Ambi Raises $26M for an Always-Listening AI Assistant App

Former Plaud executive Peter Mo is building Ambi, an AI app that aims to provide real-time intelligence by listening to users and capturing context throughout the day. The company said it raised $26 million across multiple funding rounds led by Luminous Ventures and original design manufacturer Huaqin. The launch lands in a fast-moving category where AI assistants promise more helpful suggestions when they have more personal context.

Ambi is releasing apps for iPhones, Macs, and Apple Watch that can act like meeting notetakers. Users can choose to let the apps listen beyond meetings so they can capture broader daily context. The company says its AI agent can surface suggestions or relevant knowledge during meetings based on a user’s calendar, meetings, knowledge base, and web data. Users can also start a task on one device and continue it on another.

Ambi is also planning to launch its own hardware device. The device is expected to include a screen, speaker, camera, and microphones to capture context and display information. That hardware push puts Ambi closer to the broader gadget and wearable trend around AI tools that gather real-world signals, not just typed prompts.

Ambi’s launch comes amid growing concern about AI devices and apps that capture data from people around the user without clear indicators. Mo said users can turn off ambient data capture at any time, and that the feature is off by default. The startup said it does not store recordings and encrypts data, but it did not specify the type of encryption. Mo also said disclosure remains an industry-wide problem because users still carry the responsibility to tell others when ambient capture is active.

Ambi currently has over 50 staff across San Francisco, Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen. The company is hiring for go-to-market roles and AI engineers working on speech-recognition models. The key test will be whether Ambi can make its real-time assistance useful enough to justify always-on context capture while giving users and bystanders clear privacy safeguards.