Great! Hangzhou's big overseas brands have received nearly 500 million yuan in financing

In recent years, the AR track has risen strongly and become one of the most watched "star" tracks in the technology industry. Many leading companies have made good news and their product sales have seen strong growth, which has also attracted the attention of the capital market.

Rokid has secured nearly 500 million yuan in C+ round financing

Recently, AR glasses brand Rokid has secured nearly 500 million yuan in C+ round of financing.

It is understood that this round of financing is led by the Hefei Municipal Government as a whole, and a number of financial and strategic investment institutions are introduced to participate.

China Renaissance Capital served as Rokid's exclusive strategic business advisor and financial advisor in this transaction . The funds raised in this round will be used by Rokid to enhance its B-side services and R&D capabilities and build an XR ecosystem in Hefei.

It is worth mentioning that this is the largest single strategic financing in the domestic AR field in recent years.

According to Tianyancha information, including the latest round of financing, Rokid has completed a total of 12 rounds of financing, with a cumulative total financing amount of more than 3 billion, of which 8 rounds of financing exceeded 100 million yuan.

On January 18, 2018, Rokid completed a strategic financing of US$100 million from investors including Credit Suisse, IDG Capital, China Development Financial Holdings and Temasek.

On July 2, 2021, Rokid completed strategic financing with a financing amount of several hundred million yuan, and the investment institution was Haitong Securities.

On March 20, 2022, Rokid completed its Series C financing with a financing amount of RMB 700 million, which the investment institution did not disclose to the public.

On November 4, 2022, Rokid completed strategic financing of RMB 125 million, and the investment institution was Yuhang State Investment Group.

On November 7, 2022, Rokid completed strategic financing of RMB 259 million. The investment institutions included Dunhong Asset, Wuxi Haichuang Investment, Bilibili, and individual investors.

On April 7, 2023, Rokid completed strategic financing of RMB 100 million. The investment institution was Yingtan Yujiang District Industrial Investment Group Co., Ltd.

On November 20, 2023, Rokid completed a US$112 million (approximately RMB 806 million) Series C financing.

The 8th round is the C+ round of financing of nearly 500 million yuan that was recently obtained.

Zhu Mingming, founder and CEO of Rokid, said that after this round of financing, Rokid will officially sign a contract with Hefei Xinzhan High-tech Zone to implement three major projects: Industrial Metaverse Headquarters, Ecological Center and R&D Center.

After the three major projects are implemented, there will be more specific goals. The Industrial Metaverse Headquarters focuses on AR glasses and related software and hardware platforms in the industrial field, and is expected to have a cumulative revenue of more than 3 billion yuan in the next five years. The Ecological Center focuses on building an ecological center and a "reservoir" for developers to attract more upstream and downstream leading companies to gather, with an estimated target output value of more than 10 billion yuan. The R&D Center plans to work with universities and professional institutions to carry out R&D work on the Metaverse Headquarters and Ecological Center projects.

Rokid becomes popular overseas with its product strength! Revenue surges by 200%

Rokid Technology Co., Ltd. was founded in 2014. The company is headquartered in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, and has established R&D centers in Beijing and Silicon Valley. Rokid combines cutting-edge AI and AR technologies with industry applications through research in multiple fields such as speech recognition, natural language processing, computer vision, optical display, chip platform, and hardware design. It currently has a self-developed AI&AR advanced technology system, forming an ecological platform that organically combines software and hardware, and has both 2B&2C scenarios, providing full-stack solutions for customers in different vertical fields.

(Image source: Rokid official website)

Rokid's AI and AR products are aimed at the global market and have been sold and used in more than 80 countries and regions around the world.

When Rokid was first founded, the focus was not on AR, but on voice intelligence and interactive speakers.

In 2016, Rokid began to form an AR R&D team.

In 2017, Rokid began to develop AR products.

In 2018, Rokid's first AR glasses, Rokid Glass, were launched. Rokid officially entered the AR track and became one of the first entrants in China.

Rokid first started from the B-end and then expanded to the C-end. It created Rokid Glass2 in the security, industrial, education and other industries, as well as the first AR smart helmet X-Craft that supports 5G Beidou explosion-proof.

Rokid Glass2 glasses have a first-person image recording function , which can trace the operation process.

Rokid X-Craft is the first explosion-proof AR smart helmet equipped with a 5G module. It can be compatible with ordinary safety helmets and is also explosion-proof, dustproof and waterproof. During use, this AR smart helmet can help engineers with real-time task reminders and guidance, so that their operations meet work standards.

Rokid's products have been put into mass production in multiple projects, including State Grid's AR operation and maintenance inspection, CNPC's AR intelligent inspection, CGN Group's Ningde Nuclear Power Project, Midea Group, Changan Automobile, State Energy Group's Dongcuncaota Coal Mine, CRRC Group, etc.

Taking the Ningde Nuclear Power Project of China General Nuclear Power Group as an example, the project uses AR glasses for nuclear power testing, safety supervision, equipment acceptance, etc., completely replacing the original paper documents, effectively improving the work efficiency of workers and saving labor costs. The workers' working hours were reduced by 35%, labor costs were reduced by 50%, and acceptance efficiency was improved by 50%.

Rokid's products of this type are targeted at a specific target group, and sales have maintained a steady growth trend.

In September 2021, Rokid launched the consumer-grade AR glasses Rokid Air.

The following year, the product officially landed on the Amazon platform.

Compared with the domestic market, the overseas market has a higher acceptance of such products and a greater demand.

Rokid Air has been widely welcomed by consumers and became the first consumer product to sell out all 60,000 units.

In August 2023, Rokid and Google jointly launched an AR version of the portable Android TV, which is also the world's first Google-certified AR version of the portable Android TV terminal. From now on, users can watch rich audio and video content from platforms such as YouTube, Hulu, Disney+, AppleTV, and TED in Rokid's AR set.

At the same time, Rokid also released the Rokid AR Studio AR spatial computing set (Rokid Max Pro AR glasses + Rokid Station Pro host).

It is understood that this is a consumer-grade spatial interactive AR product based on a single camera , focusing on "spatial computing" and can achieve spatial gesture interaction without relying on a handle or remote control.

In November 2023, Rokid announced that Rokid AR had received a single order of 20,000 units, setting a new record for single AR orders.

On Black Friday in 2023, Rokid ranked first on Amazon's best-selling list of smart glasses and movie glasses. The order volume on Black Friday increased by 562% compared to 2022 .

In 2023, Rokid's revenue saw strong growth, up 200% from 2022. The industrial sector accounted for 1/4 of Rokid's total revenue and maintained a good growth momentum. In 2023, revenue from the industrial sector increased by 100% year-on-year. Rokid expects its overseas revenue to exceed its domestic revenue in 2024.

In general, AR technology is receiving more and more attention around the world.

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

With the rapid development of the AR industry, more companies are beginning to turn their attention to overseas markets, hoping to bring their innovative technologies and products to the world. In the future, competition in this field will become increasingly fierce, and it can be said that opportunities and challenges coexist.

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