Even Realities Secures $150M from Meituan and Tencent, Reaches $1B Valuation for Smart Glasses Innovation

Last month, Meta and Snap unveiled new smart glasses, signifying a major advancement in the industry’s mission to weave cameras and AI assistants into everyday experiences. As this rapidly evolving market develops, newcomers like Even Realities are beginning to challenge the established leaders.

Shenzhen-based startup Even Realities was founded three years ago and has successfully secured $150 million in a pre-Series B funding round, led by Meituan and backed by existing investor Tencent, reaching a valuation of $1 billion. Founder and CEO Will Wang shared with TechCrunch that, unlike peers focused on camera-centric devices for content creation and AI, their primary aim is to create display-first glasses that present information directly within the user’s line of sight while prioritizing privacy.

Among Even’s early investors are notable Chinese firms such as Hillhouse, Sequoia China, and Northern Light Venture Capital.

Founded in 2023 by former Apple engineers, CEO Wang has played a significant role in developing the Apple Watch and iPhone, while other co-founders bring experience from both technology and luxury eyewear, such as Lindberg. The startup quickly launched its first product, the G1, in 2024, which Wang claims was the lightest waveguide smart glasses available at that time.

Wang noted that Even exceeded its goal of selling 10,000 units, making it the first in its category to achieve this landmark. The company secured investment faster than expected, scaling its workforce from 30-40 employees in 2024 to between 300 and 400 today.

The latest flagship model, the G2, released in November, does not include a camera. Instead, it incorporates a heads-up display within the frames that provides information to the user, controllable via the Even R1 companion ring, allowing for tapping and swiping interactions.

The decision to omit a camera reflects Even’s commitment to privacy, a core aspect of their strategy. Wang emphasized that smart glasses are among the most personal computing devices one can wear. Given their frequent use, ensuring user comfort and that of people nearby is vital, making privacy a key concern in both hardware and software. Features such as voice translation convert audio to text without recording audio clips; user data is encrypted and systems align with Europe’s stringent privacy regulations, Wang elaborated.

Frequent users of Even heavily utilize Conversate, a feature that translates conversations in real-time, clarifying terminology and offering immediate follow-ups while syncing summaries with their smartphones.

However, Even has also prioritized optics (display quality and overall visual performance), which Wang claims differentiates smart glasses from other consumer products.

“Unlike phones or watches that typically use standard OLED or LCD screens, smart glasses are the first category to utilize optical displays. This demands a fundamentally different technological approach, requiring seamless integration of the microchip, optics, and waveguide. Our largest investments have focused on this area,” Wang explained.

The company has developed proprietary optical technology called Even HAO, or Holistic Adaptive Optics, which integrates the microchip, waveguide, and prescription support from the beginning, rather than piecing together separately designed components.

More than half of Even’s users are located in the U.S., its fastest-growing market, which also hosts its largest developer community. Although Even operates production facilities in various locations in China, it currently does not sell there, opting to concentrate on the U.S., Japan, South Korea, the Middle East, and Europe. “The demand in China is substantial, so we wish to be fully prepared,” Wang remarked.

Even positions itself in the premium segment of the market while achieving significant sales volume, establishing itself as a noteworthy player in this sector, according to Wang. “Our typical customers are male professionals aged 30 to 50, with a survey indicating that around one-third of our users are business executives,” he noted. The frames are priced at $599 before taxes, and when including prescription lenses or the accompanying ring, the average total cost can approach $1,000.