Aina Raises $5.5 Million to Build a New Kind of AI Control Device
The race to define the next major AI interface is heating up. Startups around the world are experimenting with rings, pins, smart glasses, compact recorders, desktop assistants, and pocket-sized devices designed to make artificial intelligence easier to use in everyday life. Now, Aina, a startup based in Bengaluru and San Francisco, is entering the competition with a different approach: hardware that helps people control AI agents instead of simply recording their surroundings.
Aina, which means “mirror” in Hindi, has raised $5.5 million in funding to develop its vision for AI-powered human-computer interaction. The round was led by Redstart Labs and 360 ONE, with participation from MIXI Global Investments, Antler, and Blume Founders Fund.
The funding round also attracted several well-known individual investors, including WhatsApp head Kunal Shah, Razorpay co-founders Harshil Mathur and Shashank Kumar, and Scribd founder Tikhon Bernstam.
The company was previously known as Project Mirage and was founded by Apoorv Shankar, a hardware product expert who formerly served as VP of Hardware at Ultrahuman, the smart ring company. Before joining Ultrahuman, Shankar founded LazyCo, a hardware interface design startup that built devices such as a ring capable of controlling smartphones and other gadgets. LazyCo was later acquired by Ultrahuman, bringing Shankar into the company before he eventually left to start Aina.
Shankar’s interest in AI hardware grew as new AI devices began entering the market. While some early AI gadgets failed to meet expectations, they helped prove that people were eager for fresh ways to interact with artificial intelligence beyond traditional screens, keyboards, and apps. For Shankar, the opportunity was clear: build a smarter, more useful interface for the AI era.
Aina’s first product is called Dune. It is a compact three-key, context-aware macro keyboard designed to help users control apps, meetings, shortcuts, and scripts with minimal effort. A macro keyboard is a small keypad that can be programmed to perform specific actions, but Dune aims to go further by understanding what app or workflow the user is currently working with.
For example, Dune can be used to control a microphone or camera during a video meeting, launch shortcuts, or trigger scripts depending on what is happening on the user’s computer. Instead of forcing users to click through menus or remember complex keyboard commands, Dune offers a physical, simple way to manage repeated digital tasks.
Aina also developed two other experimental devices while testing ideas for AI interfaces. One was Radiance, a tabletop remote built for video calls. It included a volume dial and buttons for microphone control, camera control, AI note-taking, voice modulation, and joining meetings. The other was Shift, a single-tap button designed to trigger an AI agent to perform a recurring task from a phone.
However, early users showed the most interest in Dune. After testing all three devices, Aina realized that many of the most useful features from Radiance and Shift could be folded into the compact keypad format. That feedback pushed the company to focus on shipping Dune first.
The decision also gives Aina a practical advantage: by putting Dune into real users’ hands, the company can learn which tasks people actually want to automate. Rather than guessing how AI hardware should work, Aina wants to observe how professionals, creators, developers, and everyday users interact with AI tools in real-world workflows.
The company says the lessons from Dune, Radiance, and Shift will influence its next device. Aina has not revealed the full details of that product yet, but it plans to begin testing it with a small group of selected users in the coming weeks.
What makes Aina’s strategy interesting is that it is not focused on passive recording. Many AI hardware products are built around capturing context, such as recording meetings, conversations, or daily activity. Aina believes the real opportunity is not just in collecting information, but in helping users take action.
Shankar has indicated that Aina’s upcoming device will be action-oriented. Instead of simply listening in the background, it will be designed to control AI agents, trigger workflows, and help users get tasks done faster by using the context already available on their phones and laptops.
This approach comes at a time when AI agents are becoming increasingly important. Developers, writers, analysts, designers, and knowledge workers are using AI tools to write code, summarize information, manage workflows, and automate repetitive tasks. As software becomes more intelligent, the question becomes: how should people control it?
Traditional interfaces were built for traditional computing. A mouse, keyboard, and touchscreen work well for apps and documents, but AI agents behave differently. They can perform multi-step tasks, respond to natural language, and operate across tools. That creates a need for new control surfaces that are faster, more intuitive, and better suited to AI-powered work.
This is where devices like Dune could find an audience. A small physical controller that can launch commands, manage meetings, and trigger AI workflows may appeal to developers, remote workers, creators, and productivity-focused users who want a more efficient way to interact with their digital tools.
The broader AI hardware market is still searching for the right form factor. Some companies are betting on wearable devices such as rings and pins. Others believe smart glasses will become the main AI interface. There are also compact desktop devices, handheld gadgets, smart speakers, and custom keypads designed to bring AI closer to daily work.
So far, no single design has won. That uncertainty is creating room for experimentation, and investors are backing companies that can rethink how humans and AI systems interact.
Aina’s bet is that the future of AI hardware is not only about capturing what users say or do. It is about giving people a simple, physical way to command intelligent software. If the company can make AI agents easier to control, Dune and its future devices could become part of a growing category of tools built for the next phase of computing.
With $5.5 million in fresh funding and a product shaped by early user feedback, Aina is positioning itself as a serious player in the emerging AI interface market. The company’s success will depend on whether it can turn its hardware into something people use every day, not just another experimental gadget.
As AI becomes more deeply embedded in work, communication, and productivity, the demand for better control tools is likely to grow. Whether the winning interface turns out to be a keypad, wearable, smart speaker, or something entirely new, Aina is betting that the best AI devices will be the ones that help users act faster, not just listen more.
