The niche track that Luo Yonghao "targeted" has raised more than 1.6 billion yuan this year

Not long ago, there was news that the AR smart glasses brand INMO completed a nearly 100 million yuan round B financing, which was jointly participated by Sichuan Development Hongxin Fund, Chenghua Science and Technology Venture Capital Company and Jiangxi Zhonghuan Investment Group. This news made many people in the industry know about a new overseas brand "INMO", and also paid attention to the "AR smart glasses" segment track.

Sichuan's smart glasses brand is sold out in Japan

INMO is a brand of Sichuan Yingmu Technology Co., Ltd., which was established at the end of 2020. In the domestic market, INMO is one of the "Four Little Dragons of AR" brands. With the characteristics and advantages of its products, it has occupied a certain share in the consumer AR market.

As a technology brand, 70% of its team members are product and technology R&D personnel , and all of them come from mobile phone-related or smart wearable manufacturers such as Coolpad, Huawei, TCL, HiSilicon, and Huami.

The brand name of INMO is quite meaningful, which comes from "In Mirror", which means entering the mirror world. While cultivating the domestic market, INMO also looks to the global market. So far, INMO products have been sold in more than 100 countries around the world . In some countries, sales are very hot.

In August this year , an investor asked its partner company: "Recently, INMO Technology's glasses have been so popular in Japan that they are out of stock. Have you placed additional orders with the company? Can the current production capacity of glasses meet the surge in shipments?"

As for online, INMO has already opened a store on Amazon, but the sales volume and number of reviews have not exploded. Judging from the positive reviews given by consumers, they are very supportive of INMO's concept and price.

A US consumer review: “I was genuinely excited when I bought the INMO AIR1 glasses, mainly because it has a translation app provided by ChatGPT, as well as impressive features such as camera, video recording and screen projection, and the price is less than $500. It seems to be a very good deal and worth a try.”

In addition to selling on the Amazon platform, INMO also built an independent website. Different from the traditional independent website that is solely for selling goods, INMO's independent website has the dual functions of both the official website and the independent website. It can not only realize product sales, but also serve as an important window for brand display.

Currently, the average monthly visit volume is about 13,500, most of which come from the United States, accounting for 59.18%, followed by the United Kingdom (23.5%) and Japan (7.62%). Among all its traffic source channels, natural search and direct search account for the highest proportion, nearly 88%, while paid search accounts for a very small proportion, only 1.07%. This shows that INMO has a certain degree of popularity and influence overseas.

Although the traffic from social media channels is relatively small ( 3.33%), an interesting phenomenon is that its social traffic consists of two sources: Youtube and Social, and Youtube accounts for 82.17%. A Youtube blogger said when reviewing the product: "After seeing this product, I really want to live another 500 years."

Leading enterprises are going overseas in groups, and capital is rushing in

INMO is one of the “Four Little Dragons of AR” in the domestic market along with Thunderbird Innovation, XREAL, and Rokid. Today, these brands have successfully entered overseas markets and received several rounds of financing. Especially this year, all of the “Four Little Dragons” have received capital investment, with a total amount exceeding 1.6 billion yuan.

Among them, XREAL (formerly known as NREAL) has been in overseas markets for a long time, and currently its overseas sales account for more than 70%. According to IDC data, XREAL accounted for 51% of the global AR glasses market in the third quarter of 2023. The main users are concentrated in countries with high 5G commercial coverage, such as South Korea, the United States, Japan, Switzerland, and Germany.

XREAL's online performance is also good. When searching for the keyword "AR" on the Amazon platform, XREAL's products appear first on the homepage. At the same time, in the BS list of the smart glasses category, three products of the brand have entered the top ten, and the total sales volume in the past 30 days has exceeded 2,000 units. XREAL has also established its own independent website, and currently has nearly 600,000 global monthly visits.

Earlier this year, XREAL just completed a new round of financing (US$60 million, about RMB 420 million). After this round of financing, XREAL's total financing amount reached US$300 million. According to industry analysis agencies, its valuation has exceeded US$1 billion.

In addition to XREAL, RayNeo has also extended its reach to North America, Europe, Northeast Asia and other countries. At the end of last year, RayNeo Air2 was launched on Amazon in the United States for the first time, and on the same day it won the first place in Amazon's new product rankings and smart glasses category best-selling list. At the same time, in the Amazon PD promotion in July this year, the product won the top spot on Amazon's movie viewing glasses best-selling list, with sales increasing by 658% year-on-year.

While continuously occupying the consumer market, Thunderbird Innovation has also been frequently favored by capital. This year alone, it has completed three rounds of financing and obtained more than 500 million yuan in financing within half a year.

Rokid, the last of the “AR Four Little Dragons”, also performed well. Currently, its products have been sold and used in more than 80 countries and regions around the world, and have been involved in North America, Europe, Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia.

In terms of revenue, the GMV compound growth rate has exceeded 100% in the past four years. Revenue in the first quarter of 2024 increased by about 150% compared with the same period last year. Overseas revenue accounted for nearly 40% of the total revenue, and it is expected that overseas revenue will exceed domestic sales in 2024.

Rokid's products have a considerable sales volume on Amazon. According to reports, during the 2023 "Black Friday" promotion, Rokid ranked first on Amazon's smart glasses and movie glasses best-selling list, with the number of orders on that day increasing by 562% year-on-year.

In terms of financing, at the beginning of this year, Rokid completed a C+ round of financing of nearly 500 million yuan. At the same time, at the end of last month, it was reported that Rokid received another 100 million yuan in financing.

The scale will reach 13 million units, and the track is "sniped" by Luo Yonghao

The AR smart glasses market is in a rapid development stage. According to a report by ResearchAndMarkets, the global smart augmented reality (AR) glasses market size is estimated to be 678,600 units in 2023 and is expected to reach 13 million units by 2030, with a compound annual growth rate of 53.0% from 2023 to 2030.

In this fast-growing track, there is a group of entrepreneurs waiting to make a big splash, including Luo Yonghao, who left the live broadcast room and devoted himself to starting a business again.

In August this year , Luo Yonghao’s official account posted on Xiaohongshu, claiming that his AR glasses company Xihongxian Technology’s overseas branch had started recruiting as it was gradually expanding its business in Singapore and the United States.

Overall, the voice of domestic AR smart glasses brands in overseas markets has been growing, and some brands have achieved remarkable results, such as the "AR Four Little Dragons" mentioned above.

Domestic AR smart glasses brands have many advantages in going overseas. For example, lower production costs. China has a mature electronic manufacturing industry chain and large-scale production capacity, and can effectively control costs in raw material procurement, parts processing, assembly and other links.

Therefore, compared with some high-end international brands of AR smart glasses, domestic products are more affordable while their functions and performance can meet the needs of most users.

There are also advantages in technological innovation. China has made significant progress in the optical technology of AR smart glasses, such as optical waveguide technology. Moreover, China is developing rapidly in the field of artificial intelligence. Combining AI technology with AR smart glasses is a major advantage for domestic companies.

However, this track is not easy to get involved in. A pair of AR glasses covers multiple parts such as camera (i.e. sensor), optical module (micro display, optical solution), CPU processing center (chip, sensor interaction, etc.). For a company to develop such a product, both technical and financial strength are indispensable.

AR

Smart glasses