en.Wedoany.com Reported - On July 6, Even Realities, a smart glasses company based in Shenzhen, China, announced the completion of a $150 million Pre-B funding round, with a post-investment valuation exceeding $1 billion, officially joining the unicorn club. This round was led by Meituan Longzhu, under China's local life services platform Meituan, and Meituan's strategic investment arm, with oversubscribed follow-on investments from Chinese investment firm Yuanhe Capital and Chinese internet company Tencent. Earlier this year, Even Realities also completed an A++ funding round, co-led by Chinese investment firms Guanghe Venture Capital and Yuanhe Capital, with oversubscribed follow-on investments from existing shareholders such as Chinese investment firm Da Chen.
The company has attracted attention not only due to the size of its funding. Although Even Realities was founded relatively recently, it has chosen a product path different from most AI glasses manufacturers: instead of making cameras, speakers, and highly interactive entertainment features its core selling points, it prioritizes "looking more like ordinary glasses," "being more suitable for long-term wear," and "less intrusive information display." Its Even G series products focus on lightweight design, display prompts, translation, navigation, teleprompter, and notifications, aiming to first return smart glasses to the essence of eyewear before gradually integrating AI interaction capabilities. For years, smart glasses have struggled to break out of niche circles, with the main issues not solely technical but involving a difficult balance between wearing comfort, privacy acceptance, battery life, weight, appearance, price, and frequency of use. By choosing a camera-free route, Even Realities has, to some extent, avoided the most controversial visual capture issues associated with smart glasses, making the product closer to the social form of everyday eyewear. U.S. tech media outlet TechCrunch also noted that Even Realities is a smart glasses company headquartered in Shenzhen, co-founded by former Apple team members, with this funding round involving Meituan and Tencent affiliates, achieving a $1 billion valuation.
Product positioning defines the difference between this company and traditional AR glasses or camera-based AI glasses. Even Realities' smart glasses do not emphasize immersive augmented reality or first-person perspective shooting; instead, they project information within the wearer's field of view, providing lighter prompting capabilities during meetings, travel, communication, and daily office work. Previously disclosed information shows that the Even G1 uses Micro LED displays and waveguide lens technology, enabling teleprompter, navigation, real-time translation, message notifications, and supporting customized lenses. The subsequent Even G2 further enhances display, interaction, and wearing experience, paired with a smart ring for control, making the entire product closer to a "glasses + lightweight interaction accessory" combination rather than cramming all functions into the frame.
This also signals a shift in consumer-grade AI hardware. In the past, smart hardware often pursued feature stacking, integrating cameras, voice, screens, sensors, audio, and AI assistants into a single device. However, products that users are truly willing to wear long-term must first address weight, appearance, comfort, and scenario restraint. Glasses are face-worn devices, more sensitive than phones, watches, or earphones; any design that significantly increases discomfort for strangers can hinder adoption rates. By using "no camera" as a differentiating label, Even Realities can reduce some privacy concerns and make the product more accessible for business, meeting, travel, and high-end daily wear scenarios.
Intensive capital inflows indicate that AI glasses have moved from conceptual hype to product positioning. Following this $150 million Pre-B funding round, Even Realities' short-term focus will be on product iteration, supply chain expansion, overseas channels, optical display capabilities, and software experience stability. While smart glasses may appear to be a single-product competition, they actually involve multiple aspects such as waveguides, microdisplays, lens customization, lightweight structures, low-power systems, mobile applications, AI assistants, translation and navigation services, and after-sales adaptation. Factors like prescription lenses, frame styles, wearing comfort, and channel delivery across different regions directly impact whether users will adopt them as everyday eyewear rather than buying them out of curiosity and then abandoning them. Even Realities' previous products have primarily targeted overseas markets, with pricing in the high-end smart glasses tier. This approach helps serve users willing to pay for design, privacy, and lightweight interaction, but also requires the company to meet higher standards in brand expression, channel services, and product reliability. Public reports indicate that the Even G2 starts at approximately $599, with the R1 smart ring sold separately. The product maintains a camera-free design and incorporates features such as translation, navigation, teleprompter, and AI-assisted communication.
The real test after this funding round is not how long the "unicorn" label lasts, but whether Even Realities can convert high-end niche recognition into more stable shipment volumes. For smart glasses to become the next-generation wearable interface, they must simultaneously meet everyday eyewear aesthetics, AI service usability, all-day wearing experience, and cross-regional channel delivery. Even Realities has secured a more ample funding window through this round. The next critical step is whether the G series products can continue to lower the wearing threshold, improve software stability, and generate repeatable user demand in specific scenarios such as high-end business, cross-language communication, meeting teleprompting, and travel navigation.
