Mentra raises $8M and launches MentraOS 2.0 open-source smartglasses software

Mentra has raises $8 million and launched MentraOS 2.0, an open-source operating system and app store for smart glasses.

MentraOS 2.0 is a cloud-native, cross-device platform that finally gives smartglasses the software layer smartphones have had for over a decade. It’s already used more than eight hours a day by deaf and hard-of-hearing users, and ships with built-in apps for live captions, translation, notifications and a proactive AI assistant. It also has an app store.

Investors include Rich Miner (founder of Android), Jawed Karim (founder of YouTube), Eric Migicovsky (founder of Pebble), Paul Graham, Y Combinator, Toyota Ventures, the Amazon Alexa Fund, Alan Rutledge, TIRTA Ventures, and Hartmann Capital.

Users can now install new apps on their glasses, and developers can write a single app that runs on any pair of smart glasses. To enable proactive AI that runs in the background,
MentraOS allows multiple apps to access context at the same time.

The company said this marks a pivotal step toward a software ecosystem for lightweight XR devices rooted in practicality, not hype.

“Eight hundred years ago, glasses were invented,” said Cayden Pierce, Mentra CEO (and an MIT dropout), in a statement. “But they didn’t go mainstream until the 1920s — when they
dropped below 40 grams and became wearable all day. It’s now the 2020s. Smart glasses are finally under 40 grams. The hardware is ready. The AI is here. But there’s still no OS. That’s what we’re building. MentraOS is like the Android for smart glasses.”

Pierce added, “Seven years ago, I read a study where students with subtitles learned better than those without. That clicked for me – subtitles are intelligence-extending. I built a captions app for smart glasses and realized: there’s no framework to do this. That moment started everything. MentraOS is the result.”

MentraOS runs on multiple hardware platforms, including the Even Realities G1, Vuzix Z100, and Mentra’s own hardware. The company is preparing to ship Mentra Live — camera, mic, speaker, and open SDK – this fall, with more devices coming in 2026.

“Our tools aren’t separate from us – they extend us,” said Pierce. “Just like the neocortex extended the animal brain, technology extends the human mind. That’s what Mentra is about. We’re building the infrastructure for the next personal computer.”

Pierce and Alexander Israelov started Mentra in 2024 in San Francisco and Shenzhen.