Humane, the company behind the wildly popular Ai Pin, which launched last month to lukewarm reviews, is on the hunt for a buyer, Bloomberg reported citing anonymous sources.
According to Bloomberg, sources say the company has been valued at between $750 million and $1 billion, and the sale process is in the early stages.
Humane has never disclosed an official valuation during any funding round, although it did last yr reported that its valuation was $850 million.
Humane didn’t immediately reply to requests for comment on the report.
A pin in a haystack
Founded in 2017 by former Apple executives Bethany Bongiorno AND Imran ChaudharyHumane raised about $230 million from backers including Microsoft, Qualcomm Ventures, Marc Benioff and OpenAI’s Sam Altman before any part of its product was even publicly disclosed.
Last June, the company finally unveiled its product: Ai Pin, a handy gadget with a projection display and AI-based features. The reveal kicked off a pre-order period in the US, but the launch was delayed before the Ai Pin finally arrived in mid-April.
Ai Pin has a unique design and is equipped with sensors, generative artificial intelligence and a small projector that may project an image on any surface – reminiscent of your hand.
But with a price tag of $700 plus a $24 recurring monthly subscription that offers the user a phone number and unlimited data to handle any number of queries, Ai Pin gave the impression of a tough sell in a cash-strapped consumer market. In some ways, the device gave the impression of a solution to the problem, and many of its early reviews indicated that the Ai Pin doesn’t really do much greater than what you possibly can already do with your smartphone.
Renowned YouTuber and reviewer Marques Brownlee, generally known as MKBHD, released a particularly damning review that many imagine could single-handedly kill Ai Pin before it launches properly.
Add in complaints about battery life and overheating issues, not to say other emerging (and cheaper) smart gadgets like Meta’s Ray-Bans and Rabbit’s R1, and it seems increasingly unlikely that Humane will have the opportunity to get any significant impact on the position in the wearable devices market.
It is also price noting that the company’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Patrick Gateswho joined Humane in 2019 after 13 years at Apple, left the company in January along with 4% of its employees.
To sum up, the situation at Humane has not been rosy for some time, so the news that the company could also be looking for a buyer is not particularly surprising. However, whether or not any suitor might be willing to bite depends largely on weight.