Google Vet David Petrou Raises $8M to Bring AI Agents to Group Chats with Continua

In early 2023, David Petrou, a distinguished engineer and founding member of both Google Goggles and Google Glass, made a surprising move. After more than 17 years at Google, he left 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 vision was to build Continua, a consumer-facing company that uses AI agents to enhance collaboration and interaction in group chats across 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. On August 12, 2025, Continua announced it has raised an $8 million seed round led by GV, with participation from Bessemer Ventures Partners and a group of angel investors.

Addressing Group Chat Challenges with AI

Petrou observed that users often interact with ChatGPT or other large language models (LLMs) separately and then copy-paste insights into group conversations. Continua aims to streamline this by embedding AI directly into group chats. “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 explained. Continua’s AI agents reduce group chat chaos by joining conversations and offering helpful information only when needed. They 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 meeting time or location, they can privately message Continua to retrieve the information.

Technical Complexity Behind Group Chat AI

While the concept seems straightforward, Petrou emphasized that enabling LLMs to participate naturally in conversations with multiple humans is a complex technical challenge. Most AI models are designed for one-on-one interactions, so Continua fine-tuned LLMs to understand the dynamics of group discussions. “You want the agent to have social intelligence,” Petrou said. “We had to ‘break the LLM’s brain’ to naturally integrate the AI into conversations.” Users can control Continua’s participation by invoking it when needed or telling the agent to “hang back” if it responds too often.

Getting Started with Continua

Users can add Continua’s phone number to a group SMS or its username to a Discord chat to start using the AI agent. While companies like Meta and startups such as Hey Umai also offer AI agents for conversations, Petrou believes Continua is uniquely suited for group interactions.

Investor Confidence and Future Prospects

Erik Nordlander, general partner at GV, said his firm invested in Petrou even before Continua’s group chat AI concept was fully developed. “David is a really brilliant engineer, someone who’s been working with AI since before it was the hot thing.” Nordlander highlighted several potential revenue streams for Continua, including event planning and trip booking assistance, which could become paid features.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

About Continua and its AI Agents

Q: What is Continua? A: Continua is a consumer-facing company that uses AI agents to enhance collaboration and interaction within group chats across various platforms like SMS, iMessage, and Discord. Q: How do Continua's AI agents improve group chats? A: Continua's AI agents can join group conversations and offer helpful information, set reminders, launch polls, create calendar invitations, or generate documents with checklists, streamlining communication and reducing chaos. Q: What makes Continua's approach to AI agents unique? A: Continua fine-tunes Large Language Models (LLMs) to understand the dynamics of group discussions, giving the agents "social intelligence" to integrate naturally into conversations, unlike typical one-on-one AI interactions. Q: How can users start using Continua? A: Users can start by adding Continua's phone number to group SMS chats or its username to Discord chats. Q: What kind of challenges did Continua face in developing their AI agents for group chats? A: A significant technical challenge was enabling LLMs to participate naturally in multi-human conversations, requiring fine-tuning to understand group dynamics and "breaking the LLM's brain" for better integration. Q: How much control do users have over Continua's participation? A: Users can control Continua's involvement by invoking it when needed or instructing it to "hang back" if it becomes too active. Q: What are potential revenue streams for Continua? A: Potential revenue streams include paid features for event planning and trip booking assistance.

Crypto Market AI's Take

The development of AI agents like those from Continua signifies a growing trend of integrating artificial intelligence into everyday communication platforms. This move towards more sophisticated AI assistants mirrors the advancements seen in the broader AI landscape, where AI is increasingly being applied to complex tasks and diverse user environments. Our own platform, AI Crypto Market, focuses on leveraging AI for cryptocurrency trading and market intelligence, offering AI-powered bots and analysis tools. The ability of Continua's agents to understand group dynamics and provide contextual assistance is a crucial step in making AI interactions more seamless and productive, a principle that also drives our development in financial AI.

Google vet raises M for Continua to bring AI agents to group chats