Nirva Raises $33M for an AI Pendant That Listens Only to You

Nirva raises $33 million for its listening pendant Nirva has raised $25 million in a pre-Series A round, bringing the company’s total funding to $33 million. The new financing adds to the $8 million it raised earlier in the year from investors including Lightspeed and South Park Commons. Founded in 2025, Nirva was started by Wei Lyu and Jason Chen, both former employees of Meta Reality Labs, alongside Hanying Hu, founder of a fashion and jewelry brand. Lyu is the company’s CEO. The startup is entering a growing market for ambient AI devices, with a different emphasis: a jewelry-like wearable that focuses on listening to its wearer’s speech. Nirva says it is not a voice recorder or meeting note taker. Instead, the company describes its approach as passively listening to the wearer and modeling the user over time. That focus also shapes Nirva’s approach to privacy. During onboarding, users record voice snippets that the company uses to build a model of their voice. The device then filters out conversations and data from people nearby, so it captures only the wearer. By default, Nirva does not retain audio or transcripts after processing. A lightweight wearable designed to hear its wearer Nirva’s first device is a jewelry-like pendant that can also be worn as a bracelet. At around eight grams, it is light enough to wear all day, and its battery lasts up to three days on a single charge. The device is designed to focus on the wearer’s speech rather than act as a general voice recorder or meeting note taker. During onboarding, users record snippets of their voice. Nirva uses those samples to build a model of the wearer, then filters out conversations or other data captured from people nearby. The company says the device is always passively listening for the wearer’s speech. That approach is intended to address concerns about ambient devices recording people around them. Nirva says it records only the wearer, and audio data and transcripts are not retained by default after conversations have been processed. Before discarding the audio, the system can track tone, pitch, volume and speed, which the company says can help it derive emotion-related insights for the app. The app turns speech into personal insights Nirva is positioning itself as a personal insights company, rather than a productivity startup. Its aim, CEO Wei Lyu said, is to help people build self-understanding, self-compassion and self-awareness. The app can still surface reminders and action items, along with suggestions for how users might act on them. The companion app parses a wearer’s speech and generates insights it associates with their personality and daily life. These can include recurring patterns, the people who tend to be around them, places they have visited and other daily notes. It also highlights emotions and communication style, and suggests ways users might improve. Lyu described how the app once reminded her that she had forgotten to thank her mother. To inform its emotion-related insights, Nirva says it analyzes tone, pitch, volume and speed before discarding the audio. By default, the company does not retain audio data or transcripts after processing conversations. The device is designed to capture only the wearer’s speech, filtering out conversations and data from people nearby. Together, the app’s observations and nudges are intended to help users show up for others in a better way. Pricing, launch plans and AI wearable rivals Nirva plans to begin taking orders for its devices in November, with early shipments targeted for the end of the year. The pendant is priced at $249 and will come in four finishes: silver, brushed silver, black and gold. The pendant is Nirva’s first device, but the company says it aims to release more devices over time. It is entering a growing field of AI wearables, with rivals pursuing different approaches to intelligent jewelry and companion gadgets. Former Apple employees’ startup Taya is also building intelligent jewelry, while Friend and Bee are developing companion gadgets. The competition reflects broader interest in ambient AI devices, though Nirva’s launch plan centers on its own pendant and its focus on listening to the wearer’s speech.