Humane, founded by ex-Apple engineers Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno, raised $100 million today to establish an “integrated device and cloud services platform” for AI.
Humane’s work is mysterious. In its Series C funding round, Kindred Ventures led the round. In addition, SK Networks, LG Technology Ventures, Microsoft, Volvo Cars Tech Fund, Tiger Global, Qualcomm Ventures, and OpenAI CEO and co-founder Sam Altman invested.
Humane has secured $230 million from Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and others. As a result, it now employs 200 people.
“This Series C round presented an opportunity to raise money through equity and to bring on board great VCs and strategic partners who would like to participate in equity as the company grows,” Chaudhri emailed TechCrunch. “At Humane, we’re building a first-of-its-kind device and services platform—we’re growing fast and focused on innovation, research, and development.”
Humane made those grandiose promises after hiring scores of decorated ex-Apple executives who designed the iPhone’s touchscreen keyboard, Apple’s industrial design, and iCloud, Apple Pay, and Home infrastructure. Chaudhri designed the iPhone home screen, while Bongiorno led iPhone, iPad, and Mac software development.
Chaudhri and Bongiorno aren’t ready to discuss Humane’s five-year progress. The husband-wife team promises a spring unveiling. Humane’s patent portfolio and hiring offer hints.
Humane applied to the USPTO in 2020 for a “body-worn device” with a “laser projection system” to identify real-world items and apply digital imagery. Three years ago, Humane hired Android developers to produce apps for “personal live broadcasting,” “senior monitoring,” “memory recall,” and “personal guide.”
A leaked copy of Humane’s 2021 pitch deck informs John Gruber’s view. “The deck describes something akin to a Star Trek communicator badge, with an AI-connected always-on camera saving photos and videos to the cloud, and lidar sensors for world-mapping and detecting hand gestures.” Today, Humane disclosed numerous important investment partnerships.
Humane said Microsoft would provide cloud processing capacity, and SK Networks would distribute its platform and services. Humane is working with OpenAI to put its tech into the startup’s device, whatever it is. LG is working with Humane on R&D projects for its next product lifecycle and adapting Humane tech for smart home devices. Volvo is working with Humane on a prospective automobile offering.
If the patent is accurate, Chaudhri indicates Qualcomm is a partner. The patent diagrams depict a Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU, camera, 3D camera, depth sensor, heart rate sensor, wearable battery, and laser projection system.
It’s imprecise, from the “potential automotive industry offering” to the absence of practical details. Given Altman’s engagement, is the OpenAI partnership just a customer-vendor relationship? How could Humane’s innovation fit into smart homes and cars? Humane says it prioritizes “trust and privacy from day zero.” Chaudhri replicated Humane’s AI investment.
“AI can transform most aspects of our everyday lives, but it requires a lot of data,” she said. “We are creating devices and platforms for a new era requiring constant development and redevelopment. So I’m skeptical of startups with tremendous funding but no marketable product.
Magic Leap, which generated huge fanfare before showing its prototype, faded and nearly died. Magic Leap, like Humane, had AT&T, Google, Alibaba Group, and Lucasfilm as investors. Magic Leap’s tech underperformed, prompting investors to lower its valuation and management to switch from consumer to enterprise.
Magic Leap is only one recent hardware failure. Andy Rubin’s Essential closed after promising a full ecosystem but delivering only a single Android smartphone. Nothing, founded by ex-OnePlus CEO Carl Pei, has had some success but also faced obstacles.
Gruber’s blog adds: I’m told Apple doesn’t want Humane. Chaudhri was seen as taking too much credit for teamwork, and Bongiorno left on bad terms. I don’t know if that’s accurate, but that’s how some in Cupertino see him.” Humane will not fail like Magic Leap, Essential, or Nothing. One is better expectation management. Even successful hardware startups fail. Take Pebble or Nest, another ex-Apple startup.
In summary, history shows that the best IT talent under one roof is no guarantee. Kindred founder and managing partner Steve Jang said: “AI and contextual computing blew us away when I first met the Humane team and led their seed round in 2019. The founders, Bethany and Imran, and much of the team led by Patrick Gates, CTO, came from Apple and helped design and construct the iPhone, iPad, Watch, and iOS platforms.
They saw smartphone power and restrictions there. We were impressed by their goal of humanizing computing at our first meeting. The Humane team is making remarkable strides toward human-centric and enabling AI. A tempting prospect? Sure. I’ll believe it when I see it.