Ambient AI is in play. Amazon has launched a new wrist-worn device using Bee. The former Plaud executive launched the ambient app through a startup called Ambi, which also aims to build its own hardware. And Apple introduced voice intelligence features when the iPhone launched in September. Now, a company called Nirva is betting on a jewel-like pendant and its ability to hear only the voice of the person wearing it.
The company today announced a new $25 million pre-Series A round, bringing its total funding to $33 million, on top of the $8 million raised earlier this year from investors including Lightspeed and South Park Commons.
Nirva was founded in 2025 by Wei Lyu and Jason Chen, former employees of Meta Reality Labs, and Hanying Hu, who founded a fashion and jewelry brand.
The company’s first device is a pendant that can also be worn as a bracelet. The device weighs only about 8 grams, making it comfortable to wear all day. The battery lasts up to 3 days on a single charge.
In the long term, Nirva aims to release more devices.
In a call with TechCrunch, Nirva CEO Lyu said the company wants to build wearables that blend in with fashion while providing value to users.
“This is a piece of jewelry that focuses solely on listening to your own speech. We’re not like a voice recorder or taking notes in a meeting. One of the big differences between us, Taya, Vocci, or Sandbar Ring, is that we’re always passively listening to your own speech, which means we’re always on. We model the user, and we continue to model your mind.” Lyu said.
Privacy is a big issue with ambient devices, as people may not like to be recorded all the time. Additionally, devices like Ray-Ban Meta instill fear in people around those wearing smart glasses that they too are being recorded.
Nirva gets around this problem by asking users to record snippets of audio during onboarding and building a model based on that. While in use, the device filters out conversations and data captured from other people around the device. In other words, it records only the wearer.
Additionally, by default, Nirva does not retain audio data or transcripts after processing conversations.
Nirva positions itself as a personal insights company rather than a productivity startup. However, that app will show you reminders and action items and how to act on them. Liu said that through the app, the startup wants to help users do things for others in a better way.
“I don’t think there’s a universal way that everyone can solve their problems. We’re building tools to help people improve their self-understanding, self-compassion, and self-awareness,” Liu said.
A companion app analyzes your voice and creates insights that are inferred to be related to your personality, such as patterns, people you tend to be around, places you’ve been, and other daily notes. Lyu highlighted that the app shows insights into users’ emotions, communication styles and ways to improve.
Ms Wee gave an example of an incident where she forgot to thank her mother for something and the app later reminded her about this.
The company also said it can track tone, pitch, volume and speed before discarding audio, which helps derive emotion-related understandings, which are then displayed in the app.
Nirva will start taking orders for the device in November and aims to ship it to early users by the end of the year. The $249 device is available in silver, brushed silver, black, and gold.
The startup has competition in the AI wearable space. There are also companies like Taya, a former Apple employee who also makes intelligent jewelry. Additionally, startups like Friend and Bee are also trying to become companion gadgets.
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