Nirva raises $33M for AI pendant that only listens to wearer

Nirva, a wearable AI startup founded in 2025 by former Meta Reality Labs employees Wei Lyu and Jason Chen together with fashion and jewelry entrepreneur Hanying Hu, has raised $25 million in a pre-Series A round, adding to $8 million raised earlier this year from investors including Lightspeed and South Park Commons for a total of $33 million. The company is building a personal insights platform centered on a discreet pendant that can also be worn as a bracelet, weighs about eight grams and lasts up to three days per charge. Priced at $249 and planned for November orders with year-end shipment, the device is designed to listen continuously, but only to the wearer. During onboarding, users record voice samples to train a personal model, while the system filters out nearby conversations and, by default, does not retain audio or transcripts after processing. Nirva positions itself against voice recorders, meeting-note tools and smart glasses that may raise privacy concerns, as well as competing ambient AI products such as Amazon’s Bee, Ambi, Apple’s Voice Intelligence features, Taya, Friend and Sandbar Ring. Its companion app analyzes the wearer’s speech and vocal cues such as tone, pitch, volume and speed to surface patterns related to personality, emotions, communication style, habits, people, places and overlooked follow-ups. CEO Lyu framed the product as a tool for greater self-awareness, self-compassion and more intentional interactions rather than a productivity device. The company plans to expand beyond the pendant in the longer term as ambient AI wearables gain momentum.