Sesame, a conversational AI startup and smart glasses maker, has raised a $250 million Series B round and is opening up its beta to a select group of testers, the company announced Tuesday.
The startup, headed by former Oculus co-founder and CEO Brendan Iribe and Ankit Kumar, former CTO of AR startup Ubiquity6, is working to create a personal AI agent that interacts with users using a natural-sounding human voice. The company plans to embed the personal AI agent into lightweight eyewear that is designed to be worn throughout the day and which users can interact with via voice.
The startup first emerged from stealth in February, when it offered two demos of its technology โ AI voices named โMayaโ and โMiles.โ The voices were soon accessed by more than a million people within the first few weeks, who generated more than five million minutes of conversation, according to a new post by Sesame investor Sequoia about its participation in the startupโs Series B.
โโฆthe experience was unlike anything weโd used before. Sesameโs conversational layer felt different,โ the post states. โIt doesnโt just translate LLM output into audioโit generates speech directly, capturing the rhythm, emotion, and expressiveness of real dialogue.โ
Early reviews of the tech demo seem to agree, as one report by The Verge described Sesame as โgenuinely funโ and โnatural-sounding.โ
Sesame says its upcoming glasses will offer โhigh-quality audioโ and access to an AI companion that will โobserve the world alongside you.โ
Sequoia also noted the smartglasses Sesame is building will be fashion forward, so they look like something youโd choose to wear even if they didnโt offer built-in AI technology. A timeframe for their availability is not yet being shared; as Sequoia noted, โhardware takes time.โ
On that front, Sesame may have an advantage. Its founding team also includes Oculus co-founder Nate Mitchell as its Chief Product Officer, former Oculus COO and Fitbit exec Hans Hartmann as COO, as well as former Oculus engineer manager and Reality Labs engineering director Ryan Brown, and longtime Facebook and Meta exec Angela Gayles.
In addition to sharing the news of its Series B, Iribe announced on X that Sesame is now opening an early beta of the Sesame iOS app. The app experience will allow testers to get hands-on with the AI technology being built, as the app will have the ability to โsearch, text and think,โ he says.
Beta testers are asked to keep their testing experiences confidential for the time being, which includes not discussing features or results beyond the official beta test forums.
Investors in the Sesame Series B include Sequoia, Spark, and other undisclosed names, according to Iribe.
