Verne Technologies

Verne Technologies is a Japanese hardware startup founded by Daiki Takeuchi that debuted its flagship product, the Wearphone, at CES 2026 in Las Vegas. The Wearphone is a mask-style wearable device designed to reduce the wearer's voice by 10 to 20 decibels, enabling private voice calls and AI chatbot interactions in public spaces without disturbing others or exposing conversations. The company is betting that growing adoption of voice-based AI assistants will drive demand for privacy-preserving voice peripherals, and plans to bring the Wearphone to market at an estimated price of $500. Verne Technologies was recognized as one of the top hidden-gem startups at CES 2026 by PCMag.