Ultrahuman ex-VP, AI agent control device startup Aina raises $5.5M
Original: Ultrahuman’s former hardware VP raises $5.5M for devices that control AI agents, not just record you
Why This Matters
Signals growing investor and founder interest in active AI agent control hardware beyond passive wearable recorders.
Bengaluru/SF-based startup Aina, founded by Ultrahuman's former hardware VP Apoorv Shankar, raised $5.5M led by Redstart Labs and 360 ONE. The company builds AI agent-controlling interface devices, with its first product 'Dune' — a three-key context-aware macro keyboard — set to ship first.
Aina (formerly Project Mirage), a Bengaluru- and San Francisco-based hardware startup, announced a $5.5 million funding round led by Redstart Labs (Infoedge, India) and 360 ONE, with participation from MIXI Global Investments, Antler, and Blume Founders Fund. Notable angel investors include WhatsApp's newly appointed head Kunal Shah, Razorpay co-founders Harshil Mathur and Shashank Kumar, and Scribd founder Tikhon Bernstam.
Founded by Apoorv Shankar — former VP of Hardware at smart ring maker Ultrahuman and previously founder of hardware interface startup LazyCo — Aina aims to build AI interface devices that actively control AI agents rather than passively record user activity. Shankar cited disappointment with early AI hardware like Rabbit and Humane Pin as motivation.
Aina developed three devices: Dune (a three-key macro keyboard), Radiance (a tabletop video call remote with dial and buttons), and Shift (a single-tap agentic button that triggers AI tasks on a connected phone). Early testing showed Dune was the most popular, prompting Aina to ship it first while bundling features from the other two devices into it. The company plans to test a next, undisclosed device with select users in coming weeks. Shankar indicated the new device will not be a passive 'context capture' gadget.