AI Jewelry Brand Founded by Chinese Team Raises $8M Seed Round from Silicon Valley VC
AI jewelry brand Nirva recently announced the completion of an $8 million seed round, led by renowned Silicon Valley VC Lightspeed Venture Partners. Headquartered in San Francisco, the brand has been supported by Silicon Valley incubator South Park Commons since its founding in October 2025.
The brand's website states: "Nirva has created the world's most beautiful and insightful AI wearable device." The product weighs only 10 grams, is made of hypoallergenic titanium, and can be worn as a necklace or bracelet. It automatically records the wearer's daily life moments and features the world's first emotion tracker, helping users understand their emotions, energy, stress, time allocation, and social patterns, while providing actionable advice on work, relationships, health, and more.
According to a press release on Lightspeed's website, the three members of Nirva's founding team are from China:
- CEO Wei Lyu: Holds a bachelor's degree in Film and TV Production from Peking University and a master's degree in Arts Management from New York University. Previously worked as a product manager at Chinese AI glasses company XREAL and as a lead product manager at Meta, focusing on spatial AI research.
- CTO Jason (Qianyuan) Chen: Holds bachelor's and master's degrees in Computer Science from Wuhan University and Columbia University. Worked at Meta for 8 years, contributing to the development of the Reels short video feature and building Facebook Lite from scratch. He and Wei Lyu met at Meta.
- CCO Hanying Hu holds a bachelor's degree in Jewelry Design from University of the Arts London and a master's degree in Eyewear Design from Royal College of Art. She founded her own independent jewelry brand HANYING Jewellery in 2019, which opened its first store in Chengdu Taikoo Li in 2024.
From left to right: Jason (Qianyuan) Chen, Wei Lyu, Hanying Hu
Speaking about the entrepreneurial opportunity, Wei Lyu said: "I've tried all the AI wearables on the market, but I found they all have a fundamental flaw—they can't be worn all day, so their understanding of the wearer is incomplete. Nirva is beautiful and comfortable; you never need to take it off, so it truly gets to know you. This makes its value grow exponentially."
Nirva is equipped with dual microphones to capture rich audio content; a built-in ALS (UV) sensor to detect light information, including sunlight exposure and outdoor activity time; and an IMU to sense motion. The device has a battery life of 2 days and comes with a dedicated charging case that can charge the device three additional times, with a full charge taking just 90 minutes.
Nirva has also developed a companion app. The existing auto-diary feature automatically summarizes the wearer's daily events, and users can bookmark important moments and enrich the diary with location, health, and calendar data.
Additionally, Nirva will adopt a fashion brand's drop strategy, launching seasonal collections (e.g., Summer 2026 Collection, Crystal Collection) and limited editions (e.g., Valentine's Day design), allowing wearers to customize Nirva's style to match their daily outfits.
Nirva made its debut at the CES tech show in the US this January, earning the title "CES 2026 Best Startup." Pre-orders are now open, but the official price has not yet been announced. The first batch of products will be delivered throughout 2026.
Lightspeed Venture Partners, a renowned Silicon Valley VC, currently manages over $40 billion in assets globally. It recently led a $700 million Series C round for Neko Health, a Swedish health tech company co-founded by Spotify's founder. Other notable portfolio companies include social media platform Snapchat and cybersecurity firm Wiz (later acquired by Google for $32 billion).
| Source: Official press release, Nirva website, founder LinkedIn profiles
| Image source: Founder LinkedIn profiles