{"id":84871,"date":"2025-10-16T18:17:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T18:17:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/84871\/"},"modified":"2025-10-16T18:17:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T18:17:10","slug":"rent-a-cyber-friend-will-pay-you-to-talk-to-strangers-online-and-will-show-off-its-platform-at-techcrunch-disrupt-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/84871\/","title":{"rendered":"Rent a Cyber Friend will pay you to talk to strangers online and will show off its platform at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

Francesco Vitali will be the first to admit that when his co-founder Chris Siametis first pitched him on Rent a Cyber Friend<\/a>, he didn\u2019t quite get the idea.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho\u2019s going to pay somebody to speak with somebody?\u201d Vitali told TechCrunch. \u201cBut Chris was insistent. Chris is a millennial, and I\u2019m Gen X, so it wasn\u2019t easy for me to understand his vision.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vitali had worked with Siametis for about two decades together; they ran 48FILM<\/a>, an international short film festival<\/a> (Vitali is also a film producer). So, he took a leap of faith to trust his collaborator on the idea he couldn\u2019t shake: a video chat platform where people can pay per minute for a casual conversation with a \u201ccyber friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rent a Cyber Friend ballooned to 3 million registered users without raising venture capital or spending any money on marketing. The company doesn\u2019t even have social media because it\u2019s too short-staffed to devote resources to it. The startup is part of Startup Battlefield<\/a>, and will be presenting at TechCrunch Disrupt<\/a> at the end of this month in San Francisco.<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s fast growth proved Vitali\u2019s first reactions wrong, but as he used the product himself, he began to realize that there\u2019s a big market for human connection \u2014 especially in a time when people are paying to talk to AI bots.<\/p>\n

\u201cLoneliness is the biggest disease in the world right now,\u201d Vitali said. \u201cMillions 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 important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cyber friends are first vetted to verify their identity, and then they can set a per-minute rate to charge for their conversations; the platform keeps 20% of that fee. People aren\u2019t just paying for companionship. Some cyber friends charge a higher rate if they\u2019re an academic or vetted expert in a specific subject area, or if they speak a particular language that a user would like to practice.<\/p>\n

Techcrunch event<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t|
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 27-29, 2025\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

For any social media platform \u2014 especially one that connects people in real-time video chats \u2014 safety and content moderation is a challenge. Vitali notes that the platform has a block feature, but as the company continues to grow, it will need to invest further in maintaining a healthy environment. He said that next on the product road map is a more robust and efficient system for vetting potential cyber friends more quickly and thoroughly.<\/p>\n

Vitali\u2019s turning point came not long after the company launched when he connected with a 19-year-old from China. He noticed that this person was one of the site\u2019s most active users, and he spent $200 per day to talk to people. Vitali rigged the site so that he would be the only cyber friend available and used the opportunity to ask the user about his experience without revealing that he founded the company.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said, \u2018I don\u2019t 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,\u2019 and that was the first moment that I realized we have something here,\u201d Vitali recalled. <\/p>\n

He still thinks that the connections that people make in person are irreplaceable. But on an internet where people are sucked into addictive<\/a> or dangerous<\/a> connections with AI chatbots that are designed to maximize engagement, this step of turning toward humanity means something to him.<\/p>\n

If you want to learn more about Rent a Cyber Friend from the company itself \u2014 while also checking out dozens of others, hearing their pitches, and listening to guest speakers on four different stages \u2014 join us at Disrupt, October 27 to 29, in San Francisco. Learn more here.<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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