en.Wedoany.com Reported - Chinese smart glasses manufacturer Even Realities has completed a $150 million funding round at a $1 billion valuation, co-led by Chinese internet giants Meituan and Tencent. The three-year-old company has thus joined the unicorn club, with its investment strategy sharply contrasting with the camera-centric smart glasses approaches of Meta and Snap.
Even Realities' products deliberately lack cameras. Micro-displays embedded in the lenses can show notifications, real-time translations, and navigation information, with users operating via a companion ring for tapping and swiping. Founder Will Wang (a former Apple engineer) stated that the design core lies in maintaining a "sense of presence," with information only appearing when needed. The absence of a camera also serves as a privacy strategy: voice functions only convert speech to text without storing recordings, the app encrypts user data, and Wang claims the system complies with strict European privacy regulations.
Meta currently dominates the smart glasses market, with its Ray-Ban series accounting for the vast majority of shipments, but a privacy crisis is impacting it. A lawsuit accuses overseas contractors of reviewing user recordings, and lawmakers are beginning to draft rules to curb covert recording. Even Realities' proposition is clear: a camera that can be turned off is less reliable than one that never existed.
Even Realities is a company with a unique background. Headquartered in Shenzhen and operating on Chinese capital, its products are not sold in China. Over half of its users are in the United States, its fastest-growing market, followed by Japan, South Korea, the Middle East, and Europe. The founding team combines former employees of Apple and OPPO, as well as European eyewear manufacturers like Lindberg. The company claims to be the first in its category to sell over 10,000 units, with its workforce growing from about 40 to several hundred people. Products start at $599, with typical orders including prescription lenses and the ring approaching $1,000.
Market competition is intensifying. XREAL and Viture have both raised substantial funds, and shipments of pure display glasses are surging. For any new device, the risk is that novelty may fade. Even Realities' bet is that when the excitement subsides, the "quiet" glasses worn all day without recording will have more lasting appeal than flashy camera models. Ambient computing has made similar promises before, and this time, the selling point is precisely what the device deliberately does not do. According to TechCrunch, Tech Funding News has also confirmed the relevant financing information.
