{"slug": "why-stream-ring-maker-sandbar-says-the-future-of-ai-wearables-is-voice", "title": "Why Stream ring-maker Sandbar says the future of AI wearables is voice", "summary": "Sandbar, the startup behind the AI voice note-taking ring Stream, has raised $36 million to date, including a $23 million Series A led by Adjacent and Kindred Ventures. Co-founder and CEO Mina Fahmi discussed on TechCrunch's Equity podcast why he believes keeping the human in control is key to wearable tech success.", "body_md": "[AI notetaking hardware has taken off](https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/20/ai-notetaker-hardware-devices-pins-pendants-record-transcribe/) over the past couple of years, with credit-card-sized devices, pendants, pins, and even transcribing earbuds all promising to capture your meetings and turn them into summaries and action items. Now, a whole wave of wearables — rings especially — are betting people want to capture stray thoughts and ideas the same way.\n\nOne of the companies chasing that bet is [Sandbar](https://techcrunch.com/2025/11/05/former-meta-employees-launch-stream-a-smart-ring-that-takes-voice-notes-and-controls-music/), the startup behind the private voice ring Stream, which has raised $36 million to date, including a [$23 million Series A](https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/10/sandbar-secures-23m-series-a-for-its-ai-note-taking-ring/) led by Adjacent and Kindred Ventures.\n\nOn this episode of TechCrunch’s[ Equity](https://techcrunch.com/podcasts/equity/) podcast, Rebecca Bellan talks with Sandbar co-founder and CEO [Mina Fahmi](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mina-fahmi/) about why he thinks so many voice hardware devices before Stream struggled to break through, and why he’s betting that keeping the human firmly in control is what it’ll take to get wearable tech right.\n\nSubscribe to Equity on [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@TechCrunch),[ Apple Podcasts](https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id1215439780),[ Overcast](https://overcast.fm/itunes1215439780/equity),[ Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/5IEYLip3eDppcOmy5DmphC?si=rZDFHv2sQUul_g94iCRgpQ) and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on[ X](https://twitter.com/EquityPod) and[ Threads](https://www.threads.net/@equitypod), at @EquityPod.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/why-stream-ring-maker-sandbar-says-the-future-of-ai-wearables-is-voice", "canonical_source": "https://techcrunch.com/video/why-stream-ring-maker-sandbar-says-the-future-of-ai-wearables-is-voice/", "published_at": "2026-08-12 16:46:02+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-13 21:37:03.166382+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-products", "ai-startups"], "entities": ["Sandbar", "Stream", "Adjacent", "Kindred Ventures", "Mina Fahmi", "TechCrunch", "Equity"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/why-stream-ring-maker-sandbar-says-the-future-of-ai-wearables-is-voice", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/why-stream-ring-maker-sandbar-says-the-future-of-ai-wearables-is-voice.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/why-stream-ring-maker-sandbar-says-the-future-of-ai-wearables-is-voice.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/why-stream-ring-maker-sandbar-says-the-future-of-ai-wearables-is-voice.jsonld"}}