An Open-Source (and Cute) Alternative to Amazon Echo
Mycroft’s voice-enabled assistant is embodied in the startup’s friendly-looking Mark 1 gadget, but you can build it into all kinds of devices.
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Voice is coming to every device, every user and every household globally. Why? Because it is intuitive, simple and powerful. The voice market is growing exponentially. Smart speakers have already eclipsed smartphones as the fastest growing technology product ever.
This growth has caused problems for companies that don’t have a voice solution. The companies that do have voice technology: Amazon, Google and Apple are competing head to head in nearly every major industrial vertical. Ten years ago Amazon sold books, now they sell cloud computing and space launch services. Google is building cars.
Companies without a voice strategy have seen how Big Tech disrupts markets. They’ve learned from watching Apple eat the music industry and Amazon consume publishing. Smart companies do not want to send customer data to Silicon Valley anymore.
Consumers are also waking to the importance of privacy. People have grown uncomfortable with pervasive surveillance from mobile phones, computers, and now, smart speakers. They want a to have a great experience without sacrificing privacy.
Mycroft is the solution for both industry and individuals. Our community is building the open source alternative to proprietary voice technologies like Alexa, Siri and Assistant. Mycroft inhabits the open source segment of this huge emerging market.
We started with a wireless speaker with a high quality microphone. This speaker is a reference device designed to give our developer community a foundation from which to innovate. We made it easy for people to get involved by releasing software for the Raspberry Pi and Linux. The company sold more than 2,000 Mark I reference devices. Then this year Mycroft took more than $450,000 in pre-orders for the Mark II.
Don’t mistake Mycroft AI Inc. for a device maker. Mycroft is a software platform that allows developers to add a voice assistant to anything.
Mycroft has raised institutional funding from investors around the world. Through Kickstarter, Indiegogo and recurring payments the Mycroft community has been enormously supportive, but so far our equity offerings have been restricted to accredited investors. Through StartEngine we are changing that, we want to give our community the opportunity to own a piece of the technology company they are helping to build.
For corporate customers Mycroft provides an enterprise server license for $1,500/month. We work with companies directly or through third party resellers. Mycroft helps brands deploy custom assistants.
Individual consumers support Mycroft through a $2/month premium membership fee.
$1.57/share of Non-Voting Common Stock.
We are offering $1,070,000 in common stock at a $19.9M pre-money valuation. Investors and supporters who participate will be on equal footing with company employees who own the same class of stock.
For members of the Mycroft community who believe in the future of voice and the power of open source this is an excellent opportunity to invest in a high risk, potentially high reward early stage technology company.
Mycroft AI Inc has recently created a new R&D wholly-owned subsidiary, called Brass Cannon LLC. The purpose of this company is to separate the development of the open sourced Mykrosystem from Mycroft's central business. Mycroft AI Inc's role in Brass Cannon is limited to the company Manager being Joshua Montgomery, and if a project is identified to work on, Mycroft AI can be contracted for some or none of the work. This is an experiment in new technologies to see if privacy and user agency can be straightened with distributed ledgers. Currently, no development of this technology is underway.
Mycroft’s voice-enabled assistant is embodied in the startup’s friendly-looking Mark 1 gadget, but you can build it into all kinds of devices.
Could it be that when it comes to AI, Holmes is where the smart is?
The Mycroft Mark II is an open-source Amazon Echo clone that doesn’t store any voice data–for better and for worse.
Mycroft, an open source artificial intelligence startup opened its Kickstarter campaign last week. It is getting ready to take on the heavyweights such as Amazon Echo, Apple Siri, Google Now, and Microsoft Cortana.
Big tech has a problem: the better the technology's functionality, the worse the state of user privacy.
Enter Kansas City's Mycroft, the world's first open-source AI voice assistant. Mycroft is free to download and use, and developers are invited to alter its code to expand and improve its functionality.
