Crazy! Another cross-border company won $100 million in financing, with a valuation exceeding $1 billion

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.

At the same time, international technology giants such as Apple, Google, and Samsung are also entering the market and working hard to build an AR industry chain.

Based on strong market demand, more and more manufacturers have begun to accelerate their layout in the AR field. Many Chinese companies have also targeted this track. While ushering in rapid development, they have also gained the favor of the capital market.

Rokid announces completion of US$112 million Series C financing

Recently, AR glasses brand Rokid announced the completion of US$112 million in Series C financing, of which NetDragon Websoft Holdings Limited made a strategic investment of US$20 million in Rokid as the lead investor.

It is understood that Rokid's current round of financing will be mainly used to expand overseas business.

In addition to this round of financing, Rokid received a total of 10 rounds of financing from December 2014 to April 2023, of which 6 rounds involved financing amounts exceeding 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.

It is worth mentioning that after completing this round of financing, Rokid’s valuation exceeded US$1 billion.

Public information shows that Rokid was founded in 2014. The company is headquartered in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, and has established R&D centers in Beijing and Silicon Valley. Rokid focuses on human-computer interaction technology and is currently committed to the research and development of software and hardware products such as AR glasses and the construction of an ecosystem based on the YodaOS operating system.

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.

Since the establishment of the Rokid brand, it has been exploring various types of products in the human-computer interaction field, such as smart robots, smart speakers and AR glasses.

Since 2016, Rokid has begun to focus on the research and development of AR glasses, and has successively launched the Glass series, Vision series, and Air series AR glasses products.

(Image source: Rokid official website)

In August of this year, Rokid 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.

Moreover, the product has evolved from a single electronic screen to multiple virtual screens in the air. Any space in front of you can become a screen, allowing users to realize spatial office work and spatial audio-visual entertainment.

After the launch of Rokid AR products, they have been widely welcomed by consumers.

Recently, Rokid announced that it received a single order of 20,000 Rokid AR units , setting a new record for single AR orders. The number of orders for Rokid products on Amazon's Black Friday platform increased by 562% year-on-year.

The dark horse in the AR industry is "surging", winning multiple rounds of financing!

According to the "2022 Domestic Consumer-Grade AR Glasses Major Online Platform Market Sales Report" released by iResearch Consulting , the demand for domestic consumer-grade AR glasses market has taken advantage of the momentum and sales have far exceeded expectations.

At present, the top three companies in the domestic consumer-grade AR glasses market share are Thunderbird Innovations , Nreal and Rokid .

Among them, Thunderbird Innovation ranked first with a market share of 28.4% , Nreal ranked second with a market share of 25.1% , and Rokid ranked third with a market share of 21.0% .

In the capital market, the AR glasses track is highly favored.

Thunderbird Innovation

In March this year, Thunderbird Innovation announced the completion of its first round of A round financing of over 100 million yuan, becoming one of the companies with the highest first round financing amount in the AR industry. This round of financing was led by Fosun Capital and Rongyi Investment, with strategic investment from 37 Interactive Entertainment, Runxing Ruihua, and Dr. Eyewear, and followed by Yecao Venture Capital and Hainan Yingtian.

In October, Li Hongwei, CEO of Thunderbird Innovation, stated at a new product launch conference that the company had recently obtained tens of millions of yuan in A+ round of financing.

It is understood that Thunderbird Innovation was established on October 13, 2021, and was jointly incubated by TCL Electronics and Thunderbird Technology. It is a cutting-edge brand focusing on the AR field. Since its establishment, Thunderbird Innovation has released products including: consumer-grade AR glasses Thunderbird Air, Thunderbird Air 1S (using Birthbath solution), and Thunderbird X2 (optical waveguide solution).

During this year’s Double 11, LeTV’s innovative products ranked No. 1 in sales across all domestic platforms, with sales 4.1 times that of the same period last year.

In overseas markets, on November 8th local time, Thunderbird Air2 was launched on Amazon in the United States, and won the first place in both Amazon's new product rankings and the best-selling list of smart glasses category.

Nreal

Nreal , which ranks second in market share , was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Beijing. Nreal mainly focuses on the research and development of mixed reality technology, the production and sales of AR terminal glasses. Its main products are Air and Light glasses. Nreal products have entered many countries and markets including China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, and South Korea.

In the six years since its establishment, Nreal has won nine rounds of financing, with a total financing amount of more than US$240 million. The latest post-investment valuation has reached US$1.5 billion (approximately RMB 10.7 billion).

In addition to the top three, Falcon Insights , Nreal and Rokid , PICO's market performance is also very outstanding.

PICO

Founded in 2015 , PICO is committed to VR R&D, virtual reality content and application creation, and providing users with end-to-end product and service experience. PICO's core products are: VR all-in-one machine, VR system and VR application. Headquartered in Beijing, R&D centers and regional branches are located in Qingdao, Japan, South Korea and North America.

In September 2021, PICO was acquired by ByteDance for 9 billion yuan and became the VR business department of ByteDance.

From its establishment in 2015 to 2021, PICO has completed five rounds of financing, with investors including well-known institutions such as CICC Capital and Cornerstone Capital.

In recent years, PICO has maintained growth in domestic and overseas markets and continued to discover new application scenarios.

In 2022, the sales volume of PICO products was approximately 800,000 units, with total revenue of nearly 2 billion yuan.

Currently, AR technology is receiving more and more attention around the world. With the rapid development of the AR industry, more companies are beginning to turn their attention to overseas markets.

However, current AR technology is still in its infancy. Core components and technologies require strong technical support, and the content-side ecosystem also needs to be continuously enriched. In the future, this track will be full of opportunities and challenges.

Financing

AR