Humane Raises $230m

Humane, a five year-old startup founded by former Apple employees, has had a Series C funding round  raising $100 million taking its total VC funding to date to $230 million.

Humane, a five year-old startup founded by former Apple employees, has had a Series C funding round  raising $100 million taking its total VC funding to date to $230 million.

Humane says it is building an  “integrated device and cloud services platform” for AI.

“Our first device will enable people to bring AI with them everywhere,” says co-founder Imran Chaudhri,  “we’ve been focused on how to build the platform and device that can fully harness the true power and potential of this technology.”

Investors include  Kindred Ventures, SK Networks, LG Technology Ventures, zMicrosoft, Volvo Cars Tech Fund, Tiger Global, Qualcomm Ventures and OpenAI CEO and co-founder Sam Altman. 

The company has 200 employees.

 In 2020, Humane applied for a patent  for a body-worn device  that uses a “laser projection system” instead of a display.  Drawings in the patent show a Qualcomm Snapdragon chip with a 3D camera, depth sensor, heart rate sensor and a wearable battery. 

 Humane has hired developers to create apps for “personal live broadcasting”.

The company is working  with SK Networks, Microsoft, Volvo and  ChatGPT developer OpenAI.

The LG collaboration is on R&D projects for the next phase of Humane products, on the core technology included in future Humane devices and on integration into the home technology space.

The Volvo involvement is on “a potential future collaboration which would be the first example of Humane’s offering being applied to the automotive industry. Like Humane, Volvo Cars develops technology to simplify life for its customers,” says Humane.