Smart speakers are all the range in tech these days and soon it will be the battle of the titans. But as those giants scuffle, the small men, the consumers, sometimes get trampled on. Especially their privacy. It’s no secrets that the likes of Amazon and Google want your data.
Engineers Ryan Sipes and Joshua Montgomery wanted their makerspace in Lawrence, Kansas, to be more intuitive. So they borrowed an artificial intelligence system from other makers and used it to do simple tasks, such as controlling the lights or playing music.
Mycroft is building an open source voice assistant that can be used by an individual or a corporation.
Being an open hardware platform, there are immense possibilities with Mycroft. Third-party developers can connect it to online services like Facebook and update their Facebook status by talking to Mycroft.
Turning a Raspberry Pi into a voice-controlled gadget just got a whole lot easier
Seeking funding on Kickstarter, the Mycroft Smart Home AI Platform is voice-activated, cloud-connected, control device with Arduino and Raspberry Pi 2 at its core.
When you issue a command to a virtual assistant like Siri, Alexa, or Cortana, natural language processing technology (NLP) allows the program to interpret your speech and respond in everyday language. As an alternative to these market leaders, Montgomery and his team created Mycroft.
Mycroft AI is a home voice assistant similar Google Home and Amazon Alexa. But, unlike those, Mycroft is completely open source. You can purchase a ready-to-use device, or just install the software on something like a Raspberry Pi.
A competitor for Amazon Alexa and Google Home, Mycroft's new voice-enabled device is open source and does not collect data without permission.
Mycroft is what you would describe as a house computer, a device connected to your house, which acts like a virtual artificial intelligence. In this case, it's a clever mini PC named Mycroft, which is based on Raspberry Pi 2 and runs Ubuntu Snappy Core.
Mycroft, with his large blue LED eyes, is reminiscent of a 1980s alarm clock. The intelligent vocal assistant Mark 1 stands out from competitors who have chosen a minimalist look (Echo, Home or Tianmao Jingling X1) launched by the digital giants Amazon, Google and Alibaba.
Today is the 500 Startups Batch 20 Demo Day in San Francisco, CA. The startups will pitch to an audience of Venture Capitalists, Angel Investors, and decision makers at large tech companies, in hopes of closing their first (or next) round of funding.
Quite some time ago, the Mycroft personal assistant was released. Unfortunately, that initial released failed to gain much traction. To many in the open source world that was a surprise, considering it was possible to install Mycroft on a desktop without having to buy the hardware.
Mycroft is a project that, until now, required some computer know-how to get going. What might be easy for a technology hobbyist or professional could be an intimidating experience for the average user. Because of this, there has been glaring void in the landscape of personal assistant software.
Mycroft is about to release its first smart display with a voice assistant called the Mark II. Amazon Echo Show helped get this product segment started in June and several Google Assistant partners announced smart speakers with displays (i.e. smart displays) at CES earlier this month.
Mike (an abbreviation of Mycroft, the name of Sherlock Holmes’ brother) is a fun-loving supercomputer from Robert Heinlein’s classic sci-fi novel, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. A character as far removed from the cold, austere as HAL as is possible, Mike becomes the best friend of the narrator.
There is an off switch; you just have to be able to find it.
Investment bank Morgan Stanley just did something very peculiar: It told Google to give away one of its “smart speakers” to everyone in America — for free. The cost of this giveaway? About $3 billion.
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A crowdfunding investment involves risk. You should not invest any funds in this offering unless you can afford to lose your entire investment. In making an investment decision, investors must rely on their own examination of the issuer and the terms of the offering, including the merits and risks involved. These securities have not been recommended or approved by any federal or state securities commission or regulatory authority. Furthermore, these authorities have not passed upon the accuracy or adequacy of this document. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission does not pass upon the merits of any securities offered or the terms of the offering, nor does it pass upon the accuracy or completeness of any offering document or literature. These securities are offered under an exemption from registration; however, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has not made an independent determination that these securities are exempt from registration.
