BUSINESS: Financial Aira Raises $12 Million Series B Financing By Staff Monday, May 22, 2017 12:23 AM SAN DIEGO—Aira, a San Diego-based startup that is developing smart products and services for blind and low vision individuals (BVI), announced that it has raised $12 million in a Series B funding round led by Jazz Venture Partners and Arboretum Ventures. Other participants included existing investors Lux Capital, ARCH Venture Partners and Felicis Ventures. Strategic investors include the National Federation of the Blind.Aira's service, which recently concluded its beta-testing phase, is now available to new users in the U.S. The technology combines smart glasses, dedicated bandwidth from Aira partner AT&T, and AI-enabled remote human agents to help blind and low vision individuals immediately access key information that they need about their environment.Aira said this latest round of funding builds upon a successful Series A round in 2016 that facilitated critical technology development, including establishing a 200-person "explorer class" of customers. The Series B funding will enable Aira to expand its service offerings to serve a greater number of BVI individuals.Aira also announced today that it has expanded its advisory board to include support and input from Mark Riccobono, president of the National Federation of the Blind. He will work alongside a group of distinguished BVI individuals, including Erik Weihenmayer, the only blind individual to summit Mount Everest; Jack Chen, Google attorney; Christine Ha, Master Chef winner; and Michael Hingson, best-selling author and speaker.