Rent a Cyber Friend, the Paid Conversation Platform, Hits 3M Users and Debuts at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025
Rent a Cyber Friend: The Anti-AI Platform Where Users Pay for Real Human Connection
When co-founder Chris Siametis first pitched the idea for Rent a Cyber Friend to his long-time collaborator, Francesco Vitali, Vitali was skeptical. “Who’s going to pay somebody to speak with somebody?” Vitali recalls asking TechCrunch. “But Chris was insistent. Chris is a millennial, and I’m Gen X, so it wasn’t easy for me to understand his vision.”
Vitali and Siametis had worked together for two decades, notably running 48FILM, an international short film festival. Despite his initial doubts, Vitali took a leap of faith on Siametis’ unshakeable idea: a unique video chat platform where users pay a per-minute rate for casual, meaningful conversation with a “cyber friend.”
The platform’s organic growth has been explosive: Rent a Cyber Friend has ballooned to 3 million registered users without raising any traditional venture capital or spending a dime on marketing. The company is so lean that it doesn’t even have a social media presence due to short staffing. This rapidly growing startup is now a key part of the Startup Battlefield cohort and will be proudly presenting its platform at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 in San Francisco at the end of this month.
The company’s fast, organic growth quickly proved Vitali’s initial reaction wrong. As he used the product himself, he began to realize the immense, urgent market for genuine human connection—especially in a time when many people are paying to talk to AI chatbots.
“Loneliness is the biggest disease in the world right now,” Vitali asserted. “Millions are lonely, and they are underemployed or seeking purpose. So, we built a platform where human time has value again, and a place where being human is the most important commodity.”
How the Paid Conversation Platform Works
To maintain a secure environment, cyber friends are first rigorously vetted to verify their identity. Once approved, they are empowered to set their own per-minute rate to charge for conversations. The platform keeps a 20% commission fee from that rate.
Users are not just paying for general companionship. Some cyber friends charge a higher premium if they are an academic or a formally vetted expert in a specific subject area, or if they speak a particular language that a user wishes to practice through real-time conversation.
For any platform that connects people in real-time video chats, safety and robust content moderation present a constant challenge. Vitali notes that the platform currently provides a basic block feature, but acknowledges that as the company continues its rapid growth, it will need to invest substantially in maintaining a healthy, safe environment. He stated that the next priority on the product road map is developing a more robust and highly efficient system for vetting potential cyber friends more quickly and thoroughly than the manual system currently in place.
Vitali’s personal turning point came shortly after the company launched when he connected with a 19-year-old user from China. He noticed this individual was one of the site’s most frequent users, spending an average of $200 per day to engage in conversation. Vitali rigged the site so that he was the only cyber friend available and used the opportunity to discreetly ask the user about his experience without revealing his founder status.
“He said, ‘I don’t feel safe to go out at the mall and meet with strangers, but this site gives me the possibility to exchange culture and meet people from all over the world,’ and that was the first moment that I truly realized we have something here,” Vitali recalled.
While he still believes that in-person connections are irreplaceable, Vitali is convinced that in an internet landscape where people are increasingly drawn into addictive or potentially dangerous connections with AI chatbots designed purely to maximize engagement, his platform’s step toward championing and monetizing humanity means something profound.
If you are interested in learning more about Rent a Cyber Friend directly from the company—while also exploring dozens of other innovative startups, hearing their pitches, and listening to expert guest speakers across four different stages—join us at Disrupt, October 27 to 29, in San Francisco. Details for registration can be found here.
Do you think paid conversation platforms like Rent a Cyber Friend are the answer to the global loneliness epidemic, or is human connection something that shouldn’t be monetized? Share your thoughts below!
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