New AI Agent Venture
Zach Yadegari, the teen co-founder of calorie tracking app Cal AI, has launched Persona, a new AI agent startup, and already raised $10 million. Vine Ventures led the round, with Z Fellows founder Cory Levy and Collective Global participating.
In March, MyFitnessPal acquired Cal AI for an undisclosed sum after it achieved significant growth in app store rankings. The acquisition followed the app generating over $30 million in annual revenue in under two years.
Yadegari left the parent company in June to pursue his next project. He is currently developing Persona, a personal AI assistant that will include a $179 wearable hardware component.
Hardware and Privacy
The Persona wearable band is designed to function as an AI assistant. Unlike ambient AI devices that are always recording, the band requires manual activation via a button or a specific wrist gesture.
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Yadegari emphasizes that the device is built with privacy in mind. The AI model operates in the cloud rather than on the device itself, with data encrypted during transit and at rest. Users maintain the ability to delete their stored information.
Yadegari also says that Persona is designed with user privacy in mind. Persona doesn’t run its AI model or store user data on the device. Instead, the model runs in Persona’s cloud, and user data is sent there. The assistant protects privacy by encrypting data in transit and at rest. Users can also delete their data, the company says.
The company states that user conversations will not be sold to advertisers or data brokers.
Security and Business Model
The team is implementing safeguards against common agent vulnerabilities such as phishing and prompt-injection attacks. Furthermore, the assistant is designed to restrict access to sensitive financial information, requiring user approval for purchases through external providers like Stripe Link.
Plus, he promises that Persona’s agent can’t see a user’s credit-card details and that purchases will require the user’s approval, with payment handled through external providers such as Stripe Link. Link is Stripe’s secure wallet designed for use by agents.
While the company does not sell user data, its business model incorporates advertising during shopping research. Yadegari claims the agent provides unbiased recommendations by separating the user's preferences from sponsored results.
Market Availability
The wearable bands are scheduled for release in December. Currently, Persona is available as a free beta product via iMessage, having already secured several thousand users and five figures in preorder revenue.
Persona is designed to handle common tasks including scheduling, travel booking, and communication management.
Yadegari envisions a future where disparate utility applications are consolidated into a single AI-powered assistant interface.
The long-term goal is to make the assistant more proactive, anticipating user needs to reduce reliance on traditional smartphone screen time.
Come see Zach Yadegari speak at TechCrunch Disrupt on “How to create viral growth and capitalize on it.” Disrupt takes place October 13-15 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. Before Cal AI, Yadegari built his first business in the ninth grade and sold it for $100,000 when he was 16.
