Alexander Israelov
| Alexander Israelov | |
| Occupation | Software engineer, entrepreneur |
|---|---|
| Known for | Co-founder and Head of Engineering of Mentra |
| Education | University of Colorado Boulder (Computer Science) |
Alexander Israelov is an American software engineer and entrepreneur who co-founded and heads engineering at Mentra, a startup building an open-source operating system for smart glasses. The company launched in 2024 and got into the Y Combinator Winter 2025 batch.[1][2]
Early life and education
At the University of Colorado Boulder, Israelov studied computer science and got hooked on systems programming and emerging hardware platforms. That academic grounding shaped everything he'd later do with wearable tech and operating systems.
Career
Israelov's first real job was as a software engineer at iManage, where he worked on document and email management software. He focused on improving software architecture there. But he also had entrepreneurial itch. He co-founded CheckPlease, an early startup tackling mobile payments for restaurant customers.
The wearable space drew him next. He became Head of Apps at TeamOpenSmartGlasses, an open-source initiative for smart glasses development. There he led Convoscope, a project meant to give wearers real-time conversational insights pulled from ambient audio. After that role, he worked as a Wearable Engineer at Auki Labs, where the focus was spatial computing and augmented reality infrastructure. He also founded Glossana, a technology company, though details on its scope and current status haven't been made public.
With Cayden Pierce as CEO, Israelov co-founded Mentra. Their argument is straightforward: smart glasses hardware's already mature enough. Devices are light, cheap, and capable for everyday use now. But there's no dedicated operating system. No app platform. That's the missing piece. Without it, smart glasses stay a niche product instead of becoming a computing category people actually adopt.[3] Mentra's positioning MentraOS as that missing layer, something like Android for smart glasses, so third-party developers can build apps that work across different hardware devices.
The Mentra Live is their first consumer product. It's a pair of AI-enabled smart glasses going for $299, available with prescription lenses too. You get video capture, livestreaming, and AI-powered note-taking built in. The company operates in artificial intelligence, consumer hardware, open-source software, and augmented reality from its base in the San Francisco Bay Area.
In July 2025, Mentra raised $8 million to launch MentraOS 2.0, the next version of its open-source operating system.[4] The funding came from Y Combinator, Toyota Ventures, and Amazon, plus Hartmann Capital and individual investors including co-founders from YouTube, Pebble, and Android.[5] MentraOS 2.0 works as a cross-device platform. Developers write code once. It runs on multiple smart glasses configurations.
References
- ↑ "Mentra – Y Combinator". 'Y Combinator}'. Retrieved 2025-07-15.
- ↑ "Mentra – Crunchbase Company Profile & Funding". 'Crunchbase}'. Retrieved 2025-07-15.
- ↑ "Mentra". 'Mentra}'. Retrieved 2025-07-15.
- ↑ "Mentra – Crunchbase Company Profile & Funding". 'Crunchbase}'. Retrieved 2025-07-15.
- ↑ "Mentra – Crunchbase Company Profile & Funding". 'Crunchbase}'. Retrieved 2025-07-15.