Cal AI’s 19-year-old founder just raised $10M for his new AI startup
Persona is a funded AI assistant startup built around a $179 wearable band, not another calorie app.
Zach Yadegari says the device will activate by button or wrist flick rather than always listening. Persona will run its model in the cloud, with encrypted user data and deletion controls, while purchases require user approval. The company is in free beta through iMessage, with a few thousand users and five figures in preorder revenue for bands expected in December. Its current ad model would show sponsored items during shopping research, though Yadegari says the agent will not know which results are ads. TechCrunch AI's note
Zach Yadegari says the device will activate by button or wrist flick rather than always listening. Persona will run its model in the cloud, with encrypted user data and deletion controls, while purchases require user approval. The company is in free beta through iMessage, with a few thousand users and five figures in preorder revenue for bands expected in December. Its current ad model would show sponsored items during shopping research, though Yadegari says the agent will not know which results are ads. TechCrunch AI's note
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