Even Realities hits $1 billion valuation after $150 million funding round

Even Realities Technology has reached unicorn status after raising $150 million at a $1 billion valuation, with investors including Meituan and Tencent, as the Shenzhen smart-glasses maker pushes further into AI wearables and overseas markets. Founder and CEO Will Wang said Shenzhen gives hardware startups a better chance than Silicon Valley to build major consumer-electronics companies because of its concentration of engineering talent and supply-chain capabilities. Wang, who worked at Apple from 2016 to 2018 on the development and mass production of the Apple Watch and iPhone, said Silicon Valley has become less supportive of hardware founders as capital and talent shift toward AI applications and software agents with faster development cycles and potentially higher returns. He said Even Realities plans to target more global investors in its next fundraising round to support overseas expansion, even though its Chinese backers moved faster and were closer to the company. Founded in 2023, Even Realities is targeting an AI wearables market dominated by Meta Platforms. The company launched the Even G2 smart glasses late last year alongside the Even R1 ring, which controls the display. Unlike Meta's camera-equipped Ray-Ban line, the G2 has no camera or recording hardware and provides notifications, navigation and live translation through a heads-up display in the lenses. More than half of Even Realities' users are in the United States, underscoring the importance of the U.S. market as it expands globally. The company has largely been backed by Chinese-origin investors including CDH Investments, Monolith Management and CVC Capital, and raised an undisclosed sum from Unicorn Capital Partners and Cyanhill Capital in January. Among Chinese peers, Rokid is valued at $2.58 billion and RayNeo at $239.9 million, according to PitchBook.