Invisible Girlfriend, winner of the 2013 St. Louis Startup Weekend and an Arch Grant earlier this year, was co-founded by WashU alumni Matthew Homann, (JD ’93) and Kyle Tabor, PMBA ’13. The service which also offers Invisible Boyfriend, allows customers to create a pretend boyfriend or girlfriend who “exists” on social media including text and phone messages sent to the customer.

Innovoxstl.com reports that the company is changing its name to Invisible Industries and looking to expand its services. Tabor is quoted as saying, “We decided to change the name because frankly, a lot of people laughed at the original name. And we view it as much more serious.”

Invisible Girlfriend employees communicate with customers via text message to help them avoid the “social stigma of being single.” The company also says the service helps people navigate the ever-changing dating scene by providing a safe place to communicate with a real person via text.