Khosla Funds-backed investor Vinod Khosla is backing ex-DeepMind engineer Shivani Poddar’s AI agent startup Wajo, citing trust and safety as the key differentiator against well-funded competitors like Meta’s Muse and OpenAI’s Dot. Wajo’s personal agent handles cross-platform tasks across iMessage/WhatsApp and can autonomously make phone calls to book or manage services. The thesis centers on consumer distrust of Big Tech handling personal data for advertising purposes.
Background
The personal AI agent market has seen rapid competition in 2024–2026, with Meta launching Muse, OpenAI introducing Dot, and Instinct emerging as notable players. Trust and data privacy remain top consumer concerns as agents gain access to messaging, calendars, and phone systems.
- Source
- TechCrunch
- Published
- Oct 6, 2026 at 11:15 PM
- Score
- 7.0 / 10