Natural Selection

Natural Selection (自然选择) is a Chinese AI-companion startup best known for EVE, a 3D virtual girlfriend product whose promotional video surpassed one million views on Bilibili within two weeks of release . The company was founded by Tristan, who previously created Singularity Era (奇点时代), a romance mobile game for male players that was dubbed China's first "male otome game" . In January 2026, the company closed a funding round exceeding $30 million led by Alibaba, Ant Group, Qiming Venture Partners, 5Y Capital, CCV, and Yunshi Capital, with Xinghan Capital serving as exclusive financial advisor . The startup positions itself at the more intimate end of the AI companion spectrum—Tristan told 暗涌Waves they don't frame the relationship as merely friendship, but aim for something with "lower bottom lines and bigger scale" .