Era Raises $11 Million for AI Hardware Software Platform

Era has raised $11 million in total funding, including a $9 million seed round led by Abstract Ventures and BoxGroup, to build a software platform for AI hardware devices across form factors like glasses, rings, and pendants. Founded by former Humane and HP employees Liz Dorman, Alex Ollman, and Megan Gole, Era provides orchestration software with access to over 130 LLMs from 14+ providers, enabling hardware makers to create AI agents without building devices themselves. The platform aims to power a post-app future where users control their own memory and model providers in a privacy-preserving way, scaling across millions of devices. Era enters a challenging AI hardware market where companies like Humane have been sold and Rabbit has gone silent, though the startup plans to make its platform available to open source and maker communities.

Era's AI hardware platform and developer showcase

• ▪Era currently provides over 130 LLMs from more than 14 providers
• ▪Era held a gathering in New York in April for artists who had received its developer kit

Funding rounds and investor backing

• ▪Sandbar co-founder Mina Fahmi is an individual angel investor in Era
• ▪Era raised a $9 million seed round led by Abstract Ventures and BoxGroup
• ▪Era previously raised $2 million in pre-seed funding from Topology Ventures and Betaworks
• ▪Era has raised $11 million in funding to date
• ▪Little Guy co-founder Daniel Kuntz is an individual angel investor in Era
• ▪Flickr co-founder Caterina Fake is an individual angel investor in Era
• ▪Poetry Camera creator Kelin Zhang is an individual angel investor in Era
• ▪OAS founder Tony Wang is an individual angel investor in Era
• ▪Casey Caruso is a founder and managing partner at Topology Ventures
• ▪iPhone keyboard creator Ken Kocienda is an individual angel investor in Era
• ▪Collaborative Fund and Mozilla Ventures participated in Era's $9 million seed round
• ▪Former Rabbit CPO ShaoBo Z is an individual angel investor in Era

Company vision for democratizing AI device creation

• ▪Megan Gole worked at Sutter Hill Ventures on the Jony Ive and Sam Altman io project
• ▪Liz Dorman transitioned to HP as part of Humane's acquisition
• ▪Era was founded last year by CEO Liz Dorman, CTO Alex Ollman, and CPO Megan Gole
• ▪Megan Gole transitioned to Era after working at Sutter Hill Ventures
• ▪Era investor Casey Caruso said that Era's orchestration platform stands out because of its dynamic routing across models and managing real-world constraints like connectivity
• ▪Alex Ollman worked at HP on agentic frameworks for enterprises

Perspective of Casey Caruso (Topology Ventures investor)

• ▪Era investor Casey Caruso said that Era's orchestration platform stands out because of its dynamic routing across models and managing real-world constraints like connectivity