BONDS Investor overview · Updated Oct 2026
As heard on AI for Founders
AI relationship practice

Duolingo made learning a daily habit. Nobody owns the relationship layer, yet.

AI that turns relationship advice into real-world action. One person can start. Built with a clinical psychologist. Romance first. Then every relationship.

Of people who reach a suggested step: 89% commit to trying, 53% come back and report what happened, 27% report doing it in real life.

Of people who reach a suggested step

89%commit to trying
27%report doing it in real life
~2,000 sign-ups since our April 2026 launch, US and Canada.

Backed by Fusion VC; Avishai Abrahami and Nir Zohar, Wix's CEO and President; and Vincenzo Ciummo, early Trax backer

Talk to Lior Try Bonds
Bonds check-in screen asking how it went
YesterdayTonight, share your sleep needs with your partner, in a calm moment.
TodayHow did it go? Your plan adapts to the answer.
Early signal

Live since April. People go and do it.

Most apps measure time in the app. We measure behavior change: whether something happened between 2 people. Every number here is from our US and Canada users.

From suggestion to real life

Of people who reached a suggested step this summer. Real-life steps are self-reported.

Reached a suggested step
100%
Committed to trying
89%
Came back to report
53%
Reported doing it in real life
27%

Of people who finish a practice, 6 in 10 commit to a real step with their partner within 2 weeks.

Since launch, about 6 in 10 people who reported trying a step chose “it felt meaningful.”

Shared on calls

Return curves by build. I share the full curve and the latest build's numbers with investors on a call.

50% → 70%

of new sign-ups started a guided practice within 14 days, April vs July, after we rebuilt the practice experience.

52%

of new users since July finish a full practice in their first week, vs 20 to 35% typical for health & wellness apps. 9 in 10 who finished one did it in their first hour.

Lifecycle Architect, Health & Wellness Apps Activation Rate Benchmarks (2026)

1,750+

practice conversations finished before the real one. People who start spend a median of 26 minutes in their first 2 weeks.

1,000+hours spent in Bonds since April 4,200+personal insights written Hundredsof people rehearsed a real conversation

“The insights almost make me cry… it hit it right on the head… it completely understood me and it listened.”

BONDS USER, TOGETHER 1 YEAR

“I have tried to show empathy in discussions… even last night when we had a plumbing emergency. I see my empathy helped ease tension.”

BONDS USER, TOGETHER 15 YEARS

“HeyBonds has helped my patients to have an additional tool outside of our therapy sessions.”

LICENSED CLINICAL SOCIAL WORKER AND BONDS ADVISOR · STARTED USING BONDS WITH HER CLIENTS

Product analytics, US and Canada, April to October 2026.

How it works

A loop that ends in real life, not in the chat.

Each chapter runs the same 5 steps. What you report back shapes the next one. The AI model writes the words; the loop, the clinical logic and the follow-up are ours.

  1. 1
    LearnShort chapters designed with a clinical psychologist.
  2. 2
    PracticeRehearse the hard conversation first.
  3. 3
    InsightA personal video on your moment.
  4. 4
    ActOne specific thing to try.
  5. 5
    Check inDid you do it? How did it go?

↺ back to step 1, adjusted to what worked

Go deepChapters for the thing that keeps repeating: the same fight, the distance after a baby, trust after a hard year.
Or get help nowA quick answer, a reminder of what you committed to, or a 3-minute rehearsal before a talk tonight.
Practice screen rehearsing a conversation
Practice
Personal insight video
Insight
Chapter path
Your chapter
A real user

Three months later, she's still practicing.

Together 3 years, US. She came to learn how to ask for what she needs.

9 chapters · 10 practice conversations · 32 written reflections · in 3 months

Most advice ends when the chat ends. Ours doesn't.

Her words, typed in the app. Typos fixed. Real-life step self-reported in the app's check-in.

