Zach Yadegari, the teen co-founder of calorie tracking app Cal AI, has secured $10 million for his new AI agent startup, Persona. The round was led by Vine Ventures, with participation from Z Fellows founder Cory Levy and Collective Global. Yadegari left MyFitnessPal in June after it acquired Cal AI in March, following the app’s rise to over $30 million in annual revenue in under two years.
Persona is a personal AI assistant that can order food and rides, take notes, book travel and handle questions and emails. It will be paired with a $179 wearable band expected in December. Unlike always-listening devices, the band activates via a button or a flick of the wrist. Yadegari said the AI model runs in Persona’s cloud, with data encrypted in transit and at rest, users able to delete it, and conversations never sold to advertisers or data brokers. He added that the agent includes safeguards against phishing and prompt injection, cannot see credit card details, and requires user approval for purchases handled through providers like Stripe Link.
Persona is currently available as a free iMessage beta with a few thousand users, and the band has generated five figures in preorders. Yadegari said everyday utility apps will collapse into a single super app powered by an AI assistant.
Featured image: Credit: MyFitnessPal
