Google Veteran Raises $8M for Continua: Bringing AI Agents to Group Chats

Google vet raises $8M for Continua to bring AI agents to group chats | TechCrunch

In early 2023, David Petrou, a distinguished engineer and a founding member of both Google Goggles and Google Glass, made a surprising move. After more than 17 years at the company, he departed to launch his own startup. "I was seeing how fast technology was changing, and I felt there are certain ideas that are best explored in the context of a startup," Petrou told TechCrunch. His ultimate idea was to build Continua, a consumer-facing company that uses AI agents to enhance collaboration and interaction in group chats on SMS, iMessage, and Discord. "The simple way to think about it is that we're bringing the power of LLMs to group chats," Petrou said. Continua announced on Tuesday that it has raised an $8 million seed round. The funding was led by GV, with additional participation from Bessemer Ventures Partners and a group of angel investors. When developing Continua, Petrou noticed that people would interact with ChatGPT or another LLM, and then would copy and paste what they learned into their group conversation. "If you and I are planning a trip, or if we're trying to figure out what to have for dinner, or what movie to watch, all of these things can be facilitated by an LLM participating in a group chat with us," Petrou said. Continua claims its AI agents can reduce group chat chaos by joining conversations and offering helpful information only when it's needed. As the group discusses projects and common plans, Continua can automatically set reminders, launch polls, add calendar invitations, or generate Google documents with checklists and to-do lists. If a user forgets details from the group chat, such as the meeting time or location, they can simply direct message Continua to privately ask for the information. At first glance, Continua may seem like a straightforward application of AI, but Petrou says that getting LLM to participate in a conversation with multiple humans is a rather complex technical problem. Since most AI models are designed for conversations between a single person and a single assistant, Continua had to fine-tune its technology to understand the dynamics of group chat discussions. For instance, group members do not need Continua to respond to everything they write. "You want the agent to have social intelligence," Petrou said. He added that they had to "break the LLM's brain" to naturally integrate the AI into conversations. Users can invoke Continua when they need its help or tell the agent to "hang back" if it's chiming in too often. Users can get started with Continua by adding its phone number to a group SMS or its username to a Discord chat. While several companies, including Meta and the startup Hey Umai, offer AI agents for conversations, Petrou insists that Continua is most suitable for group interactions. Erik Nordlander, a general partner at GV, said his firm invested in Petrou even before the concept of Continua's group chat AI had fully taken shape. "David is a really brilliant engineer, someone who's been working with AI since before it was the hot thing." According to Nordlander, Continua has several potential paths to profitability. The agent is already assisting with event planning and trip booking, which he suggested they could charge for in the future.

Former Google Distinguished Engineer David Petrou Launches Continua, a New Vision for Social AI

$8M funding round led by GV fuels first-of-its-kind use of large language models NEW YORK-(BUSINESS WIRE)-August 12, 2025- Continua, the company pioneering Social AI, today announced it has raised $8 million in seed funding to uplevel the group chat, reimagining how artificial intelligence can be a true participant in dynamic conversations. The round was led by GV with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners and notable angel investors including Jeff Dean, Adam Ghetti, Eoghan McCabe, Josh Reznick, Peter Mattis, Spencer Kimball, Daniel Loreto, Ben Sigelman, Dor Levi, Zach Lloyd, Eyal Manor, Lauryn Motamedi, Des Traynor, Dan Shipper, and more. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250812288603/en/ Founded by David Petrou, a former Google Distinguished Software engineer who helped start Google Goggles, Continua was born out of a vision to harness the full power of large language models, organizing the flurry of ideas in group conversations and shaping them into something meaningful. Continua joins the group chat on SMS, iMessage, or Discord, adding an always-on AI agent that helps tame the chaos, elevate productivity, and coordinate between all the members of the group. Leveraging his time and learnings from being on the founding team of Google Glass, and leading large teams launching on-device machine intelligence, Petrou identified an opportunity to expand beyond the visual world and create a new type of AI that is capable of magnifying what's in users' minds while advancing the conversation of multiple people at once. "In the years I spent exploring computer vision and visual search, I realized there was an untapped opportunity to fundamentally shift how we understand and share information," said Petrou, founder and CEO of Continua. "So much of what is interesting happens inside our own thoughts and the ideas we share with others - things we cannot see. Continua reaches beyond the visual by activating large language models to grapple with all this hidden terrain." Studies show that 66% of Americans feel overwhelmed by group chats, though 100% of GenZ and 83% of all Americans take part in one to four group chats regularly. Continua is an agent that unlocks an entirely new way to text - increasing shared understanding, deepening enjoyment, and centering attention on the things that matter most. With 52% of the workforce reporting that they experience burnout due to severe pressure, Continua's technology provides critical relief. A trusted member of the conversation, Continua's agent understands social etiquette, can distinguish between distractions and directions, and gets smarter with every exchange, learning from the group's inputs and outputs. Like a strong team player or a great friend, the agent will anticipate needs, offer actionable and timely assistance, and seamlessly integrate into the natural banter. Suggestions and brainstorm notes are shaped into clear, intentional, and assigned next steps, via shared checklists, documents, calendar invitations, and more. This funding advances Continua's ability to enhance the social fabric of how people coordinate, collaborate, and stay connected. With Continua, individuals can focus their attention on the things that are of highest priority to them, elevating their sense of fulfillment and advancing the group's collective progress. "David has built a team of industry veterans from leading technology companies to marry deep knowledge of AI with a superior consumer experience," said Erik Nordlander, General Partner at GV. "The Continua team understands the power of large language models and how to deploy them intentionally to remove barriers and friction from everyday interactions and teamwork. Their technology is sparking a fundamental shift in how AI can serve people in their most important moments and we're excited to support that vision of the future." To start chatting with Continua, visit continua.ai. About Continua Continua is pioneering Social AI, creating the first artificial intelligence designed to enhance group conversations and collaboration. Founded by former Google Distinguished Software Engineer David Petrou, Continua is backed by GV, Bessemer Venture Partners, and leading angels in the AI and consumer technology space. Learn more at continua.ai. About GV Launched as Google Ventures in 2009, GV supports innovative founders moving the world forward. GV is a multi-stage venture capital firm that invests across sectors, including artificial intelligence, the life sciences, consumer, enterprise, and frontier technology. GV is a non-strategic and independent venture firm that oversees over $10 billion in assets under management, with Alphabet as a sole Limited Partner. GV has backed 400 active portfolio companies spanning North America, Europe, and Israel. The firm is headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, with offices in Cambridge, New York, and London. About Bessemer Venture Partners Bessemer Venture Partners helps entrepreneurs lay strong foundations to build and forge long-standing companies. With more than 145 IPOs and 300 portfolio companies in the enterprise, consumer and healthcare spaces, Bessemer supports founders and CEOs from their early days through every stage of growth. Bessemer's global portfolio has included Pinterest, Shopify, Twilio, Yelp, LinkedIn, PagerDuty, DocuSign, Wix, Fiverr, and Toast and has more than $18 billion of assets under management. Learn more at bvp.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250812288603/en/