Era raises $11M to build a software platform for AI gadgets

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TLDR

  • Era raised $11M to build an AI orchestration platform powering third-party hardware gadgets across glasses, rings, and home speakers.

Key Facts

  • $9M seed led by Abstract Ventures and BoxGroup; $2M pre-seed from Topology Ventures and Betaworks.
  • Platform offers 130+ LLMs from 14+ providers with dynamic routing and multimodal input support.
  • Founded by Liz Dorman (ex-Humane AI orchestration), Alex Ollman (ex-HP agentic frameworks), and Megan Gole (ex-Sutter Hill, worked on the io project).
  • Era does not build devices; it sells the software layer to hardware makers and the maker community.

Why It Matters

  • Era bets on a “Cambrian explosion” of AI form factors, positioning itself as the common software layer underneath them.
  • The platform is designed to let users pick their own memory and model providers, making privacy-preserving customization a core selling point.

Ivan Mehta, TechCrunch · 2026-04-23 · Read the original