Why Thrive, Founders Fund, and Antonio Gracias are betting on hearing aids

Matthew de Jonge spent six years developing Fortell, a startup that applies artificial intelligence and custom hardware to hearing aids. Rather than simply boosting all incoming sounds, Fortell's devices aim to identify which noises are important in real time and suppress background audio, an approach enabled by a bespoke chip designed with help from a former Google TPU engineer. Fortell's fundraising round—$163 million from backers including Founders Fund, Thrive Capital, and Valor Equity Partners CEO Antonio Gracias—reflects investor interest in modernizing an industry that has seen little disruption. The hearing-aid market is highly concentrated: five companies account for about 97% of products, and many consumers face limited insurance coverage for devices. De Jonge draws on an unusual career path that moved from mechanical engineering and hedge-fund work to building handheld ultrasound machines at Butterfly Network, experience he says gave him confidence to tackle hearing technology. On TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, he discussed Fortell’s AI architecture, the custom chip, and how those choices inform the company’s pitch to investors. Fortell also faces nontechnical challenges. Regulators and state-level telemedicine laws affect how companies can fit hearing aids remotely, shaping Fortell’s strategy to scale. De Jonge views consumer devices such as Apple’s AirPods not as competitors but as complementary offerings that can coexist with or even aid hearing care.