Fortell raises $163 million to rethink the hearing aid

Fortell, a startup developing AI-powered hearing aids, has raised $163 million from investors including Founders Fund, Thrive Capital, and Valor Equity. Hearing aids are devices that help people with hearing loss hear more easily in daily life; Fortell aims to use artificial intelligence to challenge the existing structure of the market for those devices. The funding gives Fortell more resources for that effort, and its investors are betting that an AI-focused newcomer can reshape an established category, though the round itself does not establish that the approach will succeed.