Meta acquires Limitless, an AI wearables startup backed by Sam Altman, to expand hardware ambitions

Meta acquires AI device startup Limitless

Limitless, the AI startup formerly known as Rewind, has been acquired by Meta, the company announced Friday on its website. The company, which made an AI-powered pendant to record your conversations, says it will no longer sell its hardware devices and will maintain support for its existing customers for a year. Customers will no longer have to pay a subscription and will be moved to the Unlimited Plan for the time being. Other functionality will be wound down, including its non-pendant software "Rewind," which recorded users desktop activity and turned it into a searchable record. The startup, founded by Brett Bejcek and Dan Siroker, the co-founder and former chief executive of Optimizely, pivoted to become an AI device maker last year, offering its Limitless pendant for $99. The wearable could attach to your shirt like a wireless mic or be worn like a necklace. The device is one of several AI hardware devices on the market, including another (not very well-received) AI pendant known as Friend. According to Limitless' announcement, the company shares in Meta's vision to "bring personal superintelligence to everyone," which includes building AI-enabled wearables. (Meta is focused for now on AR/AI glasses, like its Ray-Ban Meta and Oakley Meta, and its in-lens AI glasses, the Meta Ray-Ban Display.) Limitless said it will help bring that vision to life -- which likely means supporting Meta's existing products, not helping Meta add an AI pendant to its lineup. The company hinted that the increased competition in the market made it difficult for it to compete, especially as the larger players like OpenAI and Meta are developing their own hardware devices, too. "When we started Limitless five years ago, the world was very different," wrote Siroker in the announcement. "AI was a pipe dream to many. Hardware startups were considered unfundable, and a business that did both AI and hardware would have been considered ludicrous. But today is different. The world has changed. We're no longer working on a weird fringe idea. We're building a future that now seems inevitable. We're not alone." Meta was asked for comment on the acquisition, but one wasn't provided by the time of publication. Limitless will offer its customers a way to export their data, the company said, or users can choose to delete their data from within the app.

Meta's latest acquisition suggests hardware plans beyond glasses and headsets

Meta has acquired Limitless, the maker of an AI-powered "Pendant," to work on building consumer hardware for the company, the startup announced via a YouTube video and blog post. So far, Meta has focused on selling VR headsets and AI smart glasses. Now the company seems interested in branching out. "Meta recently announced a new vision to bring personal superintelligence to everyone and a key part of that vision is building incredible AI-enabled wearables. We share this vision and we'll be joining Meta to help bring our shared vision to life," Limitless CEO Dan Siroker said in the post announcing the acquisition. Limitless' first product was Rewind, desktop productivity software that recorded everything you did on your computer and turned it into a searchable database you interacted with via a chatbot. The company later expanded into hardware with Pendant, essentially a clip-on Bluetooth microphone that applies the same concept (privacy concerns be damned) to the things you say or hear throughout the day. The company plans to support its existing Pendant customers "for at least another year," but will no longer sell the wearable going forward. Current customers will be able to access all the features of Pendant without having to pay for a subscription, though Limitless says availability will vary per region. If you have data stored with Limitless and don't want to hold onto your Pendant, you're now also able to export or delete your data if you choose. AI wearables focused on recording audio have emerged as a common form factor primarily because they lean on two things AI models do moderately well: transcribing audio into text and summarizing it. Meta dipping its toes into the space makes sense, if only because not everyone will want to wear glasses to receive the benefits of an AI assistant. Amazon acquired an AI wearable company called Bee in July 2025, presumably with similar intentions. Add in Meta's recent hiring of former Apple design lead Alan Dye, and you can start to imagine where things might be headed. In the future, the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses and Meta Ray-Ban Display could be two entries in a larger lineup of AI-powered wearables.

