The key facts
- Nirva raised $25 million in a pre-Series A round, bringing the total to $33 million from Lightspeed and South Park Commons, among other investors
- The pendant weighs ~8 grams, runs up to three days without recharging, costs $249, and pre-orders open in November
- The device filters out surrounding speech and by default does not store audio or transcripts after processing
New funding round
Startup Nirva announced it raised $25 million in a pre-Series A round. Earlier this year, the company had already raised $8 million from investors including Lightspeed and South Park Commons, bringing total funding to $33 million. Nirva was founded in 2025 by two former Meta Reality Labs employees, Wei Lyu and Jason Chen, along with Hanying Hu, founder of a fashion and jewelry brand.
A pendant that listens only to its owner
Nirva's first device is a pendant that can also be worn as a bracelet. It weighs about eight grams and runs up to three days on a single charge. According to CEO Wei Lyu, the company wants to create a wearable that combines fashion and practical utility. “It's a piece of jewelry that focuses only on listening to your own speech. We are not a voice recorder or a meeting notes tool,” he said, emphasizing the difference from Taya, Vocci, and Sandbar Ring: the device passively listens constantly and models the user.
Approach to privacy
For ambient devices, privacy is a key issue, since people around the user may not want to be recorded. Nirva addresses the problem as follows: during onboarding, the user records samples of their own voice, on which a model is built, and during use the device filters out conversations and data from people nearby. In addition, by default the company does not store audio recordings and transcripts after processing. Before audio is deleted, the system tracks tone, pitch, volume, and speech rate — this is used to determine emotional characteristics.
Personal insights, not productivity
Nirva positions itself as a personal insights company rather than a productivity startup, although the app shows reminders and action items. The app analyzes speech and draws conclusions about the user's personality: behavioral patterns, surroundings, places visited, and daily notes, as well as insights about emotions and communication style. Lyu gave an example: the app reminded her to thank her mother for a favor she had forgotten about. “We are building a tool that helps people improve self-understanding, self-compassion, and self-awareness,” she said.
Launch and competition
Pre-orders for the device open in November, with shipments to first users planned for the end of the year. The $249 pendant will be available in silver, matte silver, black, and gold. In the AI wearables market, Nirva has competitors: Taya, founded by former Apple employees and also developing “smart jewelry,” as well as Friend and Bee, which make companion gadgets. Market context: Amazon released the Bee wearable, a former Plaud executive launched the startup Ambi with ambient apps and plans for its own hardware, and Apple introduced Voice Intelligence features at its September iPhone launch.
