San Francisco-based AI startup Ghost has emerged from stealth with $11 million in funding and unveiled Core, a $3,499 personal computer designed specifically to run AI agents locally and continuously in the background.
The company is led by 19-year-old founder and CEO Zain Javaid, alongside co-founders Gautam Sharda, 23, Yifei Chen, 24, and Nicholas Chua, 19. Ghost is building its technology around the idea that personal computing could increasingly shift from users manually operating applications to AI agents performing tasks on their behalf.
Core is a screenless computer designed to run personal AI agents that can understand a user's context, work across applications and services, and carry out tasks. Instead of relying on a conventional monitor-based interface, users can interact with the system through a phone or application while the device handles AI processing in the background.
Ghost has designed Core as a combination of dedicated hardware and software rather than an AI application running on an existing PC. The system includes its own software layer, browser and file system, with AI models pre-installed. The company is also emphasising local processing, allowing models, personal memory and user data to remain on the device rather than depending entirely on cloud infrastructure.
The device is equipped with an Nvidia RTX Pro 4000 SFF Blackwell GPU with 24 GB of VRAM and 64 GB of DDR5 memory. It comes with three AI models installed, while users can add other models, including those available through platforms such as Hugging Face.
Ghost has raised $11 million in a seed funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Abstract, Audacious Ventures, Nova and SV Angel. The funding comes after the startup spent about a year developing its technology before emerging from stealth.
Javaid previously worked as a quantitative analyst at Millennium before shifting his focus towards artificial intelligence following the emergence of generative AI. At Ghost, he is leading the company's broader vision of redesigning personal computing around AI agents.
The founding team brings experience spanning AI infrastructure, design and growth. Sharda previously worked at Google on Cloud SDK infrastructure and systems linked to Gemini Code Assist. Chen leads Ghost's product experience and design, while Chua is focused on growth.
With Core, Ghost is entering an emerging category of AI-focused hardware that places local models and autonomous agents at the centre of the computing experience, while prioritising user control over personal data and AI workloads.
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