Meta acquires Sam Altman-backed AI wearable startup Limitless - SiliconANGLE

Meta acquires Sam Altman-backed AI wearable startup Limitless Meta Platforms Inc. today announced that it has acquired Limitless Inc., a startup with an artificial intelligence wearable for recording conversations. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. Limitless has raised $33 million in funding from First Round Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, NEA and OpenAI Group PBC Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman. Meta competes with OpenAI in the large language model market. Denver-based Limitless has developed a compact wearable that resembles a tiny pair of headphones. The device, which measures 1.25 inches wide, can be clipped onto a shirt with a magnetic clasp or worn as a pendant. It records the user's conversations, transcribes them and uses AI to extract key details. Limitless captures audio with an array of tiny microphones that implements a technology called beamforming. Beamforming allows microphones to only record audio that is coming from a specific direction. The technology tunes out background noise and increases the quality of the audio that isn't filtered. The microphones and their supporting components, which include a battery that must only be charged every 100 hours, are housed in a water-proof case. Charging is carried out with USB-C cable. Limitless sold the device for $99 prior to the acquisition. The company offered subscription plans that allowed users to increase the amount of audio the device can process per month. It also had a desktop app, Rewind, that offered AI-powered search features for browsing files on the user's computer. The company will sunset Rewind in the wake of its acquisition by Meta. Limitless will also stop taking orders for its namesake wearable, but plans to continue supporting existing devices until at least next December. It will give those devices' users free access to its most expensive subscription plan, which places no rate limits on AI transcripts. Meta might be planning to relaunch Limitless' device as an accessory for its growing lineup of AI smart glasses. The Facebook parent's newest eyewear product, the Meta Ray-Bans Displays, already ships with a wearable accessory. The Neural Band is a wristband that enables users to control the glasses with hand gestures. Now that it has a presence in the eyewear and smart pendant categories, Meta's next step might be to build or buy a smart ring. Current smart rings primarily focus on fitness tracking use cases. They include sensors that measure the wearer's heart rate and collect exercise data.

Meta Acquires AI Wearables Startup Limitless, Could Scale Its AI Products

The financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed Meta has acquired the artificial intelligence (AI) wearables startup, Limitless. The company confirmed the development on Saturday, highlighting that the social media giant's vision was one of the factors behind the acquisition deal. Interestingly, the startup launched its first product, an AI-powered Pendant, that records nearby audio continuously to help users find specific information with a voice or text prompt. While the financial details or the structural changes were not mentioned by the startup, it appears that the company will retain its autonomy in some capacity. Meta Acquires Limitless The startup's home page now displays the title "Limitless has been acquired by Meta," followed by a YouTube video and a short message by the Co-Founder and CEO Dan Siroker. He explained that Limitless opted for the acquisition due to the need to scale the technology and speed up the production cycle of products that lead towards personal superintelligence. Limitless CEO, however, did not address the growing competition in the space or lack of any new products after the Pendant. Sharing a rather optimistic perspective, Siroker said, "We're no longer working on a weird fringe idea. We're building a future that now seems inevitable. We're not alone." He also added that both Meta and Limitless have a shared vision of bringing "personal superintelligence to everyone" and "building incredible AI-enabled wearables." This part indicates that Limitless branded products will continue to be launched even after the acquisition. The startup did not reveal any financial details of the deal, or any structural changes the company will have to undergo. However, it appears that the brand Limitless, and Siroker's position will remain intact. Whether the company will now be headed by Meta's Superintelligence Labs or AI glasses-making Reality Labs, is not known. The post also addressed the startup's AI Pendant and existing users. The company will not sell any new devices, however, existing users will receive at least one year of free support. All existing users will now be promoted to the Unlimited Plan without any extra charge. But at the same time, non-Pendant (app or cloud-based) features, such as Rewind, will now be sunset. To avail this, users will need to agree to the company's updated Privacy Policy and terms of Service. Those who do not wish to continue using the device can either export their data or deletethe data via the app. Siroker did not share any details about a future product at this time.

