Humane, a company launched in 2018 by Bethany Bongiorno and Imran Chaudhri, two former Apple managers, created a wearable pin with smartphone-like functions. The $699 pin, which requires a $24 monthly subscription fee, can make calls, take pictures, respond to questions, and even project an interactive screen into the user’s hand.
According to a Bloomberg report on Tuesday, the company is currently looking for a buyer for its AI-enabled wearable. It is seeking an acquisition price of between $750 million and $1 billion, having been evaluated at $850 million the previous year.
After several months of delay, the pin was finally released in April, to mixed reactions. The gadget received harsh criticism from traditional media and independent reviews, including YouTube tech star Marques Brownlee. Brownlee emphasized the pin’s lack of market readiness in his review, titling it “The Worst Product I’ve Ever Reviewed… For Now.”
Despite the criticism, the cofounders of Humane are nevertheless upbeat. According to a statement provided to Business Insider, the pin and its operating system are “just the beginning of the story.” Updates are being made to make the pin “smarter and more powerful over time.”
In March 2023, Humane secured $100 million in a Series C funding round, drawing capital from prominent investors such as Microsoft, Tiger Global, and Sam Altman, the cofounder of OpenAI. The wearable project, which is quite ambitious, is part of an overall trend in Silicon Valley that sees significant investments being made in wearables with artificial intelligence capabilities. Still, not every product has widespread acceptance among consumers, and it’s still unclear which companies will make it.
Bloomberg claims that although Humane is seeking the help of an unidentified financial advisor to investigate the sale, a deal may not be finalized. The IT community is closely monitoring Humane as it negotiates this important turning point to determine whether the firm can fulfill its innovative vision for AI wearables and find a buyer to fund its next ventures.
