$30 million! Who is Zach Yadegari? Meet teenage founder - Know how he turned AI calorie tracking into a massive business
At 19, American entrepreneur Zach Yadegari has already built two businesses and secured $10 million in funding for his latest venture, Persona. The young founder first attracted attention with Cal AI, an artificial intelligence-powered calorie-tracking app that reportedly generated more than $30 million in annual revenue before being acquired by MyFitnessPal.
Persona marks Yadegari’s next move in the AI space, months after the acquisition of his previous venture. According to a 8 October report by TechCrunch, the startup’s $10 million funding round was led by Vine Ventures, with participation from Z Fellows founder Cory Levy and Collective Global.
Yadegari is an entrepreneur from Long Island, New York, who began learning computer programming at the age of seven.
According to Business Insider, he developed software from an early age and created Totally Science, a gaming website that allowed students to access games otherwise blocked on school networks. He reportedly sold the business for approximately $100,000 when he was 16.
His early experience building and selling software laid the groundwork for his subsequent ventures in consumer technology and artificial intelligence.
Yadegari gained wider attention in April 2025 after revealing that 15 of the 18 universities he applied to had rejected him, including Harvard, Yale and Stanford.
Despite reporting a 4.0 GPA, an ACT score of 34 and an existing business, he did not secure admission to several prestigious institutions. He subsequently enrolled at the University of Miami.
Meanwhile, Cal AI, launched in 2024, was gaining traction. The app uses AI to estimate the calorie content of meals from photographs uploaded by users, offering an alternative to manually logging food and portion sizes.
In March 2026, MyFitnessPal announced its acquisition of Cal AI for an undisclosed amount. The company told TechCrunch that the app had surpassed 15 million downloads and generated more than $30 million in annual revenue within two years.
The reported revenue figure highlights Cal AI’s commercial traction, although the acquisition price and the company’s profitability have not been disclosed in the supplied information.
After leaving MyFitnessPal in June, Yadegari began working on Persona, an AI assistant designed to help users manage everyday activities.
The startup plans to introduce a wearable device priced at $179 in December. Unlike assistants designed to listen continuously, Persona’s device is intended to activate through a button or wrist movement.
Yadegari told TechCrunch that the company would not sell user conversations to advertisers. However, sponsored shopping recommendations would form part of its business model.
Persona is currently available in beta through iMessage and has attracted “a few thousand beta users”, according to Yadegari.
Persona enters a competitive AI assistant market, where established technology companies are developing tools to help users manage tasks and access information.
Its proposed wearable device and approach to user privacy could help distinguish it from other products, but its ability to attract paying customers and compete with established AI assistants remains to be seen.
For Yadegari, Persona represents another attempt to turn consumer-facing AI technology into a scalable business. Whether the startup can match Cal AI’s reported commercial performance will depend on adoption, monetisation and its ability to establish a distinct position in the market.
Anjali Thakur is a Senior Assistant Editor with Mint, reporting on trending news, entertainment and health, with a focus on stories driving digital conversations. Her work involves spotting early signals across news cycles and social media, sharpening stories for SEO and Google Discover, and mentoring young editors in digital-first newsroom practices. She is known for turning fast-moving developments—whether news-driven or culture-led—into clear, tightly edited journalism without compromising editorial rigour.<br><br> Before joining Mint, she was Deputy News Editor at NDTV.com, where she led the Trending section and covered viral news, breaking developments and human-interest stories. She has also worked as Chief Sub-Editor at India.com (Zee Media) and as Senior Correspondent with Exchange4media and Hindustan Times’ HT City, reporting on media, advertising, entertainment, health, lifestyle and popular culture.<br><br> Anjali holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Miranda House, and is currently pursuing an MBA, strengthening her understanding of business strategy and digital media economics. Her writing balances newsroom discipline with a clear instinct for what resonates with readers.
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