The next generation of consumer AI may not be built around another chatbot window. Romanian startup Kyndred is betting that people could instead interact with AI through persistent digital characters that have a face, voice, personality and memory. The company has raised €500,000 in pre seed funding from Early Game Ventures to develop that vision and expand its AI companion platform.
Founded by serial entrepreneurs Alex Bararu and Rares Mosescu, Kyndred is developing AI characters designed to remain present across conversations rather than functioning as one off tools. The company says its technology combines real time voice, animation and persistent memory to create interactions that build over time.
From Chatbots to Characters
Kyndred’s central idea is that interacting with AI should feel less like opening an application for a specific task and more like returning to a familiar character.
Its platform combines three main elements: a visual character, real time voice and memory. The company’s website describes its technology as an AI character engine capable of generating facial expressions, lip synchronisation and body language in real time through Live2D animation. Its voice system is designed to convey changes in tone and emotion, while its memory allows important details from previous conversations to carry forward.
That persistent context is intended to give users continuity between interactions. Rather than starting every conversation from scratch, the character can retain information that matters to the relationship.
Maya Leads the Launch
Kyndred’s first consumer character is Maya, which the company describes as an AI character users can interact with one on one.
Maya combines real time voice, expressions and memory, and is available through the web and Telegram. Kyndred says her memory carries information across conversations, allowing longer term interactions to become more personalised.
The company has already moved beyond experimentation into paid use. According to the information provided for the funding announcement, Maya attracted its first paying customers shortly after launch, following interest generated by early animations of the product.
Kyndred’s current website also presents the technology as a broader platform rather than a single companion. Developers, creators and businesses can use the underlying system to create characters for applications including entertainment, education, streaming and branded experiences.
Building a Persistent AI Interface
Early Game Ventures says its investment is based partly on the possibility that AI companions could represent a different interface for interacting with artificial intelligence.
The distinction is between task based assistants and characters that users return to without necessarily having a specific question or transaction in mind. Kyndred’s approach is therefore focused on continuity, personality and interaction rather than simply improving the accuracy of individual answers.
The company is also experimenting with characters in practical settings. Its current hiring process, for example, allows candidates to speak with an AI interviewer over several conversations, with human staff making the final recruitment decision.
Expanding the Platform
The €500,000 funding will be used to improve Maya, develop additional characters, expand Kyndred’s customer base and grow the team.
The company is currently recruiting engineering talent in Bucharest, including AI and product engineering roles focused on the technology behind its real time characters, voice, memory and user experience.
Kyndred is also developing tools that allow users and businesses to create their own characters. Its platform supports custom character models and personas, while its broader vision includes characters that can appear on websites, phones, streams or inside other products.
Balancing Personalisation and Safety
Building AI that remembers users also creates important questions around privacy and responsible use. Kyndred says it does not sell user data or use conversations and imported characters to train AI models. Its privacy policy states that conversations and memory are stored in the EU, while some processing is carried out through external AI and voice providers.
The company also makes clear that its characters are AI systems rather than humans or professional advisers, and requires users to be adults.
With its new funding, Kyndred is now aiming to turn AI characters from an experimental interface into a broader consumer technology category, where the relationship with an AI system can persist long after a single conversation ends.
