Former Apple engineer raises $5M for a note-taking pendant that solely information your voice

Transcription and note-taking has emerged as one of many prime use circumstances for wearable devices as AI fashions advance voice-to-text tech. We’re even seeing some differentiation, with startups like Plaud and Pocket specializing on merchandise that may report and summarize conferences. Others like Buddy, Omi, and Amazon-owned Bee are exploring type components like pendants and wristbands to present folks a technique to report interactions and their every day lives.

There’s been a little bit of controversy round that latter facet, as folks understandably don’t need to be recorded by somebody with out consent. A startup referred to as Taya by former Apple design engineer Elena Wagenmans is attempting to handle these privateness issues with a tool that information solely the person’s voice. As a bonus, the machine masquerades as jewellery: It’s designed to be worn as a nifty pendant.

Priced at $89 for preorders, the Taya Necklace contains a button which you can faucet to start out and cease recording; the mic is off by default. The startup additionally ships an accompanying iOS app that saves your notes and allows you to ask questions on them by means of an AI-based chat characteristic.

In contrast to lots of its older rivals, that are constructing for a variety of use circumstances, Taya’s focus is on guaranteeing that the machine solely captures the person’s voice. Throughout onboarding, the app asks you to report a voice snippet, which it makes use of throughout recording to prioritize the person’s voice and decrease all the things else. The corporate mentioned it’s experimenting utilizing directional mics to assist with this.

Taya mentioned on Wednesday that it had raised $5 million in a seed funding spherical led by MaC Enterprise Capital and Feminine Founders Fund, with participation from a16z Speedrun.

Wagenmans based the startup in 2024 with Cinnamon Sipper and Amy Zhou, who additionally labored beforehand at Apple. Sipper and Zhou have since left the corporate.

Wagenmans mentioned she needed to create a handsome wearable that solely works for the person as a result of folks typically don’t use these units owing to issues round social picture and privateness. The corporate’s ethos is much like rivals like Sandbar and Pebble, that are aiming to construct private note-taking units.

“We realized that there’s a lot of utility which you can present, being a single-player [gadget]. Basically, we need to seize your voice, not the room that you just’re in or the opposite folks,” she informed TechCrunch.

Wagenmans mentioned the startup is experimenting with completely different mechanisms to make it simpler for customers to take notes, and likewise get suggestions from the pendant that their be aware is saved.

Presently, the corporate has 5 full-time staff, together with a number of contractors, who work from its San Francisco workplace in particular person.

Adrian Fenty, managing associate at MaC Enterprise Capital, mentioned Taya’s positioning as a privacy-first machine that doesn’t appear to be a gadget will assist it scale past early adopters.

“We’re excited in regards to the class, however would truly place Taya exterior of the notetaker bucket. These merchandise are ambient recorders; they seize conferences and conversations round you. Taya’s intentional, single-player seize is targeted on simply you. We imagine that Taya generally is a firm that aids human work and private evolution, and helps people to know their very own conduct whereas making it extra enjoyable within the course of,” Fenty mentioned.

The story has been up to date to mirror that the $89 worth is the preorder worth of the machine.