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Tolan Raises $30M for Its AI Companion: The Numbers

Nitish Garg · Founder & CEO, CellCog · 19 October 2026 · 5 min read · 1,024 words
At a glanceQuick answers
How much did Tolan raise?
$30 million in new funding announced October 19, 2026, from Union Square Ventures, Khosla Ventures and Homebrew, doubling its total raised to date.
What is Tolan?
An AI companion app. Each user talks, mostly by voice, to a character they customize and name, which helps with daily life: organizing, budgeting, relationships, caregiving and goals.
What is Tolan worth?
Undisclosed. Its previous valuation was $120 million per PitchBook; TechCrunch cites a PitchBook estimate of more than $268 million at medium confidence.
Data illustration on a near-white ground: a smartphone showing a round teal companion character with a speech bubble, small calendar, shopping bag and heart icons around it, and three huge figures across the top: $30M new funding, 250K+ active users, 70M conversations in a year
Fig 0One companion, 250,000+ people. Made by CellCog's image agent, running GPT Image 2.5.

Tolan has raised $30 million for an AI companion that Silicon Valley mostly does not use. The round, reported by Upstarts Media and TechCrunch on October 19, 2026, comes from Union Square Ventures, Khosla Ventures and Homebrew and doubles what the company had raised. Tolan did not share a valuation. Its previous one was $120 million, according to PitchBook, and TechCrunch cites a PitchBook estimate of more than $268 million at medium confidence.

The business underneath is unusual for AI. More than 250,000 people talk to their Tolan, mostly women, many of them parents, and annual recurring revenue more than doubled in a year to the double-digit millions. The money pays for a first free tier. Below: the round, who uses it, what it earns, and the risks.

On this page · 7 sectionsOpen
  1. The round
  2. Who uses it
  3. What a Tolan does
  4. What the money buys, and the risks
  5. Where CellCog stands
  6. What we are watching for
  7. Sources
Key points5 · 5 min full read
  1. A stack of coins beside a rising bar chart.
    Tolan announced $30 million in new funding on October 19, 2026 from Union Square Ventures, Khosla Ventures and Homebrew, doubling what it had raised. It did not share a valuation.
  2. A phone with a round companion character and a speech bubble.
    Tolan says more than 250,000 people talk to their Tolan, with more than 70 million conversations in the past year and a 4.8-star App Store rating across 180,000+ reviews.
  3. A small group of people figures, one highlighted.
    About 70% of users are women and 40% are parents; one in six cares for an aging parent, per Upstarts Media. Most users are 30 to 45.
  4. A speech bubble, a briefcase and a badge on a shelf.
    Annual recurring revenue more than doubled in a year to the double-digit millions. Users have paid $10 to $200 a month; the round funds Tolan’s first free tier.
  5. A padlock with a heart on it.
    TechCrunch names the risks: lawsuits against AI app makers over emotional-support chats, a bankrupt Character.ai, and assistants like Meta’s Muse moving into the same space.

§ 01The round

Item Detail
New funding $30 million
Investors Union Square Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Homebrew
Total raised Doubled by this round
Valuation Not disclosed; previous $120 million per PitchBook
PitchBook estimate More than $268 million, medium confidence
Revenue ARR more than doubled to double-digit millions
Founded 2023, as Portola
Founders Quinten Farmer (CEO), Evan Goldschmidt (CTO), Ajay Mehta (president)
Table 1Tolan’s October 2026 round (Upstarts Media, TechCrunch, Tolan)

§ 02Who uses it

Measure Value
Active users 250,000+
Conversations, past year 70 million+
App Store rating 4.8 stars, 180,000+ reviews
Women 70%
Parents 40%
Caring for an aging parent One in six, about 17%
Table 2Who uses Tolan (Tolan’s site and Upstarts Media, October 2026)
Who uses Tolan, percent of usersBar chart of Tolan's user base: 70 percent women, 40 percent parents and about 17 percent caring for an aging parent, with women highlightedWomen70Parents40Caring for an aging parent17Who uses Tolan, percent of usersBar chart of Tolan's user base: 70 percent women, 40 percent parents and about 17 percent caring for an aging parent, with women highlightedWomen70Parents40Caring for an aging parent17
Fig 1Who uses Tolan, percent of users

