Aina, a design-led consumer hardware company, has raised $5.5 million in seed funding to develop a general-purpose interface designed for AI and agent-based computing, moving beyond traditional touchscreens and keyboards. The round was led by Redstart Labs and 360 ONE Asset, with participation from MIXI Global Investments, Antler, Blume Founders Fund, and angel investors including Kunal Shah and Tikhon Bernstam. The company has opened a waitlist for a pilot of the interface, which has been developed in stealth.
Founded in May 2025 by Apoorv Shankar, former VP of Hardware at Ultrahuman, Aina previously operated under the name Project Mirage while researching human-computer interaction. The company showcased experimental interfaces at CES 2026 targeting everyday tasks like meetings, food ordering, and cab booking, and later launched Dune, a context-aware keypad for Mac, shipping hundreds of units to early adopters.
Shankar said current devices require excessive manual input for repetitive tasks and argued that as AI agents grow more capable of understanding context and acting independently, interfaces should shift toward simply capturing human approval rather than requiring active navigation.
Redstart Labs’ Vibhore Sharma and 360 ONE’s Abhishek Nag both said the shift toward AI-driven computing represents a new hardware category, comparing it to past interface transitions like the graphical user interface and smartphone.
Featured image: Credit: Aina
