Bengaluru-based generative artificial intelligence-powered wearable startup NeoSapien has bagged Rs 80 lakh from Emcure Pharmaceutical’s executive director Namita Thapar in Shark Tank India's season 4.
Anupam Mittal, founder of Shaadi.com, was also onboarded as company’s founding advisor, the firm said in a statement.
NeoSapien is also in discussions with institutional investors in India and the US for their seed round. Thapar’s involvement also means mentorship, expansive network, and deep market insights for NeoSapien.
NeoSapien device is being touted as the "second brain", as its Neo S1 product listens to conversations and acts as a reminder and decision-making support for users.
Can this AI-powered necklace become your second brain?
It has caught the eye of the who’s who of the investors world. In June, 2024, Peak XV’s managing director Rajan Anandan took to X (formerly Twitter), saying that the product fully analysed the evenings' conversations with him and the founders of NeoSapien's Dhananjay and Aryan Yadav.
“I don’t just back good ideas—I back bold ones. When two boys from India came to me with a vision to create the world’s first AI-native neckwear, I thought, ‘This is crazy, and maybe it’s exactly what the world needs," Mittal said after becoming the founding advisor of the company.
The startup will use the funds secured from Shark Tank to expedite the launch of its initial production batches, expand research and development capabilities, and foster a community of early adopters.
The wearable AI market is projected to reach $138.5 billion by 2029, according to the statement. “If you are meeting your boss with your notes, you can write that in the app. It understands what you have spoken and what you have missed out. It will discreetly vibrate to remind you to talk about the pending points as well in real time,” Dhananjay told Moneycontrol in an interview in August 2024.
This writer used the device and the accompanying app, which aptly described the brief conversation he had with the founders just before the interview. The device summarised a 5-minute discussion about an accident in Bengaluru he witnessed while on the way into a brief paragraph.
The Yadavs who hail from Madhya Pradesh decided to register the company in 2024 after working in various corporate roles.
While Aryan is an IIT-Madras alumnus, Dhananjay completed his MBA from Bengaluru’s Christ University. Aryan has worked for companies such as ICICI Bank and Siemens Technology, while Dhananjay has worked for over a decade for firms such as Vodafone Idea and Razorpay.
Both of them have founded separate companies before joining hands for NeoSapiens.
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