ai-companion
(3)
Zoom
Zoom is an American communications technology company that built its name on simple, reliable video meetings and has since expanded into a broad workplace collaboration platform. Founded in 2011 by former Cisco WebEx engineer Eric Yuan and headquartered in San Jose, California, Zoom now offers meetings, phone, chat, rooms, docs, a cloud contact center and an AI Companion assistant under the Zoom Workplace brand. The company went public on Nasdaq in 2019, saw explosive adoption during the COVID-19 pandemic, and today serves individuals, small businesses and large enterprises with roughly $4.9 billion in annual revenue.
Minerva Networks
Minerva Networks is a San Jose-based software company that builds carrier-grade service management and video delivery platforms for pay-TV and broadband operators. Founded in 1992, its platform lets telcos, cable and satellite providers offer IPTV, OTT and hybrid television - with live TV, VOD, network DVR, catch-up and FAST channels - across set-top boxes, smart TVs, mobile and web. More than 300 operators worldwide run Minerva, and the company now layers AI-driven content discovery through its Minnie AI Companion and its FAST+ streaming service.
Friend
Friend is a consumer AI startup making a $129 always-listening pendant that texts the wearer with commentary, jokes and emotional support. Founded by Harvard dropout Avi Schiffmann - the teenager behind the viral nCoV2019 COVID tracker - Friend bet $1.8 million on its one-word domain and then $1 million on a deliberately graffiti-bait subway campaign that turned New York City into an unfiltered focus group.