Captify

What Captify does

Captify Inc. is a San Francisco-based, privately-held company that designs, sells, and supports assistive smart glasses for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community. Co-founded by Tom Pritsky—who was born with bilateral hearing loss and enrolled at Stanford to pursue accessibility solutions—and Jason Gui, a smart-glasses veteran with prior operating experience shipping Vigo and Vue products to 100+ countries, Captify positions itself as a hard-of-hearing-owned company. Its products address the communication isolation of 44 million Americans and 1.5 billion people globally with hearing loss by delivering real-time speech-to-text captions into the user's field of view, along with environmental-sound awareness, translation, and AI-assisted conversation tools.

The company's product portfolio centers on two SKU families: Captify Pro, the premium flagship launched in 2024 at $899 with unlimited offline captions in 40+ languages, dual-eye diffractive waveguide displays (640x480, 30° FOV, 1500 nits), dual beamforming microphones with noise cancellation, environmental sound detection (300+ sounds), and an optional $15/month premium subscription; and Captify Myvu, launched in 2025 at $499 (regularly $699), a 43-gram lighter-weight form factor supporting 13 languages with no subscription required for core captioning. Both products run on Microsoft's state-of-the-art speech recognition and translation models, support iOS and Android via a companion app, accept prescription lens inserts (single-vision, progressives, astigmatism), and carry IPX4 ratings. The company supplements hardware with accessories (chargers, sunglass clip-ons) and ecosystem signals through partnerships with Microsoft and the Hearing Loss Association of America.

Commercial activity is conducted almost entirely direct-to-consumer via the captify.glass Shopify storefront, with free US shipping, international shipping to 190+ countries, a 14-day risk-free trial, FSA/HSA card acceptance, and vision-insurance reimbursement support. Marketing leverages earned media (PC Mag, Tom's Guide, Android Authority, New York Post, Numerama, Meristation, Digitec, Galaxus), customer testimonials, an email newsletter, a CES 2026 showcase, and 2026 sponsorship of HLAA Walk4Hearing events across 18 US cities. The 2026 iF Design Award in Innovation/R&D provides third-party validation. No external venture financing, revenue figures, or headcount data are disclosed in the source material, and the company appears to be founder-funded and early-stage, with no announced plans for retail expansion beyond stated intent to enter optical stores.

Name

Captify

Legal name

Captify Inc.

Website

https://captify.glass

Company type

Private

Founded year

2024

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Captify Inc. is a San Francisco-based, privately-held company that builds assistive smart glasses for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals. It sells Captify Pro ($899) and Captify Myvu ($499-$699) direct-to-consumer via captify.glass, using Microsoft's speech-to-text engine to display real-time captions in the user's field of view across 40+ languages.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Assistive Hearing Wearables

NAICS

Optical Goods Retailers (45613)

akta.pro primary industry

AR Smart Glasses (CRACAIAE)

akta.pro secondary industry

Hearing Enhancement / Assistive Listening Audio Devices (CRACANAL)

Keywords

• Captioning smart glasses
• Assistive hearing devices
• Speech-to-text wearables
• Accessibility technology
• AR glasses

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Hardware Sales - Captify Pro: One-time purchase of smart glasses. Captify Pro priced at $899. Includes free offline captioning and translations with optional $15/month premium upgrade for enhanced features.
2. Hardware Sales - Captify Myvu: One-time purchase of more affordable captioning glasses. Currently priced at $499 (regularly $699). Includes unlimited captions and translations at no extra cost.
3. Premium Subscription: Optional $15/month subscription offering enhanced accuracy (up to 98%), speaker differentiation, AI conversation summaries, custom word recognition, cloud backup, and Ask AI features.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Captify designs, manufactures, and sells smart glasses purpose-built for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community. The glasses display real-time speech-to-text captions directly in the user's field of view using dual-eye diffractive waveguide displays, dual beamforming microphones, and Microsoft-powered speech recognition. Product lines include Captify Pro ($899) supporting 40+ languages and Captify Myvu ($499-$699) supporting 13 languages, with an optional $15/month Premium subscription adding AI features.

Product overview

Captify offers a portfolio of captioning smart glasses designed for deaf and hard of hearing users. The lineup consists of Captify Pro as the premium flagship product (40+ languages, advanced features, adjustable displays) and Captify Myvu as the more affordable option (13 languages, fixed display, no subscription required). Both products provide real-time speech-to-text captioning projected onto the lens display, with support for prescription lenses, environmental sound detection, and mobile app connectivity (iOS/Android). The ecosystem is supplemented by accessories including chargers and sunglass clip-ons, plus an optional Captify Premium subscription ($15/month) that unlocks enhanced accuracy, speaker differentiation, AI conversation summaries, and an Ask AI feature.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Captify Pro: Premium captioning smart glasses with real-time captions in 40+ languages, dual-eye displays, environmental sound alerts, and up to 4 hours battery life. Priced at $849-$1,399.
• Captify Myvu
• Captify Premium