Meta Acquires Limiteless, an A.I. Pendant Company Backed by Sam Altman

Meta's move underscores Silicon Valley's intensifying competition to control the emerging A.I. hardware ecosystem. Meta is acquiring Limitless, the maker of a wearable A.I. pendant that records, transcribes and provides feedback on conversations. The deal comes as Meta, which has been spending heavily on A.I. in recent months, expands further into the wearables market. "We're no longer working on a weird fringe idea. We're building a future that now seems inevitable," said Dan Siroker, CEO of Limitless, in a blog post announcing the acquisition on Dec. 5. The startup didn't disclose the financial terms of the deal. Sign Up For Our Daily Newsletter Sign Up Thank you for signing up! By clicking submit, you agree to our <a href="http://observermedia.com/terms">terms of service</a> and acknowledge we may use your information to send you emails, product samples, and promotions on this website and other properties. You can opt out anytime. See all of our newsletters Founded in 2020, Limitless is best known for its $99 pendant that uses A.I. to listen to a user's everyday conversations and provide personalized insights. The startup has raised more than $33 million from backers, including Andreessen Horowitz, NEA, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Siroker framed the acquisition as one that will support Meta's growing focus on A.I.-enabled wearables, which the company has elevated through an internal restructuring. Earlier this year, Meta split its A.I. initiatives into four departments dedicated to hardware products, infrastructure, long-term research and superintelligence -- a form of A.I. more capable than humans. Meta is already developing a range of wearables with EssilorLuxottica, the company behind Ray-Ban and Oakley. In the future, those without A.I.-integrated glasses will face a "significant cognitive disadvantage," Zuckerberg claimed in July. The company's smart glasses efforts fall under its Reality Labs division, which added a new executive last week: Alan Dye, the former head of Apple's user interface design team. Dye will reportedly oversee design across Meta's A.I.-integrated devices. "Our general view is that we want to build these out to reach many hundreds of millions or billions of people," Zuckerberg said of Meta's wearables strategy during Meta's most recent earnings call in October. "That's the point at which we think that this is going to just be an extremely profitable business." Big Tech embraces A.I. hardware Earlier this year, Amazon purchased Bee, the startup behind a $50 A.I.-integrated bracelet that transcribes a user's daily activities and provides summaries. Google parent Alphabet has embraced A.I.-integrated glasses through a partnership with Warby Parker, while China's Alibaba is also pursuing smart glasses. Consumer reactions to these products have been mixed. Friend, a startup creating A.I. pendants similar to Limitless's device, drew backlash this summer after a city-wide New York subway campaign promoted its product as a replacement for real-life companionship. Silicon Valley's flashiest A.I. hardware initiative belongs to OpenAI, which is collaborating with famed Apple designer Jony Ive on a mysterious wearables project. Their project is expected to debut within the next two years and will promise "peace and calm" amid the chaos of notifications, scrolling and screens, according to Altman.

Meta buys AI wearables startup Limitless - The Economic Times

Meta is acquiring US startup Limitless, which makes an AI-powered wearable pendant that records and summarises conversations. The five-year-old Denver-based firm, valued at $368 million in 2023, will help Meta advance its AI-enabled wearables and personal superintelligence goals. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.Meta on Friday confirmed it is buying Limitless, a US startup that makes a wearable pendant that records and summarises conversations and meetings with the help of artificial intelligence. Financial details of the deal to acquire the five-year-old Denver-based firm were not disclosed. "We're excited that Limitless will be joining Meta to help accelerate our work to build AI-enabled wearables," a Meta spokesperson said in response to an AFP inquiry. Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg has made AI a priority at the tech giant with a stated aim of achieving "superintelligence." AI is being used to enhance Meta apps including Facebook and Instagram, and to ramp up capabilities of smartglasses it makes in partnership with EssilorLuxottica. "Meta recently announced a new vision to bring personal superintelligence to everyone and a key part of that vision is building incredible AI-enabled wearables," Limitless co-founder and Chief Executive Dan Siroker said in a message posted on the startup's website. "We share this vision and we'll be joining Meta to help bring our shared vision to life." Limitless has raised a total of $33 million from investors including venture capital powerhouse Andreessen Horowitz and OpenAI co-founders Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, according to Pitchbook. The startup was valued at $368 million during its latest funding round in 2023, Pitchbook noted. "We're no longer working on a weird fringe idea," Siroker said of how the tech world has changed since the startup's early days. "We're building a future that now seems inevitable." To pursue his AI ambitions, Zuckerberg has launched an aggressive recruitment campaign, attracting executives from OpenAI, Apple and Google with multibillion-dollar offers. Meta invested heavily in Scale AI earlier this year, poaching the startup's co-founder Alexandr Wang as part of the deal and putting him in charge of a newly formed unit called Superintelligence Labs. The deal to buy Limitless appears to be the first major acquisition by Meta since it finalized its buyout of virtual reality firm Within Unlimited in 2023, after a court rejected an attempt by US regulators to block the deal over competition concerns. The courtroom loss was seen as a setback for then-FTC head Lina Khan, who was an advocate of imposing tougher scrutiny on Big Tech companies on antitrust matters.

