Humane raises $100M in Series C round as it builds device and services platform for the AI era

Humane, Inc. today announced it has raised a $100 million Series C round and secured a roster of significant strategic investors, new partnerships, and collaborators ahead of the reveal of its initial product offering this spring.

Humane, founded in 2018 by ex-Apple team Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno, is creating a first-of-its-kind software platform and consumer device built from the ground up for artificial intelligence (AI). This raise will enable Humane to accelerate its mission to deliver the next era of personal mobile computing, which will be one driven by AI.

The 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.

The round also included participation from new strategic investors and partners including Hico Capital (US-based investment arm of SK networks), Microsoft, Volvo Cars Tech Fund, LG Technology Ventures, Top Tier Capital, Hudson Bay Capital, and Socium Ventures.

Alongside the investment, Humane has secured strategic collaborations with some of the most influential technology companies in the world:

• Humane has partnered with Microsoft to bring its services platform to market. This will see Humane leverage the best cloud infrastructure in AI.
• A 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.

While the initial Humane device will be focused on delivering the next generation of personal technology, 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. Like Humane, Volvo Cars develops technology to simplify life for its customers and the partnership is built on the shared values of safety, trust, and privacy.

Imran Chaudhri, Co-Founder of Humane, commented: “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.

We are extremely proud to announce this industry-leading line-up of partners and collaborators, and we are thrilled to work closely with them to bring Humane’s vision to market. We are at the beginning of the next era of compute, and believe that together we can begin the journey to fundamentally reshape the role of technology in people’s lives.”

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Steve Jang, Founder, and Managing Partner of Kindred Ventures commented: “We’re 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. After serving in their past lives as an integral part of building the smartphone era of computing, this incredible team has been laser-focused on enabling and amplifying human ideas, actions, moments, and modalities more creatively and delightfully. As we enter into this next wave of AI, we’re so inspired by Humane’s mission to develop a device and services platform designed and built from the ground up for this new world, and we welcome our existing and new co-investors and strategic partners to this transformational journey.”

Patrick Gates, CTO of Humane, commented: “We’ve been building for over four years now, going from a small group around a conference table to a world-class team getting ready to ship a product and platform, along with some of the most influential technology and AI companies in the world. 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.”