Era raises $11M to build a software platform for AI gadgets

Source: TechCrunch

Showcase Event

Earlier in April, the startup Era held a gathering of artists who had received its developer kit in New York. The artists demonstrated a variety of mini‑gadgets they built, such as:

• A souvenir that tells you facts and jokes about France
• A phone‑like device that looks at your stocks and tells if today is the day you can quit your job (see demo)
• A gadget that reports air‑quality readings (see demo)

These experimental devices share a common foundation: Era’s platform, which lets hardware makers create AI agents and orchestrations for AI‑enabled devices. Era does not build devices itself; instead, it provides a software layer that can add capabilities such as custom voice creation or intelligence to classic hardware like headphones.

Funding

Era has raised $11 million to date:

• $9 million seed round led by Abstract Ventures and BoxGroup, with participation from Collaborative Fund and Mozilla Ventures.
• $2 million pre‑seed round from Topology Ventures and Betaworks.

Individual angel investors include Flickr co‑founder Caterina Fake, iPhone keyboard creator Ken Kocienda, OAS founder Tony Wang, Little Guy co‑founder Daniel Kuntz, Sandbar co‑founder Mina Fahmi, ex‑Rabbit CPO ShaoBo Z, and Poetry Camera creator Kelin Zhang.

Team and Background

Era was founded last year by:

• Liz Dorman (CEO) – previously worked on AI orchestration at Humane and transitioned to HP after its acquisition.
• Alex Ollman (CTO) – former HP engineer focused on agentic frameworks for enterprises.
• Megan Gole (CPO) – previously at Sutter Hill Ventures on the Jony Ive and Sam Altman‑backed io project before joining Era.

Platform Details

Era’s orchestration platform distinguishes itself with dynamic routing across models and the ability to manage real‑world constraints such as connectivity, according to investor Casey Caruso (founder and managing partner at Topology Ventures).

Key capabilities:

• Access to over 130 LLMs from more than 14 providers.
• Support for diverse form factors, including glasses, jewelry, and home speakers.
• Designed to scale across millions of devices while also accommodating custom AI experiments for brands.

“I think one of the incredible things that we can do with these AI models today is that you can replace that app layer. So what we’re building is the intelligence layer to allow anyone to create these types of intelligent objects, intelligent devices.” – Liz Dorman

Vision and Market Context

Era envisions a future where AI gadgets become ubiquitous, allowing users to choose their own memory and model providers in a privacy‑preserving manner. The company plans to open its platform to the open‑source and maker community, encouraging experimentation across a wide range of hardware.

The AI hardware space currently lacks a clear success model. Notable examples:

• Humane – acquired by HP.
• Rabbit – currently silent.
• Plaud – gaining traction in meeting note‑taking.
• Sandbar and Taya – early‑stage startups exploring AI‑enhanced wearables.

Era believes that as more use cases emerge, certain AI devices will achieve lasting adoption, leading to a “Cambrian explosion” of intelligent hardware possibilities.

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