Ultrahuman’s former hardware VP raises $5.5M for devices that control AI agents, not just record you

The contention to physique the adjacent AI interface is crowded with startups. The Sandbar ring, Plaud’s AI pin and desktop notetaker, and Pocket’s recognition card-sized pucks are each vying to seizure what you accidental and do. Bee and Friend instrumentality the wearable route, portion Meta Ray-Bans and Even Realities are betting connected astute glasses. Now, a Bengaluru- and San Francisco-based startup, Aina (“mirror” successful Hindi), is trying to marque its ain people successful this crowded tract of human-computer interface devices.

The institution announced contiguous that it has raised $5.5 cardinal successful a circular led by Redstart Labs (Infoedge, India) and 360 ONE, with information from MIXI Global Investments, Antler, and Blume Founders Fund.

The circular besides drew idiosyncratic investors, including recently appointed WhatsApp caput Kunal Shah, Razorpay co-founders Harshil Mathur and Shashank Kumar, and Scribd laminitis Tikhon Bernstam.

Aina, antecedently known arsenic Project Mirage, was founded by Apoorv Shankar, a erstwhile VP of Hardware astatine astute ringing shaper Ultrahuman. Before that, Shankar ran LazyCo, a hardware interface plan startup that made gadgets, including a ringing that fto users power different devices similar a smartphone. Ultrahuman aboriginal acquired LazyCo, bringing Shankar in-house earlier helium yet struck retired connected his ain again.

“I near Ultrahuman past twelvemonth due to the fact that I was conscionable ace funny astir the abstraction of AI interfaces,” Shankar told TechCrunch. “Devices similar Rabbit and Humane Pin had launched, and I had my ain disappointments with them. However, I was conscionable excited that we are seeing interfaces being a happening now. And arsenic an technologist turned merchandise designer, this was the hottest happening I could ideate myself building.”

The startup’s archetypal merchandise is Dune, a three-key, context-aware “macro” keyboard — fundamentally a tiny keypad that runs pre-set shortcuts — that tin power the mic and camera successful a gathering and tally shortcuts oregon scripts based connected the app users are viewing.

Image Credits: AinaImage Credits:Project Mirage

Aina developed 2 different devices: Radiance, a tabletop distant for video calls with a dial for measurement and buttons for mic, camera, AI notetaker, dependable modulation, and joining the meeting; and Shift, a single-tap “agentic” fastener — property it once, and it triggers an AI cause to transportation retired a repeated task — that connects to your phone.

But successful aboriginal testing, Aina recovered Dune was the astir fashionable of the 3 and realized it could bundle features of the different 2 devices into the keypad. That awesome from users is wherefore the institution decided to vessel Dune first. It wants to learn, successful the wild, what benignant of tasks users really privation to automate.

Image Credits: AInaImage Credits:Aina

Aina said lessons from each 3 devices volition provender into its adjacent product. The institution isn’t revealing details of its caller instrumentality yet, but plans to statesman investigating with a tiny radical of prime users successful the coming weeks.

Shankar hinted that the caller instrumentality won’t beryllium a passive “context capture” gadget — the benignant of always-listening ringing oregon Plaud-style gathering notetaker that conscionable records what’s happening astir you — but alternatively a instrumentality built to power and invoke agents.

“I deliberation you person capable context, you person successful your telephone and your laptop each the time, and we haven’t adjacent started utilizing that well. We are gathering an action-oriented instrumentality that volition usage the discourse to assistance you power and trigger workflows,” helium said.

As much developers and cognition workers follow AI coding tools similar Claude Code and OpenAI’s Codex, determination has been a dependable emergence successful hardware built specifically to power and trigger those agents. Just this week, OpenAI released a customized keypad for Codex made with Work Louder. Plenty of different options beryllium too, ranging from keyboard makers to DIY enthusiasts gathering their ain macro controllers.

There are besides reports that OpenAI is processing a astute talker with a built-in AI assistant, and Rabbit R1 has positioned itself arsenic different instrumentality for invoking AI agents. Qualcomm, meanwhile, says it’s experimenting with much than 40 devices to interact with AI. With nary wide victor yet connected signifier origin — ring, pin, glasses, keypad, oregon talker — expect a question of caller hardware bets, and backing rounds, chasing the aforesaid question: what does controlling AI really look like?