Ghost raises $11m for a $3,499 computer built for personal AI

Ghost, a hardware startup led by 19-year-old Zain Javaid, has raised $11 million to sell a specialised home computer designed to run personal artificial intelligence agents around the clock.

The seed round was led by Andreessen Horowitz, with backing from Abstract, Audacious Ventures, SV Angel, and Nova. Ghost emerged from stealth on Monday alongside the launch of pre-orders for its debut machine, named Core, which costs $3,499. The company expects to begin shipping the first batch in the final week of October.

What is the Ghost Core computer?

Core is a screenless desktop box that functions as a dedicated local server for AI agents. Rather than interacting with it through a monitor and keyboard, users connect through a mobile app or desktop interface, issuing text commands or speaking into the phone app.

The idea behind the device is to let autonomous software monitor personal files, desktop activity, and connected smart home gear without sending that data to third-party cloud servers. Javaid, who is the company’s chief executive, argues that general-purpose computers like Apple's Mac Mini are poorly suited to running local AI assistants continuously.

Inside, the machine runs on an AMD Ryzen 5 7600 six-core processor paired with 64 GB of DDR5 memory and a 1 TB NVMe solid-state drive. Its heavy lifting is handled by an Nvidia RTX Pro 4000 Blackwell Small Form Factor graphics card equipped with 24 GB of GDDR7 ECC memory—a workstation chip that typically commands a four-figure price on its own.

How the software works

Ghost pre-installs several open-source models out of the box, including Qwen-3.8-Next, Qwen-3.8-27B, and Gemma-4-31B. Owners can also download alternatives from Hugging Face or install their own fine-tuned models. Ghost plans to distribute updates over the air, giving users the choice to switch whenever upgraded model generations appear.

Javaid said the system includes a custom browser, software layer, and filing system. Because the device is meant to manage credentials and take actions autonomously, Ghost is building an internal firewall designed to inspect all outbound network traffic. If an agent attempts an unsanctioned task or tries to move sensitive data off the computer, the system is designed to block the connection and alert the owner.

To address concerns about startup longevity, Javaid said the machine's model weights, logic, and source code live entirely on the local hardware. If Ghost ever ceases operations, the computer is programmed to keep functioning independently.

Who is behind Ghost?

Javaid dropped plans for a career in quantitative finance after experimenting with generative AI in 2022. He started Ghost a year ago alongside co-founders Nicholas Chua, 19, Yifei Chen, 24, and Guatam Sharda, 23.

The team is currently assembling the hardware by hand at a workshop in San Francisco. While incumbents like Apple and Google are gradually embedding assistant features into consumer laptops and phones, Ghost is betting that privacy-conscious buyers will pay a steep premium for hardware that keeps their data strictly inside the house.