Products and services

• Captify Pro Premium captioning smart glasses for deaf and hard-of-hearing users. Features unlimited captions in 40+ languages with real-time transcription and translation powered by Microsoft speech recognition, environmental sound detection, dual beamforming microphones with noise cancellation, dual-eye displays with adjustable caption positioning and font sizes (Regular/Large/Extra-Large), 4-hour battery life, and prescription lens compatibility. Optional $15/month Premium subscription unlocks 98% accuracy, speaker differentiation, AI conversation summaries, custom word recognition, cloud backup, and Ask AI assistant.
• Captify Myvu Affordable captioning smart glasses for deaf and hard-of-hearing users. Provides real-time captions and translations in 13 languages via dual-eye diffractive waveguide display (30° FOV, 1500 nits, 640x480 resolution), dual beamforming microphones with noise cancellation, 43g lightweight design, 4 hours continuous battery life, IPX4 sweat/rain resistance, and prescription lens support. No subscription required for premium streaming captioning and translation.
• Captify Premium Subscription Optional $15/month subscription service that enhances Captify glasses with up to 98% caption accuracy, speaker differentiation, AI-generated conversation summaries, custom word recognition for unique names and jargon, cloud backup and sync of conversations, and an Ask AI assistant that retrieves information from saved conversations.
• Captify Pro Charger Charging accessory designed for Captify Pro smart glasses.
• Sunglass Clip-on for Captify Myvu Sunglass lens accessory that clips onto Captify Myvu frames for outdoor use.
• Captify Myvu Prescription Lenses Prescription lens inserts for Captify Myvu smart glasses, available in single vision, reading, and progressive options with lens indexes from 1.60 to 1.74 high-index.

Quantifiable outcome

• Captions up to 98% accuracy with Premium subscription
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability8 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA)coreGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2026Captify is a sponsor of the HLAA Walk4Hearing 2026 series, with events in 18 cities across the United States. This partnership positions Captify as a 'Hear for Life' partner supporting hearing health programs and awareness.
• MicrosoftcoreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2026Captify uses Microsoft's state-of-the-art language recognition model for speech-to-text transcription and translation in their captioning glasses. This is the core technology powering real-time captions.
• MicrosoftcoreTechnology or IntegrationMicrosoft's speech recognition technology powers real-time transcription and translation features across all Captify products, enabling captions in 40+ languages on Pro and 13 on Myvu.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Meta Platforms (Ray-Ban Meta): Meta's Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses have shipped millions of units integrating Meta AI with always-on camera and audio. They do not yet caption natively, but Meta's scale, deep R&D, and AI roadmap make them the single highest-risk competitive threat to any consumer AR smart glasses startup including Captify.
• Starkey: Starkey is one of the largest US hearing aid manufacturers with AI-integrated hearing aids (Genesis AI, Edge AI) featuring health tracking and language translation. Competes with Captify for hearing-impaired consumers, with major incumbency advantages in clinical distribution and insurance billing.
• Sonova (Phonak): Sonova, owner of Phonak, is the world's largest hearing aid company with Roger and Phonak Audéo hearing aids featuring Bluetooth streaming, AI, and accessibility features. Directly competes for the same hearing-loss consumer Captify targets, with vastly greater R&D scale and global channel reach.
• Vuzix: Vuzix is a long-established public smart glasses and AR optics company offering consumer and enterprise models (Ultralite, Z100) with waveguide displays. Comparable to Captify in display technology and form factor, with broader enterprise/industrial commercial positioning.

Direct peers

• Rokid: Rokid (Rokid Max, Rokid Glasses) develops AR smart glasses with waveguide displays for media and AI-assistant applications. Comparable to Captify in core smart-glasses hardware category, though Rokid targets entertainment and AI assistant use cases rather than hearing-loss accessibility.
• Xreal: Xreal (formerly Nreal) builds consumer AR smart glasses with waveguide displays (Xreal Air, Xreal One) for media consumption and spatial computing. Xreal is the closest direct hardware peer to Captify in AR eyewear form factor, though its focus is general media/AR rather than hearing accessibility captioning.
• Eargo: Eargo is a direct-to-consumer hearing aid company selling virtually invisible CIC hearing aids online with teleaudiology support. Highly comparable to Captify in DTC channel strategy and hearing-loss consumer focus, although Eargo's product is a traditional hearing aid rather than captioning glasses.
• OrCam: OrCam develops wearable AI assistive devices (MyEye, MyReader) for blind and low-vision users, reading text and recognizing faces in real time. Highly comparable to Captify in mission-driven accessibility wearables for sensory-impaired users, though OrCam's modality is vision rather than hearing.
• Even Realities: Even Realities builds premium everyday-wear smart glasses (Even G1) with dual micro-LED displays and prescription lens support. Its premium, dual-display, everyday-wear positioning directly mirrors Captify's design language, competing for the same discretionary consumer with prescription lens compatibility.

Emerging players

• Brilliant Labs: Brilliant Labs builds lightweight AI smart glasses (Frame, Halo) with integrated multimodal AI overlays. Comparable to Captify in combining always-on eyewear with AI features, though Brilliant Labs focuses on visual AI overlays rather than hearing accessibility captioning.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/captifyglass
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/captify-glass

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Captify