Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Sesame, an artificial intelligence startup and maker of smart glasses, has raised a $250 million Series B round and is opening beta to a select group of testers, the company announced Tuesday.
The startup, headed by former Oculus co-founder and CEO Brendan Iribe and Ankit Kumarformer CTO of AR Startup Everywhere6is creating a personal AI agent that interacts with users using a natural human voice. The company plans to integrate a personal AI agent into lightweight glasses designed for all-day wear that users can interact with via voice.
Start first It emerged from the hidden In February, when it demonstrated two demos of its technology — AI voices called “Maya” and “Miles.” Voices was quickly accessed by more than a million people within the first few weeks, who generated more than five million minutes of conversation, according to a new study. mail Written by Sesame investor Sequoia about her participation in the startup’s Series B.
“…The experience was unlike anything we’d used before. Sesame’s conversation layer felt different,” the post read. “Not only does it translate LLM output into audio, it directly generates speech, capturing the rhythm, emotion and articulation of real dialogue.”
Early reviews of the technology’s demo seem to agree, as one report states Edge He described Semsem as “really fun” and “natural-sounding”.
Sesame says its upcoming glasses will offer “high-quality audio” and access to an AI companion that will “monitor the world alongside you.”
Sequoia also noted that the smart glasses made by Sesame will be fashion-forward, so they feel like something you’d choose to wear even if they didn’t offer built-in AI technology. A timeframe for its availability has not yet been shared; As Sequoia points out, “hardware takes time.”
On this front, Sesame may have an advantage. Its founding team also includes the co-founder of Oculus Nate Mitchell As the Chief Product Officer, former COO of Oculus and Fitbit exec Hans Hartmann As COO, as well as former Engineering Director of Oculus and Engineering Director of Reality Labs ryan brown, And long-time Facebook and Meta exec Angela Giles.
In addition to sharing the news of its B series, Iribe Announce On the X that Sesame is now opening an early beta of the Sesame iOS app. The app trial will allow testers to get hands-on with the AI technology being built, as the app will have the ability to “search, text, and think,” he says.
Beta testers are required to keep their test experiences Trusted At this time, that includes not discussing features or results outside of the official beta testing forums.
Investors in the Sesame Series B include Sequoia, Spark and other undisclosed names. According to To Iribe.