This is a post to Mycroft's previous campaign. Our current campaign can be accessed here.
We are proud and excited to announce that as of today, we have a date for the beginning of Mark II mass-production.
Here is a letter from our CEO, Michael Lewis:
I promised I wouldn’t announce the Mark II for sale until I was sure about the ship date. Well, now I’m sure. Eight months from the time we place the orders for parts, the first mass-production Mark II will roll off the line. The sale of 1000 units will be enough to finance the set up costs (NREs), and when we’ve hit that milestone we’ll start the clock ticking. If we can sell 1000 by the end of the year, I’m confident that our ship date will be Sept 19th 2022.
When I joined Mycroft in 2020, the circumstances weren’t great. There was the patent thing. There was the pandemic thing. There was a Mark II prototype that cost $2000 each to make. The software needed a little work too. In retrospect…
But I was sold on the idea, the team and the need. Just look at this Mycroft vs. Amazon video to see just one example of what drives me crazy about modern technology. Amazon is relentless with their constant attempts to get your attention and “feed you content”. Mycroft just does what you ask it to. That’s the kind of device I want in my house.
Now the Mark II really exists. I have two on my desk and one in my kitchen. And, finally, we have a solid plan to make more. Lots more.
Personally, I’m very excited to have the date finally pinned down and I can’t wait for you to get yours. Thank you once again for your support.
Sincerely,
Michael Lewis
CEO, Mycroft AI inc.
p 408-834-9398
michael.lewis@mycroft.ai
EVT = Engineering Validation Testing
DVT = Design Validation Testing
PVT = Production Validation Testing
DFM = Design for Manufacturing
UL = Underwriters Laboratories
FCC = Federal Communications Commission
CE = Certified for European Economic Area
RoHS - Restriction of Hazardous Substance Directive
EE = Electrical Engineering
ME = Mechanical Engineering
Pre-order your Mark II now. Shipping starts 19th Sept 2022*.
If you want not just the speaker in your hands but also to be part of this growing tech startup as it brings privacy, data sovereignty, and access to many communities: invest at Start Engine.
* See order page for details.
This is a post to Mycroft's previous campaign. Our current campaign can be accessed here.
Note: This missive comes to you from the keyboard of Michael Lewis, CEO, rather than the normal marketing and communication team.
All of us at Mycroft are true believers in our mission to deliver privacy-respecting voice assistants and technology. But while privacy and openness are our foundational values, they are not the limit of our ambitions. In fact, I’ve come to think of Mycroft not as a technology company, but as a social-change company. To illustrate this, I’ve invited every member of our team to share their personal story over the coming weeks. There is an impressive diversity of hopes for what we’ll achieve.
How does that relate to the click-baity subject line? Well, 95% of you are not investors, so I infer that you are most likely here because of an interest in privacy or open source. Since this mailing list goes to over 30,000 people, I read that as a substantial show of support for our values. If every one of you could contribute the minimum amount to our Regulation Crowdfunding campaign we’d raise over $15M. However, while decentralized ownership of the company comports with our ideals for decentralized ownership of data (i.e. privacy) and decentralized ownership of technology (i.e. open source), the SEC limit for this type of funding is $5M per year. Nevertheless, here, as in grassroots democracy, a lot of small checks can be more powerful than a few big ones.
What we do builds on the work of countless others. From the generous contributions of the open source code we use, to selfless acts of standing up for one’s rights, I find inspiration in many places. As our funding campaign draws to a close, we share our stories in the hope that you will find something that inspires you to renew your support for Mycroft. Money may be a necessary evil, but together we can prove there is a viable alternative to surveillance capitalism and create technology where our values thrive.
Sincerely,
Michael Lewis
CEO, Mycroft AI Inc.
We’re ending our campaign early so we can focus on development.
The new closing date is December 31.
More to come soon!
PS- This is good news. Not so much for those who aren't able to invest at the pre-production valuation.
