Sesame builds voice interfaces and lifelike AI companions, aiming to make human-computer interaction feel genuinely natural rather than merely functional. The company's work spans hardware, software, and machine learning in tight integration, with active research in speech generation, personality modeling, and multimodality. Its stated goal is to cross what it calls "the uncanny valley of voice" - producing interactions that feel alive rather than mechanical. Sesame also develops lightweight eyewear designed for all-day wear as part of its broader hardware ambitions.
The technical stack is broad and demanding. Sesame operates large GPU clusters and draws on expertise across machine learning, hardware engineering, software engineering, and human-computer interaction. The team describes an ability to move from whiteboard to production in days rather than quarters - a pace that reflects both its small size and its emphasis on cultivating in-house expertise across disciplines. Team members come from backgrounds spanning machine learning, hardware, software, and entertainment.
Sesame is backed by a16z, Sequoia, Spark, and Matrix, and operates out of offices in San Francisco, Bellevue, and New York.
