Nirva raises $33M for an AI pendant designed to listen only to its wearer

Nirva has raised $33 million in total funding for a pendant that the startup says listens only to its wearer. The company announced a $25 million pre-Series A round, adding to $8 million raised earlier this year from investors including Lightspeed and South Park Commons.

Founded in 2025 by former Meta Reality Labs employees Wei Lyu and Jason Chen, along with fashion and jewelry entrepreneur Hanying Hu, Nirva says its first device can be worn as a pendant or bracelet. It weighs around eight grams and has a battery life of up to three days per charge.

Users record voice snippets during setup so the device can build a model of their speech. Nirva says it filters out conversations from people nearby and, by default, keeps no audio or transcripts after processing. Before discarding audio, it tracks tone, pitch, volume and speed, which the company says help it infer emotion-related insights.

The companion app presents inferred insights about users’ patterns, relationships, places they visit, emotions and communication style. It can also show reminders and action items. CEO Wei Lyu described the product as a tool for self-understanding and self-awareness in an interview with TechCrunch.

Nirva plans to start taking orders in November and aims to ship to early users by the end of the year. The $249 device is slated to come in silver, brushed silver, black and gold. The company is entering a field that includes AI wearable and jewelry projects from Taya, Friend and Bee.