Humane Inc., the company founded in 2018 by former Apple executives Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno, has announced the successful completion of a $100 million Series C funding round. This latest funding has enabled the company to secure strategic investors, partners, and collaborators ahead of the launch of its initial product offering this spring.
Humane is developing a first-of-its-kind software platform and consumer device built from the ground up for artificial intelligence (AI). The company’s mission is to deliver the next era of personal mobile computing, driven by AI. The latest funding round was led by Kindred Ventures, with participation from existing investors Tiger Global, Valia Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures, Forerunner Ventures, Lachy Groom, and Sam Altman, founder of OpenAI.
New strategic investors and partners, including Hico Capital, Microsoft, Volvo Cars Tech Fund, LG Technology Ventures, Top Tier Capital, Hudson Bay Capital, and Socium Ventures, also participated in the funding round. Humane has also secured strategic collaborations with some of the world’s most influential technology companies.
Humane has partnered with Microsoft to bring its services platform to market. The collaboration with OpenAI will integrate its technology into the Humane device and deliver OpenAI and Humane AI experiences at scale to consumers. Humane’s future global expansion plans include a collaboration with SK Networks, which covers the ICT device distribution business in Korea and has an extensive global network, to build on the shared ethos of creating meaningful change in consumer technologies.
Humane’s initial device will focus on delivering the next generation of personal technology, and the company is exploring ways to bring its solutions into new personal domains in the future. A collaboration with LG will see the companies working closely on potential R&D projects for the next phase of Humane products, on the core technology included in future Humane devices, and on integration into the home technology space. Strategic investor Volvo Cars Tech Fund will work with Humane on a potential future collaboration, which would be the first example of Humane’s offering being applied to the automotive industry.
Humane’s Co-Founder, Imran Chaudhri, said, “Our first device will enable people to bring AI with them everywhere. It’s an exciting time, and we’ve been focused on how to build the platform and device that can fully harness the true power and potential of this technology.”
Steve Jang, Founder and Managing Partner of Kindred, commented, “We’re absolutely thrilled to continue to be a part of Humane’s journey since the seed of their vision to create a more fluid, powerful, and contextual computing experience for both leveraging and developing AI.”
Patrick Gates, CTO of Humane, added, “Our products are built on an integrated device and cloud platform that will allow us, and others, to create AI-driven experiences that feel natural, fun, and needed.”
The successful completion of the Series C funding round marks an important milestone for Humane, and the company is set to make significant progress in its mission to deliver the next era of personal mobile computing, driven by AI.
