Nirva Raises $25M Pre-Series A for an AI Pendant That Listens only to its Wearer

San Francisco AI wearable startup Nirva has raised $25 million in a pre-Series A round. The company announced the funding on October 22, 2026.

The round brings Nirva’s total funding to $33 million. It follows an $8 million raise earlier this year from investors including Lightspeed and South Park Commons.

Nirva makes a $249 AI pendant that listens only to the person wearing it. Orders open in November, and the first units ship by the end of 2026.

Nirva funding round and investors

Nirva did not name the investors in its $25 million round, TechCrunch reported. The company also did not disclose a valuation.

Nirva’s earlier $8 million came from investors including Lightspeed and South Park Commons. Traded VC reported that Lightspeed led that seed round in July 2026.

South Park Commons was the first investor. Lyu said the company started with $400,000 from South Park Commons, in an interview with GeekPark.

Nirva has now raised $33 million in about four months since its seed round.

How the Nirva AI pendant works

The Nirva pendant weighs about eight grams and can also be worn as a bracelet. Its battery lasts up to three days on one charge.

The device listens all day, but only to its wearer. During setup, users record short voice samples, and Nirva builds a voice model from them.

When the pendant picks up other people’s speech, it filters it out. Lyu described the device to TechCrunch as “a piece of jewelry that only focuses on listening to your own speech.”

By default, Nirva keeps no audio or transcripts after processing. Before deleting the audio, it measures tone, pitch, volume and speed to infer emotional patterns.

The companion app turns that data into insights about the wearer’s emotions, communication style, habits and the people around them. It also shows reminders and action items.

Nirva will sell the device in silver, brushed silver, black and gold.

Who founded Nirva

Wei Lyu and Jason Chen worked at Meta Reality Labs before starting Nirva in 2025. Lyu, the CEO, spent four and a half years at Meta during a decade in wearables, she told GeekPark.

Co-founder Hanying Hu previously founded a fashion and jewelry brand. Her background shapes Nirva’s design, which aims to look like jewelry rather than a gadget.

Nirva has about 20 employees. The company is hiring engineers, product designers and marketers in San Francisco.

For background on the Meta division the founders came from, see our coverage of Meta’s AI and hardware moves.

What Nirva will do with the $25 million

The new funding takes Nirva through its product launch and into the next generations of its hardware, Lyu told GeekPark.

Nirva plans to release more devices over time. It has not said what form those devices will take.

Demand signals so far come from the company. Nirva says its waitlist has passed 9,000 people, up from about 3,000 before launch.

AI wearable funding and Nirva’s competitors

Nirva enters a crowded market for always-on AI devices. Amazon launched new Bee devices in October, priced from $75.

Startups are raising money for the same idea. Ambi, founded by a former Plaud executive, raised $26 million on October 12 for an app that listens in the background. Taya, started by a former Apple engineer, raised $5 million in March for a note-taking pendant.

Nirva positions itself as a personal insights company rather than a productivity tool. Meeting recorders such as Plaud focus on notes, while Nirva focuses on the wearer’s own speech and mood.

Privacy remains the main question for the category. Nirva’s voice filtering and default deletion are its answer, though The AI Insider noted the device still analyzes tone and emotion before deleting audio.

Lightspeed’s early backing fits a wider pattern in AI seed deals. Our list of the most active seed investors in AI startups tracks which firms write those first checks.

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