  1. Week 2
    Learn“Sometimes it's hard for me to ask what I need.”
  2. Week 4
    Practice“I am learning that tone of voice really matters...”
  3. Week 9
    Reflect“I like to hear the other person's perspective it makes me learn what I could do better.”
Why now

People already ask AI about their relationships. Nobody checks whether it helped.

  • 44%of married Americans have used AI for relationship advice. It helps them reflect, and then the chat ends. Nothing comes back to ask whether it worked.
  • Therapy doesn't reach most people in time.It's costly and hard to access, and couples therapy needs both people in the room.
  • Bonds is not therapy.It's the practice in between: for people therapy doesn't reach, and a tool therapists hand to clients between sessions.

44%: Marriage.com survey of 1,000 married US adults, July 2026.

Why Bonds wins

Every check-in teaches us what actually works.

A chatbot never learns whether its advice helped. Bonds asks, every time, and builds the next step on the answer.

What compounds as Bonds grows

  • Outcome dataWhich advice worked, for whom, in their own words. It grows with every check-in and can't be scraped.
  • Solo-firstCouples apps need both partners on day one. Bonds starts with the one who wants change, so there's no cold start.
  • A clinician in the loopA clinical psychologist co-founder owns the logic of every chapter, not an advisory slide.

How we grow and earn

  • Trusted hands Practitioner pilotPeople try a relationship app when someone they trust hands it over. A licensed therapist and advisor recommends Bonds to her clients and refers peers. We're now testing this with a small group of practitioners. See Bonds for Professionals
  • Founder content and free toolsSearch, our site and free tools bring users in with $0 ad spend.
  • A partner loopWe're building the invite that lets solo users bring their partner in when they're ready, with no ad spend behind it.
  • Subscription first, practitioners nextIndividuals will subscribe: paid plans after first value, at prices in line with competitors. The second line is in pilot: a plan where relationship coaches bring their clients into Bonds.

The category is moving. In July, ARYA ($37M raised) acquired the couples app Flamme. Most apps in the space still need both partners, or stop at advice. Bonds starts with one person and follows up on what they actually did.

Lior Illouz
From the founder

Why I'm building this

I spent 7 years at Meta, then started Bonds with my childhood friend Dr. Lior Kritzman, a clinical psychologist. I became a first-time dad this year, and I still read our users' responses myself every week.

For my wife's 38th birthday, Bonds suggested a glass jar with 38 handwritten notes on why I believe in her. She cried, I cried, and she told me the app didn't matter, the attention did. That's the whole idea: technology that sends you back to the person, not deeper into the screen.

Lior Illouz, co-founder and CEO

The team

A founder and a psychologist who grew up together, and a CPO who's led product for over a billion users.

Lior Illouz

Co-founder, CEO

7 years at Meta across Singapore, London and Tel Aviv. Ex-Trax exec, Intel Capital. Reads user responses himself.

Daphna Ofek

Co-founder, CPO

Ex-CPO of Rakuten Viber (1B+ registered users). Before that, Google (Waze) and Wix. 20+ years in consumer products.

Dr. Lior Kritzman

Co-founder, CSO

Clinical psychologist, PhD, at the Sagol Center for Brain and Mind, Reichman University. Owns the clinical logic in every loop.

Ido Sofi

Founding engineer

Ex-Director of Engineering at Cheetah. 15+ years scaling mobile and backend systems.

Gila Bronner, clinical advisor on intimacy. Director of Sex Therapy, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center.

Existing investors include Fusion VC; Avishai Abrahami and Nir Zohar, Wix's CEO and President; and Vincenzo Ciummo, early Trax backer

Talk to Lior

Let's talk.

You'd be joining existing investors including Fusion VC, Avishai Abrahami, Nir Zohar and Vincenzo Ciummo. We're moving forward with, and considering, value-add investors who can help build this category: consumer subscription operators, people who can open doors to therapists and coaches, and investors who've lived the problem themselves.

Lior Illouz, co-founder and CEO

Book 30 minutes with me Request the deck and newest cohort