Meta Is Betting You'll Soon Wear AI All Day With This New Buy - Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)

Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) acquired Limitless to accelerate its push into artificial intelligence-powered wearable technology as part of its broader strategy to bring "personal superintelligence" to consumers. The financial terms of the transaction remain undisclosed. The deal strengthens Meta's ability to build advanced, always-on AI hardware by combining Limitless' experience in AI-first devices with Meta's scale in consumer platforms and infrastructure. Also Read: Meta's Zuckerberg Pays Big For Top Apple Design Chief In AI Race Meta pursued the acquisition to deepen its internal capabilities at the intersection of AI and hardware, an area it views as critical to the next generation of computing. The company aims to use Limitless' technology and engineering expertise to speed development of AI-enabled wearables designed to function as persistent, personalized assistants. Changes To Limitless Products And Services Following the acquisition, Meta will wind down commercial sales of the Limitless Pendant while continuing to support existing customers for at least one year. Meta eliminated subscription fees for current users and granted access to premium features at no cost as it transitions the product away from standalone commercialization. Meta will sunset non-core software features, including Rewind, and adjust regional availability as it integrates the technology into its long-term product roadmap. The company added new in-app tools that allow users to export or delete their data, and it committed to maintaining data protection standards throughout the transition. Capital Allocation Shifts Meta stock gained over 15% year-to-date, lagging the Nasdaq Composite index's over 22% returns. Last week, Meta shared plans to cut up to 30% of its 2026 metaverse budget, with most reductions aimed at Quest and Horizon Worlds. Meta also shifted its wearables strategy by delaying its "Phoenix" mixed-reality glasses to early 2027, giving teams more time to deliver higher-quality, AI-driven smart glasses while prioritizing polished hardware and reliable user experiences. Analyst Commentary On Cost Discipline JPMorgan's Doug Anmuth and Bank of America Securities' Justin Post said Meta's plan to cut its 2026 metaverse budget signals stronger cost discipline. Anmuth estimated up to $5 billion in savings, and Post projected $6 billion-$6.5 billion in potential savings that could help support EPS growth as Meta shifts more resources toward AI and data center investments. Meta held $44.45 billion in cash and equivalents as of September 30, 2025 META Price Action: Meta Platforms shares were down 0.21% at $672.00 during premarket trading on Monday, according to Benzinga Pro data. Read Next: Meta AI Becomes Real-Time News Hub With New Media Partnerships Photo by Skorzewiak via Shutterstock METAMeta Platforms Inc$672.20-0.18%OverviewMarket News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Meta Acquires Limitless to Accelerate Work on AI-Enabled Wearables | PYMNTS.com

By completing this form, you agree to receive marketing communications from PYMNTS and to the sharing of your information with our sponsor, if applicable, in accordance with our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions. The acquisition was announced by Limitless in a Friday (Dec. 5) blog post and confirmed by a Meta spokesperson, CNBC reported Friday. "We're excited that Limitless will be joining Meta to help accelerate our work to build AI-enabled wearables," the spokesperson said, per the report. Limitless makes an AI-powered pendant that records conversations and generates summaries, according to the report. In the company's blog post, Limitless co-founder and CEO Dan Siroker said that when Limitless was launched five years ago, the idea of combining AI and hardware would have been considered "ludicrous." But today it seems "inevitable," he said. "Meta recently announced a new vision to bring personal superintelligence to everyone, and a key part of that vision is building incredible AI-enabled wearables," Siroker said in the post. "We share this vision, and we'll be joining Meta to help bring our shared vision to life." It was reported Thursday (Dec. 4) that Meta executives are considering cutting as much as 30% of the budget of the company's metaverse group amid a shift of resources toward AI. On Wednesday (Dec. 3), Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a series of posts on Threads that the company is establishing a new creative studio in its Reality Labs division that will focus on AI glasses and other devices. "We're entering a new era where AI glasses and other devices will change how we connect with technology and each other," Zuckerberg wrote in one of the posts. "The potential is enormous, but what matters most is making these experiences feel natural and truly centered around people."

