Born prioritizes US monetization

This points to a simple mobile economics gap, the same install is usually worth more in the U.S. than in Europe. For an AI companion app, revenue comes from small but repeated subscription and in app purchases, and the U.S. has the deepest pool of users already trained to buy digital goods on mobile. That makes U.S. growth more valuable, not just bigger, and helps justify Born putting people on the ground in New York.

• The U.S. was the largest mobile monetization market in 2024 with $52B of in app purchase revenue, more than a third of the global total. That means a consumer app can convert fewer users and still build meaningful revenue if those users are American.
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• For AI companion apps specifically, the U.S. already accounts for over 30% of global consumer spend. That matters because Born is competing in a category where spend is concentrated in a few markets, and the U.S. is the clearest place where paid emotional and entertainment use cases already convert.
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• Europe is more fragmented and its iOS payment rules are being reshaped by the Digital Markets Act. Apple now offers EU specific terms, alternative payments, and alternative distribution paths, but the result is a more complex monetization setup across countries than the more uniform U.S. app store model.
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Going forward, the winner in AI companions will not just be the app with the best character design, it will be the one that can turn engagement into repeat paid behavior. The U.S. is the cleanest place to prove that loop, and success there would give Born stronger economics, better creator deals, and a clearer path into larger IP based products.