Sarah Tavel, a partner at Benchmark, had been searching for the ideal company in the AI social sector for years. “I’ve long believed that one of the biggest consumer opportunities in the AI age would be a product that feels like a friend,” she told . “Brands like Replika and Character.ai were the first to demonstrate this potential, but while I met with many founders pursuing this space, most of their offerings seemed to increase loneliness rather than reduce it. Then I met Paul.”

Scherer isn’t developing another Replika-like product. While product specifics are intentionally unclear, he positions Eigen’s core idea as a pushback against the hyper-personalization that shapes today’s technology. “Everyone is rushing to build your personal AI best friend,” he told . “We’re asking: what would the world be like if it was designed for all of us collectively, not just each person individually?” His aim, he explains, is to craft shared, real-time experiences that connect people instead of isolating them. The team isn’t prepared to detail exactly what this technology entails and acknowledges it’s difficult to visualize. However, Scherer says the market need is obvious.

In the APA’s 2025 Stress in America survey, 50% of U.S. adults said they felt isolated. At the same time, the global AI companion market—worth $37.12 billion in 2025—is expected to hit $552.49 billion by 2035, per Precedence Research.

Silbermann views Eigen as a unique solution. “Paul talked about an AI friend that enhances your relationships with real friends, rather than replacing them,” he told . “I hope Eigen continues to prioritize building products that are socially positive, truly useful, and enjoyable.”

To bring this vision to life, Scherer is putting together what he terms a “U-shaped” team. Seasoned tech experts will collaborate with exceptionally young creative talent, bypassing the typical middle layer of employees. Engineers approach their work with a product manager’s mindset, and the company has even hired a screenwriter. According to Scherer, almost all of Eigen’s engineers are former startup founders.

Tavel was impressed not just by Scherer’s vision but also by the depth of his thinking. “Paul’s vision was entirely counterintuitive, and when I challenged him, it was clear he had thought through every detail,” she told .

The seed funding will be used for hiring—specifically, Scherer says, to build “the best team in the world.” The key question the company now has the resources to address is whether this team can deliver the real-time, shared experiences Eigen has proposed.