Zach Yadegari's New AI Startup Raises $10M, Launches Personal Assistant

Zach Yadegari, the founder of Cal AI, has launched a new startup called Persona, which aims to revolutionize personal assistant technology. The company has already raised $10 million in funding from investors like Vine Ventures and Z Fellows founder Cory Levy.

Yadegari’s previous venture, Cal AI, was acquired by MyFitnessPal for an undisclosed sum after it gained significant traction in the market. The app had generated over $30 million in annual revenue in just two years before being sold to its new owner.

After leaving his role at MyFitnessPal, Yadegari began working on Persona, a personal AI assistant that can be controlled through a wearable band or via iMessage text messages. The startup has already attracted a few thousand beta users and generated five figures in preorder revenue from the sale of these bands.

Persona’s device is designed to provide users with a more private and secure experience compared to other consumer AI assistants on the market. Unlike some competitors, Persona doesn’t run its AI model or store user data on the device itself; instead, it relies on cloud-based processing and encrypts all data in transit and at rest.

The startup has also implemented safeguards against phishing and prompt-injection attempts, which can be a major concern for agents like OpenAI. Additionally, Persona’s agent is designed to present unbiased recommendations during shopping research by separating sponsored results from organic ones.

Yadegari envisions a future where users will have access to a single super app powered by an AI assistant that integrates various utility apps into one seamless experience. He hopes to make Persona even more proactive in the long run, offering help and solving problems before they become apparent to the user.

The wearable band for Persona is expected to be available in December, with an accompanying app also in development. The startup’s current business model relies on advertising revenue from sponsored results during shopping research, but Yadegari emphasizes that user data will not be sold to advertisers or data brokers.