# Xander

> Xander builds XanderGlasses, standalone augmented-reality smart glasses that turn spoken conversation into real-time captions displayed in the wearer's field of view. Aimed at people with hearing loss who don't sign, the device runs speech-to-text offline - no phone, Wi-Fi, or cloud required - so private conversations stay private. An MIT Media Lab spinout founded by Alex and Marilyn Morgan Westner, Xander has been adopted by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and is built on customized Vuzix Shield hardware.

- **Founded:** 2020
- **Headquarters:** Raleigh, North Carolina, United States
- **Founders:** Alex Westner (Co-Founder & CEO), Marilyn Morgan Westner (Co-Founder & Content)
- **Team size:** ~23 employees
- **Products:** XanderGlasses
- **Notable:** MIT Media Lab spinout, Public debut at CES 2023 in Las Vegas, Won the CTA Foundation Eureka Park Accessibility Contest at CES

## Products & services

- **XanderGlasses** — Standalone AR smart glasses that display real-time captions of nearby speech on both lenses. Built on a customized Vuzix Shield, they use multiple noise-canceling microphones and offline speech-to-text so captions work without a phone, Wi-Fi, or cloud - preserving privacy. Priced around $5,000 per pair including everything needed out of the box.

## Achievements

- MIT Media Lab spinout
- Public debut at CES 2023 in Las Vegas
- Won the CTA Foundation Eureka Park Accessibility Contest at CES
- Received a Catalyst Award from the National Academy of Medicine
- Recognized by AARP for innovation in aging/accessibility
- Adopted by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for veterans with hearing loss
- Raised $1.4M pre-seed led by Analog Devices co-founder Ray Stata

## Latest updates

- **2025-11** — WUNC profiled the Raleigh-based startup and its captioning glasses for people who are hard of hearing.
- **2025-05** — Vuzix announced it began supplying custom AR glasses to Xander to meet demand for its captioning solution.
- **2025-03** — Xander placed its largest re-order of Vuzix AR smart glasses to meet growing demand.
- **2024-09** — XanderGlasses specified through the VA as an approved intervention; latest funding tranche via Triangle Tweener Fund.
- **2023-01** — XanderGlasses made its public debut at CES 2023 and won the CTA Foundation accessibility contest.

## Links

- Website: https://xander.tech
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/xanderglasses
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@xanderglassses
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/xanderglasses
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/xanderglasses/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/xander
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-02