The AI hardware start-up company Aina, based in Bangalore and San Francisco, announced the completion of $5.5 million in financing. The company tried to move into a fast-warming direction: instead of making equipment around the continuous recording of user behaviour, it developed a hardware portal that could directly trigger and control AI agents.

Financing involves multiple institutions

Aina was created by Apoorv Shankar, former Vice President of Ultrahuman Hardware, formerly Project Mirage. This round of financing was led by Redstart Labs and 360 ONE, MIXI Global Investments, Antler and Blume Founders Fund.

  • Financing of $5.5 million
  • Individual investors include Kunal Shah
  • Razorpay, the two co-founders are involved.

Quick control for existing product owners

Aina has launched 3 units of equipment, with the core idea being to shorten the user access path to software and AI. The first product, Dune, is a 3-key shortcut keyboard that can perform preset operations based on current applications, such as controlling microphones, cameras or running scripts in meetings.

The other two are desktop remotes for videoconferencing, Radiance, and Shift, which connects to a mobile phone and clicks to trigger a duplicate task. The former integrates volume, membership, AI records and voice regulation functions, while the latter is closer to an AI proxy start button.

Next-generation devices aim at the AI proxy entrance.

Aina indicated that the experience gained from the three existing products would be used for the next generation of equipment. The company has not yet disclosed the details of the new product, but plans to start testing with a small number of users in the coming weeks.

Shankar states that the new equipment will not be hardware for passive collection of environmental information, but will place more emphasis on action triggers. In his view, users already had enough context information on their mobile phones and computers, and the next focus was on how to use that information to control the workflow and to call AI agents.

AI hardware is still searching for the mainstream form

As developers and knowledge workers have increased their use of tools such as Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, the number of dedicated hardware around AI proxy controls has increased. OpenAI has just launched a custom keyboard for Codex with Work Louder this week, and there are many similar controllers on the market.

At present, programmes such as smart rings, broochs, glasses, keyboards and stereos are competing. The report also mentions that OpenAI is being exposed to the development of an AI-in-house smartphone, with the High General rule stating that over 40 AI interactive devices are being tested. The focus of industry competition is moving from “recording user behaviour” to “promptly directing AI to perform its mission”.