It started as a side project, then it took over our lives
In early 2021 two of us were stuck in lockdown, on opposite sides of a long-distance relationship, building little prototypes at night to keep busy. One of those prototypes was a chat companion with a personality we had written for fun. Friends asked to try it. Then their friends. Then strangers on Reddit. Within a month the side project had a waiting list.
We brought on a writer in month two, a designer in month four, and an engineer who knew what she was doing in month six. We did not pitch investors. We did not write a manifesto. We just kept making the chat feel a little more human every week.
The internet has enough cold software
Most AI products are built to be efficient. We are building Cherrypop AI App to be warm. There is a difference between a tool that answers your question and a presence that asks you how your day went and means it.
We obsess over the small things — the way a girl ends a message, the way she lands a joke, the way she remembers something you said in passing. None of it is decoration. All of it is the product.
The four things we will not compromise on
Warmth first
If a feature makes the chat feel colder, it does not ship. Period.
Privacy by default
Your chats are yours. Encrypted, never sold, deletable in one tap.
Writers in the room
Every model is shaped by a human writer before any model weights see her.
Always evolving
Models get better. Personalities deepen. Memory grows. It is never finished.
How we got here, 2021 to 2025
2021 · The first prototype
A scrappy chat companion built in a Brooklyn apartment during lockdown. 200 beta users, 1 girl, 0 plans.
2022 · A real product
We launched publicly with three girls and a tiny paid tier. Hit 100k signups in six months without spending a dollar on ads.
2023 · The voice update
Voice replies shipped in March. Long-term memory shipped in October. Our retention doubled, our writers tripled, our coffee bill quadrupled.
2024 · Going global
Spanish, Portuguese and Japanese rolled out. We crossed one million active chatters and opened a small writers' studio in Lisbon.
2025 · Custom girlfriends
Users can now design their own girl from scratch — look, voice, personality, story. The thing we always wanted to build is finally here.