Rent A Cyber Friend Will Pay You To Talk To Strangers Online And Will Show Off Its Platform At Techcrunch Disrupt 2025

Francesco Vitali will beryllium nan first to admit that erstwhile his co-founder Chris Siametis first sounded him connected Rent a Cyber Friend, he didn’t rather get nan idea.

“Who’s going to salary personification to speak pinch somebody?” Vitali told TechCrunch. “But Chris was insistent. Chris is simply a millennial, and I’m Gen X, truthful it wasn’t easy for maine to understand his vision.”

Vitali had worked pinch Siametis for astir 2 decades together; they ran 48FILM, an international short movie festival (Vitali is besides a movie producer). So, he took a leap of religion to spot his collaborator connected nan thought he couldn’t shake: a video chat level wherever group tin salary per infinitesimal for a casual speech pinch a “cyber friend.”

Rent a Cyber Friend ballooned to 3 cardinal registered users without raising task superior aliases spending immoderate money connected marketing. The institution doesn’t moreover person societal media because it’s excessively short-staffed to give resources to it. The startup is portion of Startup Battlefield, and will beryllium presenting astatine TechCrunch Disrupt astatine nan extremity of this period successful San Francisco.

The company’s accelerated maturation proved Vitali’s first reactions wrong, but arsenic he utilized nan merchandise himself, he began to recognize that there’s a large marketplace for quality relationship — particularly successful a clip erstwhile group are paying to talk to AI bots.

“Loneliness is nan biggest illness successful nan world correct now,” Vitali said. “Millions are lonely, and they are underemployed aliases seeking purpose. So, we built a level wherever quality clip has worth again, and a spot wherever being quality is important.”

Cyber friends are first vetted to verify their identity, and past they tin group a per-minute complaint to complaint for their conversations; nan level keeps 20% of that fee. People aren’t conscionable paying for companionship. Some cyber friends complaint a higher complaint if they’re an world aliases vetted master successful a circumstantial taxable area, aliases if they speak a peculiar connection that a personification would for illustration to practice.

For immoderate societal media level — particularly 1 that connects group successful real-time video chats — information and contented moderation is simply a challenge. Vitali notes that nan level has a artifact feature, but arsenic nan institution continues to grow, it will request to put further successful maintaining a patient environment. He said that adjacent connected nan merchandise roadworthy representation is simply a much robust and businesslike strategy for vetting imaginable cyber friends much quickly and thoroughly.

Vitali’s turning constituent came not agelong aft nan institution launched erstwhile he connected pinch a 19-year-old from China. He noticed that this personification was 1 of nan site’s astir progressive users, and he spent $200 per time to talk to people. Vitali rigged nan tract truthful that he would beryllium nan only cyber friend disposable and utilized nan opportunity to inquire nan personification astir his acquisition without revealing that he founded nan company.

“He said, ‘I don’t consciousness safe to spell retired astatine nan promenade and meet pinch strangers, but this tract gives maine nan anticipation to speech civilization and meet group from each complete nan world,’ and that was nan first infinitesimal that I realized we person thing here,” Vitali recalled.

He still thinks that nan connections that group make successful personification are irreplaceable. But connected an net wherever group are sucked into addictive aliases dangerous connections pinch AI chatbots that are designed to maximize engagement, this measurement of turning toward humanity intends thing to him.

If you want to study much astir Rent a Cyber Friend from nan institution itself — while besides checking retired dozens of others, proceeding their pitches, and listening to impermanent speakers connected 4 different stages — subordinate america astatine Disrupt, October 27 to 29, successful San Francisco. Learn much here.