Cal AI’s 19-year-old founder just raised $10M for his new AI startup
Cal AI cofounder Zach Yadegari raised $10 million for Persona, an AI assistant with a $179 wearable band.
Zach Yadegari, cofounder of calorie-tracking app Cal AI, raised $10 million for Persona, a personal AI assistant startup. Vine Ventures led the round, with Z Fellows founder Cory Levy and Collective Global participating. Persona is in a free iMessage beta with a few thousand users and plans a $179 wearable band for December that activates by button or wrist flick rather than continuous listening. Models and data run in Persona’s cloud with encryption; the company says it will not sell conversations and is adding phishing and prompt-injection safeguards, while its shopping feature may show ads.