Sesame AI Startup Secures $250M Funding, Launches Smart Glasses Beta
Sesame AI Startup Secures Major Funding and Launches Beta Smart Glasses
San Francisco, CA - Conversational AI startup Sesame has announced a $250 million Series B funding round led by Sequoia Capital. Founded by former Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe and Ubiquity6 CTO Ankit Kumar, the company is now offering beta access to its groundbreaking smart glasses technology.
The Future of Wearable AI
The Sesame smart glasses integrate an AI personal assistant that users can interact with through natural speech. Early technical reviews describe the experience as "truly interesting" and "naturally spoken," with the system capturing authentic conversational rhythms and emotions.
"This isn't just text-to-speech conversion," explained a Sequoia spokesperson. "Sesame's technology directly generates expressive speech output that mimics human conversation patterns."
From Stealth Mode to Market Disruption
The company first emerged from stealth mode in February 2025 with demo voices named "Maya" and "Miles" that attracted over 1 million visitors within weeks. Users logged more than five million minutes of conversations during this initial testing phase.
The upcoming smart glasses promise:
- High-quality audio output
- Visual perception capabilities (the AI can "see" what users see)
- Stylish design appealing to mainstream consumers
All-Star Leadership Team
Sesame boasts an impressive roster of VR/AR veterans:
- Nate Mitchell, Oculus co-founder, as Chief Product Officer
- Hans Hartmann, former Fitbit executive, as COO
- Ryan Brown, ex-Reality Labs engineering director
- Angela Gayles, former Meta executive
The company hasn't announced a commercial release date for its smart glasses, noting that "hardware development takes time."
Beta Testing Now Available
Alongside the funding announcement, Iribe revealed on platform X that Sesame's iOS app has entered early beta testing. Selected participants will experience:
- Advanced search capabilities
- Natural language processing
- Cognitive computing features (described as "thinking" functions)
The beta program includes strict confidentiality agreements prohibiting public discussion of features or performance.
Key Points:
✅ $250M Series B funding secured from Sequoia Capital and others
👓 Smart glasses beta now available with AI assistant functionality
🗣️ Natural conversation technology praised for emotional expressiveness
🔍 iOS app offers search, text processing and cognitive features