PPS- This is a post to Mycroft's previous campaign. Our current campaign can be accessed here.
This is a post to Mycroft's previous campaign. Our current campaign can be accessed here.
Part of Mycroft’s Road Map is white labeling our software for enterprise business integrations. Recently our channel partner, Neon AI signed a contract with a Fortune 100 industrial giant using Mycroft core.
"Neon chooses Mycroft above other options because they are the major voice technology player in the open source community. Open Source is important to us because it provides for community, transparency and ubiquity. When we share code we all gain. We know that Mycroft shares these values and we look forward to a long business relationship with Mycroft and their well-established developer community."
-Richard Leeds, CEO, Neon AI
This development provides another demonstration of Mycroft integration into a large enterprise scenario. We’re happy to see the Open Source ball rolling and are proud to be a part of it. More importantly, this is demonstrable proof that privacy is valued and desired on a business enterprise scale, and Mycroft is the best solution for fulfilling that need.
Now is the time to invest in the good guys; Mycroft is THE private voice solution.
If you'd like to receive our weekly newsletters which contain hardware, software, and business development updates, sign up at https://mycroft.ai/newsletters/
This is a post to Mycroft's previous campaign. Our current campaign can be accessed here.
Linux For Everyone hosted Mycroft founder, Joshua Montgomery, to talk about “An Invasion of Privacy.”
Despite the new movement towards asking for permission to track your usage, the host and creator of Linux For Everyone, Jason Evangelho, highlighted that the key word here is that they ask to track your usage. That doesn’t mean that they don’t just because you say, “no thanks.”
A study on Lockdown Privacy stated, “We found that app-tracking transparency made no difference in the total number of active third party trackers and had a minimal impact on the total number of tracking connection attempts. We further confirmed that detailed personal or device data was being sent to trackers in almost all cases.”
Help us offer Mycroft to the masses. This is getting ridiculous.
If you'd like to receive our weekly newsletters which contain hardware, software, and business development updates, sign up at https://mycroft.ai/newsletters/
This is a post to Mycroft's previous campaign. Our current campaign can be accessed here.
If you're here, you already know that you can invest in Mycroft at StartEngine.com/Mycroftai
Democratizing investment in startups is something that Mycroft supports - not just because we are a startup - but because we believe that anyone should be able to use their money to back the things they care about. If billionaires, corporations and lobbyists can do it - everyone should be able to do it.
We've written in the past about different ways that people can compound their wealth using assets like their self-directed IRAs so we won't get into it again. But we do want to restate the importance of privacy and user agency. Help the nerds that are making a voice technology for the people. And, maybe get rich doing it.
Invest in THE private voice assistant.
If you'd like to receive our weekly newsletters which contain hardware, software, and business development updates, sign up at https://mycroft.ai/newsletters/
This is a post to Mycroft's previous campaign. Our current campaign can be accessed here.
Invest in THE private voice assistant.
If you'd like to receive our weekly newsletters which contain hardware, software, and business development updates, sign up at https://mycroft.ai/newsletters/
This is a post to Mycroft's previous campaign. Our current campaign can be accessed here.
This is a post to Mycroft's previous campaign. Our current campaign can be accessed here.
Invest in THE private voice assistant.
If you'd like to receive our weekly newsletters which contain hardware, software, and business development updates, sign up at https://mycroft.ai/newsletters/
The founder of Mycroft, Joshua Montgomery, will be doing a live discussion on Friday, October 29th, hosted by 8 x 8 Meet : a private, open source meeting platform
We wanted to open up the opportunity for investors and/or anyone interested in Mycroft’s projected course a chance to discuss the future of the company directly.
Topics that will be covered are:
-Roadmap
-Mycroft Partners
-Marketability
-Mycroft and HIPAA compliance
Click here to register with Mycroft and we will send an invite directly to your email with a calendar invite.
Thank you and we hope to “see” you Friday!
Are you invested in shaping the future? Create your own personal assistant with Mycroft.
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