Ultrahuman’s former hardware VP raises $5.5M for devices that control AI agents, not just record you
Aina, previously known as Project Mirage, was founded by Apoorv Shankar, a former VP of Hardware at smart ring maker Ultrahuman. Before that, Shankar ran...
Key points
- Aina, previously known as Project Mirage, was founded by Apoorv Shankar, a former VP of Hardware at smart ring maker Ultrahuman.
- Before that, Shankar ran LazyCo, a hardware interface design startup that made gadgets, including a ring that let users control other devices like a smartphone.
- And as an engineer turned product designer, this was the hottest thing I could imagine myself building.” The startup’s first product is Dune, a three-key, context-aware “macro” keyboard — essentially a small keypad that runs pre-set shortcuts — that can control the mic and camera in a meeting and run shortcuts or scripts based on the app users are viewing.
- But in early testing, Aina found Dune was the most popular of the three and realized it could bundle features of the other two devices into the keypad.
What happened
Aina, previously known as Project Mirage, was founded by Apoorv Shankar, a former VP of Hardware at smart ring maker Ultrahuman. Before that, Shankar ran LazyCo, a hardware interface design startup that made gadgets, including a ring that let users control other devices like a smartphone. And as an engineer turned product designer, this was the hottest thing I could imagine myself building.” The startup’s first product is Dune, a three-key, context-aware “macro” keyboard — essentially a small keypad that runs pre-set shortcuts — that can control the mic and camera in a meeting and run shortcuts or scripts based on the app users are viewing. But in early testing, Aina found Dune was the most popular of the three and realized it could bundle features of the other two devices into the keypad. Aina said lessons from all three devices will feed into its next product. Shankar hinted that the new device won’t be a passive “context capture” gadget — the kind of always-listening ring or Plaud-style meeting notetaker that just records what’s happening around you — but rather a device built to control and invoke agents.