Tomo announced that it emerged from stealth with a $5 million seed funding round to expand its personal AI product.
The round was led by Bain Capital Ventures, with participation from Accel, Align Fund, Basis Set, Conviction, Pear VC, and angel investors. The company plans to use the funding to grow its team and expand its recently launched companion app.
Tomo is a personal AI product that lives in a user’s text messages. The product is designed as a phone number that users text for motivation, reminders, accountability, and support around personal goals.
The company said Tomo learns who users want to become, remembers what matters to them, and helps them make small decisions that support long-term goals. While in stealth, Tomo grew through word of mouth to more than 10,000 paying customers in about 3.5 months.
Tomo said users reach out to the product 20 out of 30 days per month. Customers use Tomo for a range of daily accountability and self-improvement use cases, including food photo tracking, budgeting from bank statement screenshots, screen time accountability, reminders, and motivation.
The product can also join group chats, watch videos, edit photos, and connect to calendar, email, Notion, and Google Drive. Tomo is designed to understand a user’s goals, motivations, and challenges rather than operate as a single-purpose app.
In addition to its iMessage-based interface, Tomo recently launched a companion app for users who text Tomo more than 20 days per month. The companion app generates personalized software experiences that evolve alongside the user.
For example, a user focused on fitness could receive a workout-tracking interface that adapts as Tomo learns more about their habits and goals. A user saving for a car could receive a budgeting interface centered on a personalized savings tracker. Tomo can also generate daily games that unlock during a user’s intended morning routine to support wake-up goals.
Tomo was co-founded by CEO Justin Quan and CTO Raymond Chen, who previously built agentic app platforms and viral apps. The founding team also includes experience from Harvey, MrBeast, and prior startup-building work.
The company’s long-term vision is to build a trusted consumer AI product that can proactively help users move toward the version of themselves they want to become. Tomo said it sits at the intersection of engineering, psychology, and anthropology, learning when to step in, when to stay quiet, and how to support users through personalized workflows and interfaces.
KEY QUOTES:
“We started Tomo because the best way to live a more meaningful life is to take a bet on yourself and focus on what matters. We make it easy and simple to find that focus. Tomo is like a future version of yourself that already learned the lessons you’re still figuring out.”
Justin Quan, Co-Founder and CEO of Tomo
“Justin and Raymond have a rare gift for products and experiences – they understand what it takes to win user trust at scale. They’ve built one of the few consumer products where what keeps people coming back and what’s good for them are the same thing.”
Ryan Kim, Partner at Bain Capital Ventures
