Unlike many AI companies Plaud not only makes money — it’s profitable. Between sales of the $159 NotePin and revenue from annual transcription plans starting at $99, the company is on track to bring in $250 million in annualized revenue this year with Xu bragging about margins on par with Apple’s 25% on every iPhone sold.
And unlike its rivals, Plaud has done it without handouts from venture capitalists. Xu, 34, bootstrapped the company by pooling his savings with his older cofounder Charles Liu, a Shenzhen factory owner, and launching a $1 million crowdfunding campaign. The pair still own the vast majority of the business. But competition is heating up and Plaud is facing a growing cohort of startups hoping their personal AI device can bite off a chunk of the $540 billion annual smartphone market.
“In the next decade, every single person is going to have a wearable AI device,” said Xu. “It will be more popular than smartphones.”
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