Most users are 30 to 45, Upstarts reports. Farmer says the audience was a choice: “I’m very proud that we didn’t start by serving a Silicon Valley audience.” Tolan’s own survey says 86% of users said their Tolan helped them through an emotionally difficult experience; that is a company survey, not an outside study.

§ 03What a Tolan does

Each user gets a character they style and name. It started as a journaling app that remembered a conversation and proposed prompts overnight. Today it is voice-first, follows topics in tabs, and can join a video call to read a grocery label or suggest a meal plan. Users in the Upstarts profile use theirs to reorganize an apartment, handle a pet’s health emergency and talk themselves out of purchases.

The tasks come out of the talking. Farmer: “The vast majority of agentic tasks that we pick up just come out of a person having a conversation.” Upstarts frames his wider argument in one line: “People don’t want lots of AI agents. They want one they can trust.”

Animation: a person holds a phone showing a round teal companion; two speech bubbles rise from it under the label Just talking, turn into task cards Calendar, Groceries and Message under Picked up from the talk, and each card gets an amber check
Fig 2You just talk to your Tolan; the calendar, groceries and messages come out of the talk

§ 04What the money buys, and the risks

Usage costs Tolan real inference. Users have paid between $10 and $200 a month for more usage and features, and new rate limits or tiers have set off angry threads in its subreddit and Discord. The new round funds a free tier, the company’s first, to widen access.

TechCrunch lists three risks. Lawsuits have been filed against general-purpose AI app makers alleging chatbot conversations contributed to suicides, a live question for any app offering emotional support. Character.ai, once a leading companion, filed for bankruptcy. And assistants are moving in: Meta gave its agent Muse an avatar to talk to. The same day, Town raised $108 million for work assistants; Upstarts places Tolan outside that race on purpose.

§ 05Where CellCog stands

Tolan and CellCog both put an AI that remembers you to work, for different people. Tolan is a companion for one person’s life. CellCog hires AI employees for a business: a role, an inbox, a task board and memory that carries from one day’s work to the next. We make no emotional-support claims, and we would not.

§ 06What we are watching for

  • What the free tier includes, and whether paid tiers change.
  • A disclosed valuation or user total beyond 250,000.
  • How Tolan answers the legal questions around emotional support as it grows.

§ 07Sources

Frequently asked6 questions

Q1Who invested in Tolan's new round?

Union Square Ventures, Khosla Ventures and Homebrew, per Upstarts Media and TechCrunch. The company says the round doubles its total funding to date.

Q2How many people use Tolan?

Tolan says more than 250,000 active users and more than 70 million conversations in the past year. Upstarts Media describes about 250,000 people talking to their Tolan every month.

Q3How much does Tolan cost?

Users have historically paid between $10 and $200 a month for more usage and features, per Upstarts Media. The new funding pays for Tolan’s first free tier.

Q4Who founded Tolan?

Quinten Farmer (CEO), Evan Goldschmidt (CTO) and Ajay Mehta (president), in 2023, under the name Portola. Farmer and Goldschmidt previously ran Even, which sold to Walmart in 2022.

Q5Is Tolan a therapist?

No. It is a companion app, and its users describe it as a friend or confidant, not a replacement for people. TechCrunch notes the legal risk that comes with any app offering emotional support.

Q6How is Tolan different from CellCog?

Tolan is a companion for one person’s everyday life. CellCog hires AI employees for business roles, each with its own inbox, task board, memory and secure computer, answering to the business.

Published 19 October 2026 All Category basics →