Sept. 18, 2026 — Park City, Utah — Hello Haven emerged from stealth yesterday (Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026) to announce a $15 million pre-seed financing led by Mayfield and the public launch of Haven, an AI-enabled application the company says will remember an individual’s preferences and decisions and act on their behalf across email, phone, text and other applications.
Mayfield’s Navin Chaddha, identified as a managing partner at the firm, said: “Decades after backing Frank at Rubicon Project, we’re excited to partner with him again at the inception stage of building this next wave of Personal AI.” The round, at $15 million, is large for early-stage benchmarks: based on PitchBook data cited in the 2026 National Venture Capital Association yearbook, the median 2025 U.S. pre-seed/seed deal was roughly $2.9 million, making Hello Haven’s financing more than five times that combined-category median.
Hello Haven and the Haven app
Hello Haven, based in Park City, Utah, says Haven draws on more than 500 artificial-intelligence models and 100 application integrations. The company reports more than two million interactions since its private beta opened in August. In the launch announcement, CEO and co-founder Frank Addante described Haven as a digital twin that “… knows what you would do and proactively does it for you.” Co-founder and CTO Duc Chau said: “You’ll be able to sign in with Haven, and your memory, your permissions, and your judgment come with you.” The company has not disclosed its number of users or sales.
Founders’ track record
Hello Haven was co-founded by Frank Addante (CEO) and Duc Chau (CTO). The announcement notes that previous companies started and/or led by Addante reportedly produced a combined $1 billion in sales, two initial public offerings and four acquisitions. Addante co-founded Rubicon Project with Chau; Rubicon went public in 2014 and, after merging with Telaria in 2020, adopted the name Magnite (NASDAQ: MGNI).
Addante’s earlier ventures listed on his LinkedIn profile include creating the internet search engine Starting Point in January 1996 (acquired December 1998 by CMGI), serving as CTO and technology founder of L90 in January 1998 (acquired by DoubleClick in November 2000), and founding StrongMail Systems in January 2002 (acquired by private equity firm HGGC in September 2015). When Addante launched TinkerBarn Ventures in 2021, he stated his first five businesses had generated more than $5 billion in market value and raised $300 million in capital. Based on a review of LinkedIn profiles cited in the announcement, Chau and Addante have collaborated for over 19 years; Chau previously helped build the original Myspace as its lead software engineer and served as CTO of both Omaze and Yieldmo.
Investor history and open questions
The announcement notes Mayfield was an investor in Rubicon Project: affiliated entities held 14.2% immediately before the Rubicon Project 2014 IPO, according to the final prospectus, and Chaddha was one of three managers overseeing decisions involving those shares. An author note in the release states Mayfield was founded in 1969, is based in Menlo Park, California, and has over $3 billion in assets under management.
While the $15 million pre-seed provides substantial early capital, the company and its backers point to an open commercial question: whether early interactions will translate into sustained usage and revenue. The company has not disclosed user counts or sales figures.
