Mentra

Mentra develops an open-source platform for smart glasses consisting of hardware (Mentra Live), an operating system (MentraOS), a developer SDK, and an application marketplace (the Mentra Miniapp Store). MentraOS is positioned as a cross-vendor operating system: in addition to Mentra Live it supports Even Realities G1 and G2 and the Vuzix Z100, with NIMO listed as coming soon. To conserve power on the glasses, MentraOS runs miniapps on the paired phone inside a host app, allowing several apps — such as notifications, translation, and notes — to operate at once while the glasses handle input and output. Developers receive SDK access to display control, microphone access, and camera commands through a single API, and hardware manufacturers can license the Mentra Core Engine as a turnkey OS integration.

Mentra Live is a display-free camera glasses product weighing 43 grams, built on an MTK8766 chipset with a 260 mAh battery, a 119-degree field-of-view camera capturing 1080p video and 3264 × 2448 stills, three microphones, stereo speakers, two temple buttons, and a swipe bar. It ships with a 2,200 mAh charging case and an "Infinity Cable" that allows charging from a USB-C source while the glasses are worn. The glasses work with iOS 15.1+ and Android 12+, support Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and are prescription-lens ready. Out of the box functions include photo and video capture, calls, music, live captions and translation, AI note-taking, and livestreaming; the Bluetooth SDK lets developers write Android or iOS apps that control the camera, speakers, microphone, touchpad, and buttons, including offline apps that do not use Mentra-hosted cloud infrastructure.

The company frames its market around physical work, which it describes as roughly 70 percent of the economy versus 30 percent for knowledge work, arguing that frontline roles such as technicians, inspectors, and delivery workers have been largely untouched by AI because AI lacks real-world sight and hearing. Stated deployment use cases include AI copilots for technicians, hands-free video calls, delivery driver assistants, inspections, remote support, and automatic job documentation captured from the worker's point of view.

Founding story

The company traces its origins to Cayden Pierce's first self-built smart glasses in a university dorm in 2018 and to Alex Israelov's parallel experimentation during his computer science degree in Hong Kong and Shenzhen. The two met via Reddit in 2022, collaborated on the solder-it-yourself OpenSourceSmartGlasses hardware, and demonstrated it at CES 2023. Concluding that the missing piece was an operating system anyone could write apps for, they founded Mentra in 2024; Pierce dropped out of the MIT Media Lab and Israelov left his spatial computing job, joined by founding engineer Nicolo Micheletti, who left Tsinghua University.

Business model

Mentra combines hardware sales with an open software platform. It sells Mentra Live smart glasses directly through its website at $449 (a separate profile cites a $349 retail price), including a charging case and Infinity Cable, with a 30-day return window and a one-year limited warranty on covered defects. Retail website orders ship only within the United States, while business orders and international shipping are handled through sales contact. MentraOS and its SDK are distributed as open source, and the Mentra Miniapp Store acts as the distribution layer for third-party applications; manufacturers can integrate the Mentra Core Engine into their own iOS or Android apps while keeping their brand and customer relationship.

Revenue comes from direct hardware sales of Mentra Live (listed at $449 on the company store), business and at-scale enterprise deployments arranged through sales, and platform distribution via the Mentra Miniapp Store, alongside OS integration for hardware manufacturers.

Traction

Mentra reported a team size of 12 (described elsewhere as roughly 12 to 15 people) and raised $8 million in July 2025. MentraOS supports multiple third-party glasses lines, Mentra Live shipped to first customers in February 2026, and the company lists Dimenso among partners building on the device. Press coverage cited by the company highlights the app store and open-source SDK as differentiators.

Latest developments

MentraOS 2.0 was released as open source in mid-2025, and Mentra Live began shipping to first customers in February 2026. MentraOS compatibility spans Mentra Live, Even Realities G1 and G2, and the Vuzix Z100, with NIMO listed as coming soon. The company is hiring, including a Business Operations and Finance Lead role in San Francisco.