Sesame AI Startup Raises $250 Million Series B, Opens Beta for Smart‑Glasses Companion
Key Points
- Sesame secures $250 million Series B financing led by Sequoia.
- Founders include former Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe and ex‑Ubiquity6 CTO Ankit Kumar.
- Early demos attracted over a million users and more than 5 million minutes of conversation.
- Beta of the Sesame iOS app opens to select testers for hands‑on AI interaction.
- Smart‑glasses will embed a natural‑sounding AI voice assistant for daily use.
- Leadership team features multiple former Meta and Oculus executives.
- Hardware timeline not yet announced; company emphasizes design appeal.
Sesame, a conversational AI and smart‑glasses startup founded by former Oculus executives, announced a $250 million Series B financing round. The company is now opening an early beta of its iOS app, giving select users hands‑on experience with its voice‑driven AI agent. Sesame’s leadership team includes Brendan Iribe, Ankit Kumar, Nate Mitchell, Hans Hartmann and other former Meta engineers. The funding will support development of lightweight eyewear that integrates the AI companion, which has already generated millions of minutes of conversation in early demos.
Funding Milestone
Sesame disclosed that it has closed a $250 million Series B round, marking a significant capital infusion for the company’s next phase of development. The round was led by Sequoia, with participation from Spark and additional undisclosed investors. This financing will be used to advance both the software platform and the hardware that will house the AI companion.
Leadership and Vision
The startup was founded by former Oculus co‑founder and CEO Brendan Iribe and former Ubiquity6 CTO Ankit Kumar. The executive team also includes Oculus co‑founder Nate Mitchell as chief product officer, former Oculus COO and Fitbit executive Hans Hartmann as chief operating officer, and long‑time Meta veterans such as Ryan Brown and Angela Gayles. Together, they aim to create a personal AI agent that interacts with users through a natural‑sounding human voice, delivering a conversational experience that feels distinct from other large‑language‑model integrations.
Product Roadmap
Sesame’s core product vision centers on lightweight smart glasses that can be worn throughout the day. The glasses are designed to embed the AI companion, enabling users to converse, search, and receive contextual information via voice. Early demos featured two AI voices named “Maya” and “Miles,” which attracted more than a million users and generated over 5 million minutes of conversation within the first weeks of release. The company stresses that its speech synthesis goes beyond simple text‑to‑speech, capturing rhythm, emotion, and expressiveness to mimic real dialogue.
Beta Launch and Community Response
In conjunction with the funding announcement, Sesame opened an early beta of its iOS app. Selected testers can interact with the AI companion, exploring capabilities such as searching, texting, and “thinking” as described by Iribe. Participants are asked to keep details confidential until official channels are opened. Early feedback highlighted the naturalness of the voice interactions, with reports describing the experience as “genuinely fun” and “natural‑sounding.”
Outlook
While a concrete release timeline for the smart glasses has not been disclosed, Sesame’s leadership acknowledges that hardware development takes time. The company’s fashion‑forward design approach aims to make the glasses appealing even without AI functionality. With substantial backing and a seasoned team, Sesame is positioned to push forward its vision of an everyday AI companion integrated into wearable technology.