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Ambient AI is getting a lot of attention. Amazon launched a new device worn on the wrist with Bee. A former Plaud executive launched AI apps that listen in the background through a startup called Ambi, which also plans to make its own hardware. Apple introduced Voice Intelligence features when it launched its iPhone in September. Now, a company called Nirva is betting on a pendant that looks like jewelry and is designed to listen only to the person wearing it.

Today, the startup announced that it had raised another $25 million in a funding round before its Series A round. This adds to the $8 million it raised earlier in the year from investors such as Lightspeed and South Park Commons. In total, the company has raised $33 million.

Nirva was founded in 2025 by Wei Lyu and Jason Chen, two former employees of Meta Reality Labs, along with Hanying Hu, who founded a fashion and jewelry brand.

The company's first device is a pendant that can also be worn as a bracelet. It weighs only about eight grams, so it is easy to wear all day. Its battery lasts up to three days on one charge.

In the future, Nirva plans to release more devices.

In a call with TechCrunch, Nirva CEO Lyu said the company wanted to make a wearable device that fits in with fashion while also being useful to people.

“This is a piece of jewelry that only focuses on listening to your own speech. We are not like a voice recorder or like a meeting note taker. One key difference between us, Taya, Vocci, or Sandbar Ring is that we’re always passively listening to your own speech. So it’s always on. It keeps modeling the user and modeling your mind,” Lyu said.

Privacy is a major concern with devices that listen in the background because people may not want to be recorded all the time. Devices such as Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses have also made people around their wearers worry that they might be recorded.

Nirva tries to solve this problem by asking users to record short samples of their voice when they first set up the device. It uses these samples to build a model of the user's voice. When the device is in use, it filters out conversations and other data from people nearby. This means it records only the person wearing it.

Nirva also does not, by default, keep audio recordings or written transcripts after it has processed conversations.

Nirva wants people to see it as a company that helps users understand themselves, rather than as a startup focused on productivity. Still, its app shows reminders and tasks users may want to complete, along with suggestions for how to do them. Lyu said the company wants its app to help people be more thoughtful and supportive toward others in their lives.

“I think there’s no universal way to help everyone to solve their problems. We are building a tool to help people to improve their self-understanding, self-compassion, and self-awareness,” Lyu said.

The companion app studies what users say and creates insights about what it thinks their speech reveals about their personality. These insights can include patterns in their behavior, the people who are often around them, places they have visited, and other notes about their daily lives. Lyu stressed that the app gives users information about their emotions and communication style, as well as ideas for how they might improve.

Wyu shared an example of a time when she forgot to thank her mother for something. Later, the app reminded her about it.

The company also said that before it deletes the audio, it can measure the speaker's tone, pitch, volume, and speaking speed. These details can help it understand emotions, and the app then shows users the results.

Nirva plans to start taking orders for its devices in November and hopes to ship them to early users by the end of the year. The device will cost $249 and come in silver, brushed silver, black, and gold.

Nirva faces competition from other companies making AI wearables. One is Taya, which was founded by former Apple employees and is also making smart jewelry. Startups such as Friend and Bee are also trying to create gadgets that act as companions.