Cal AI’s 19-year-old founder just raised $10 million for his new AI startup

The deal behind Cal AI’s 19-year-old founder just raised $10

TechCrunch reports: Cal AI’s 19-year-old founder just raised $10M for his new AI startup. Zach Yadegari, the teen co-founder of popular Cal AI calorie tracking app, has launched a new personal AI agent startup that competes with Instinct, Muse and Bee.

Zach Yadegari, the teen co-founder of calorie tracking app Cal AI, has launched Persona, a new AI agent startup, and already raised $10 million. Vine Ventures led the round, with Z Fellows founder Cory Levy and Collective Global participating.

Why Cal AI’s 19-year-old founder just raised $10 raised now

In March, MyFitnessPal acquired Cal AI for an undisclosed sum after it zoomed ahead of the older calorie app in the app store rankings. The deal was big enough to convince Yadegari and his co-founders to sell the company after it had pulled in over $30 million in annual revenue in under two years, MyFitnessPal told TechCrunch at the time.

What the Cal AI’s 19-year-old founder just raised $10 money

Yadegari and his co-founders originally went to work for their new owner, continuing development on Cal AI, but he left the bigger company in June, he tells TechCrunch. See the full write-up from TechCrunch via the source link for quotes and complete context.

(He is working with another co-founder who has yet to be announced.) That idea is Persona, a personal AI assistant similar to Instinct or Meta’s Muse but with a hardware component that will soon be available: a $179 wearable band. Persona bandImage Credits:Persona That makes Persona somewhat more like Bee, the wearable AI device that Amazon acquired in 2025, but Persona’s device differs in several ways, Yadegari tells TechCrunch.

Competitive context for Cal AI’s 19-year-old founder just raised $10

For one, it won’t be ambient AI, meaning it won’t always be listening and recording. The band will have a button that activates the assistant, or it can be set up to activate with the flick of one’s wrist.

Open questions on Cal AI’s 19-year-old founder just raised $10

Yadegari also says that Persona is designed with user privacy in mind. See the full write-up from TechCrunch via the source link for quotes and complete context.