Awesome! Another cross-border company received hundreds of millions of yuan in financing

In recent years, the AR track has risen strongly and has shown great development potential in various fields. Whether it is virtual games or commercial applications, to daily entertainment and social interaction, AR is redefining the way we interact with the digital world.

Many companies in this field have also achieved good results, with product sales experiencing strong growth and gaining favor from the capital market.

XREAL Completes US$60 Million Strategic Financing

Yien.com learned that the consumer-grade AR glasses brand "XREAL" has completed a new round of strategic financing of US$60 million (approximately RMB 430 million).

It is understood that this round of financing will be used for XREAL product research and development and the expansion of the optical engine production base. XREAL plans to significantly increase the production capacity of AR glasses starting from 2025, and the newly introduced strategic investors will also provide XREAL with full technical and resource support in this direction.

As of now, XREAL has received US$300 million in financing, with major investors including Alibaba, Kuaishou, Weilai Capital, Yunfeng Fund, Sequoia China, Gentle Monster, Hillhouse, Avic, CICC Capital, GIP Capital, Shunwei Capital, CPE Yuanfeng, Huachuang Capital and iQiyi .

According to industry analysis agencies, XREAL's current valuation has exceeded US$1 billion.

After completing this round of financing, XREAL announced itself as "the first unicorn in the field of augmented reality glasses."

According to public information, XREAL was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Beijing. It was founded by former employees from Magic Leap, Google and AMD. XREAL is committed to the research and development, design and manufacturing of consumer-grade AR glasses, and has opened up the entire ecological chain connection between mobile phone manufacturers, telecom operators, AR glasses and AR content manufacturing.

Currently, XREAL's overseas business has expanded to many countries and markets including the United States, Japan, South Korea, Britain, Spain, and Germany. It has also established commercial cooperation with first-tier international operators.

As a company focusing on AR technology, XREAL attaches great importance to R&D. R&D personnel account for 70% of the company's employees, and the core members are all graduates from top universities such as Tsinghua University and Peking University in China and Harvard and Stanford abroad, and have experience working in leading technology companies such as Huawei, Magic Leap, and Baidu.

But XREAL's first product did not live up to expectations.

In 2019, XREAL launched its first AR glasses product, Nreal Light. This product can achieve the full functions of glasses, including gestures, perception of various environments, and plane recognition.

However, after the product was launched, sales were not ideal. From 2020 to 2021, the product's overseas sales were only more than 20,000 units.

XREAL believes that there are two reasons why the product has not been widely recognized by the market. First, the company's cooperation with operators has resulted in a sales chain that is too long, and there is no way to obtain user feedback on the product in the first place; second, although Light has developed a variety of functions, there is no corresponding software ecosystem to support it, so users can only use it more to watch videos and browse the web, which reduces the user experience.

In two years, XREAL has upgraded its products seven times, from the initial Nreal Light to Nreal X and Nreal Air, XREAL continues to improve its products .

In order to adapt to market demand, XREAL launched a new product, Air, in 2022. This product focuses on maximizing the use of mobile phones and other ecosystems to enhance scene experience. In addition, the device has become smaller and cheaper.

The product became popular all over the world after its launch. Within one year, the global sales of Air exceeded 200,000 units.

In August 2022, XREAL products officially entered the Chinese market.

XREAL products have been on sale in the country for nearly a year and have become the best-selling product in the XR terminal field on JD.com and Tmall.

According to the official data disclosed by XREAL, during the Double 11 promotion in 2023, XREAL won the "XR Grand Slam" in one fell swoop, including the JD.com and Tmall platforms, and won the first place in both sales volume and sales revenue of the XR glasses category.

Its GMV on both JD.com and Tmall platforms exceeded 40 million yuan, and sales of the entire XREAL series of AR glasses exceeded 11,000 units, once again setting a new record in the AR industry.

At the same time, XREAL products are also very popular on third-party e-commerce platforms such as Amazon .

It is understood that XREAL's products top multiple lists on Amazon Japan and the United States .

According to IDC data reports, XREAL's global total sales in 2022 were 98,000 units, ranking first in the global AR glasses industry in terms of shipments. In this year, XREAL surpassed Microsoft for the first time and became the world's No. 1 AR brand with a market share of 36%.

In the first half of 2023, XREAL continued to lead the global AR market and ranked first in sales, with a sales share of 34.49% in Q1 and a share rising to 39.03% in Q2.

According to IDC survey, in the third quarter of 2023, XREAL accounted for 51% of the global AR glasses market .

XREAL revealed that in the first nine months of 2023 , the company's revenue increased by 320%, and the cumulative sales of AR glasses have reached 350,000 units .

Consumer AR is gaining momentum! Apple enters the market

AR technology is gaining more and more attention around the world. It is estimated that by 2027, the AR industry market size will exceed 200 billion yuan, with a compound growth rate of 78% from 2022 to 2027.

According to IDC's forecast data, global augmented reality and virtual reality (AR/VR) will reach US$13.8 billion in 2023. By 2026, this figure will grow to US$50.9 billion.

Apple is also entering the AR market in a strong way and building an AR industry chain.

In June 2023, Apple released its first headset product, Apple Vision Pro.

It is understood that VisionPro is Apple’s first head-mounted "spatial computing" display device.

Compared with traditional VR devices, Apple positions Apple Vision Pro as a "spatial computing device" rather than a simple virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), or mixed reality (MR) headset device.

Apple Vision Pro has multiple cameras, which can be controlled by gestures, eyes or voice. It is a new generation of electronic products that can be used for work, entertainment and communication. Wearing Vision Pro can turn the space into a boundless canvas, get rid of the control of the monitor, call up apps at will, adjust the size at will, take photos and videos, watch photos, videos and play games on the super large screen, and can also be used for work.

On January 19, 2024, Apple officially opened pre-orders for the Vision Pro headset. The server was overwhelmed within 5 minutes of the sale, and the stock was sold out 18 minutes after the pre-order was opened. The physical store was sold out within half an hour of the pre-sale.

On February 2, 2024, Apple’s first head-mounted display device, Vision Pro, was officially launched in the United States. Depending on the configuration, the price ranges from US$3,499 to US$4,795.95.

Industry insiders pointed out that Vision Pro will be Apple’s most important product in 2024, with shipments expected to reach 500,000 units in 2024.

It should be noted that XREAL’s new product will be launched in March this year.

Compared to the $3,499 Vision Pro, the XREAL Air 2 Ultra is priced at just $699.

It is reported that the XREAL Air 2 Ultra product is equipped with dual 3D environmental sensors, bringing six degrees of freedom (6DoF) function. Compared with Apple Vision Pro, it is positioned as a more economical spatial computing platform.

Moreover, XREAL Air 2 Ultra currently supports Apple's latest spatial video feature, which makes this product a new affordable alternative to Vision Pro.

Financing

AR Track