Cal AI Co-Founder Zach Yadegari Raises $10M for Persona Proactive AI Assistant

Zach Yadegari, the 19-year-old Cal AI co-founder who sold the calorie-tracking app to MyFitnessPal in March, raised $10 million from Vine Ventures, Z Fellows founder Cory Levy and Collective Global for Persona, a proactive AI assistant launching December 2026 on a $179 wearable band and currently in free iMessage beta. The ad-supported model runs on Persona's cloud with encrypted storage, phishing/prompt-injection protections and Stripe Link purchase approvals.