Meta Buys Limitless: A Bold Push Toward Smarter AI Wearables & Future Tech

Meta Platforms has acquired AI wearables startup Limitless, marking another major step in its strategy to build AI-powered personal and AR devices. The acquisition is expected to strengthen Meta's efforts in productivity-focused wearables and next-generation mixed-reality solutions. confirmed the purchase of US startup Limitless, which makes a wearable pendant. It records and summarises conversations and meetings using artificial intelligence. Financial details of the deal to acquire the five-year-old Denver-based firm were not disclosed. "We're excited that Limitless will be joining Meta to help accelerate our work to build AI-enabled wearables," a Meta spokesperson said. "Meta recently announced a new vision to bring to everyone, and a key part of that vision is building incredible AI-enabled wearables," Limitless co-founder and Chief Executive Dan Siroker said in a message posted on the startup's website. "We share this vision, and we'll be joining Meta to help bring our shared vision to life."

Meta acquires AI wearable startup Limitless By Investing.com

Investing.com -- Meta has acquired AI wearable startup Limitless, according to an announcement from Limitless Co-Founder and CEO Dan Siroker on Friday. The acquisition aligns with Meta's recently announced vision to bring "personal superintelligence to everyone" through AI-enabled wearables, a vision shared by the five-year-old startup. "When we started Limitless five years ago, the world was very different. AI was a pipe dream to many. Hardware startups were considered unfundable, and a business that did both AI and hardware would have been considered ludicrous," Siroker said in his message to customers. Limitless will continue to support existing Pendant customers for at least another year but will no longer sell the device to new customers. Current users will receive the Unlimited Plan for free, eliminating the need for subscription payments. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.

Meta acquires Limitless and accelerates in AI-powered connected devices

On Friday Meta confirmed the acquisition of Limitless, a startup specialized in connected devices featuring artificial intelligence functionalities. The deal, whose terms were not disclosed, is part of Meta's strategy to democratize personal artificial intelligence through portable devices, similar to the Ray-Ban smart glasses already launched by the group. Limitless' CEO Dan Siroker presented this rapprochement as a convergence of visions around "personal superintelligences". Limitless has become known for its smart pendant capable of recording, transcribing, and automatically summarizing conversations. This type of wearable, which is still marginal, is attracting more tech players in search of a flagship product in a buzzing sector. Beyond Meta, Amazon, via the acquisition of Bee in July, Google (Alphabet) with its Gemini assistant, or startups like Friend and Plaud, are multiplying initiatives in this segment.

Meta acquires AI-wearables startup Limitless

Dec 5 (Reuters) - Meta has acquired AI-wearables startup Limitless, maker of a pendant-style device that records and transcribes real-world conversations, as the social media giant doubles down on efforts to build AI-enabled consumer hardware. "Meta recently announced a new vision to bring personal superintelligence to everyone and a key part of that vision is building incredible AI-enabled wearables. We share this vision and we'll be joining Meta to help bring our shared vision to life," Limitless co-founder and CEO Dan Siroker said in a blog post on Friday. Limitless did not disclose financial details of the deal. Earlier this week, Meta hired longtime Apple design executive Alan Dye, a move widely seen as sharpening its focus on next-generation devices. Meta plans to use Limitless' technical capabilities as part of its development of next-generation AI-enabled wearables. Meta currently has partnerships with EssilorLuxottica brands Ray-Ban and Oakley to make AI-powered smart glasses. "We're excited that Limitless will be joining Meta to help accelerate our work to build AI-enabled wearables," a Meta spokesperson told Reuters. Limitless, formerly known as Rewind, makes a wearable "pendant" that clips to clothing or a lanyard. The device records conversations, and can generate transcripts and produce searchable summaries through a companion app. It is part of a growing category of AI assistants designed to augment memory and everyday productivity. Meta and Limitless will continue supporting existing users, but the company will stop selling devices to new customers, Limitless said. Existing users will be asked to accept revised privacy terms to maintain service. Limitless has raised more than $33 million from investors including Sam Altman and A16z. (Reporting by Echo Wang in New York; Editing by Matthew Lewis)