Sandbar Raises $23M Series A to Scale AI-Powered Smart Ring
Wearables startup Sandbar has raised $23 million in a Series A funding round. The round was led by Adjacent and Kindred Ventures. The startup was founded by former Meta employees Mina Fahmi and Kirak Hong and garnered attention last year with its wearable, the Stream Ring. The smart ring focuses on AI-powered note-taking — similar to products from Plaud or Omi — rather than health tracking like Oura’s devices.
The ring features a microphone that is disabled by default but can be activated via a flat, touch-sensitive panel on top. Users press the touch panel to record notes, chat with an AI assistant in the accompanying smartphone app, and use media controls like play, pause, track skip, and volume adjustment. The ring’s microphone is designed for short range — users need to raise their hand to their face to record notes.
From Stealth Mode to Market Readiness
Co-founder Fahmi, who previously worked at startups like CTRL-Labs and Magic Leap, explains that Sandbar spent two years developing the ring before the company emerged from stealth mode last year following a testing phase with early adopters. “The response was much warmer than we expected, which is really encouraging and meaningful,” Fahmi told TechCrunch.
The startup is seeing promising user numbers: the first batch of pre-orders for the ring sold out last year, prompting Sandbar to open a second batch. The price ranges from $249 to $299. Some users reportedly use the ring over 50 times daily for tasks like planning presentations, trips, or meals.
The startup plans to ship the smart ring in summer. Sandbar is focused on refining and expanding the app experience and what users can do with their recorded notes. The company is working on a web platform, improving the user interface, and reducing model response latency. Long-term, the startup wants to enable agentic workflows so users can take actions based on their notes.
Growing Market for AI Note-Taking Hardware
The category of hardware devices for note-taking is expanding. Companies like Plaud produce devices that can record notes for meetings, and Pebble plans to ship an affordable $75 ring this year. Startups like Taya are pursuing a premium approach by designing their products as jewelry to appeal to a broader user base.
Sandbar already raised $13 million from True Ventures in November last year. The company has received a total of $36 million in funding to date. The team currently consists of 15 employees who previously worked at companies like Amazon, Fitbit, Equinox, Google, and Apple. With the new funding, Sandbar plans to double its software teams and hire marketing personnel.
