Smart Glasses Maker Even Realities Reaches $1B Valuation Following $150M Funding Round Led by Meituan and Tencent

Last month, Meta and Snap unveiled new smart glasses, representing a major advancement in the industry’s initiative to weave cameras and AI assistants into people’s everyday experiences. As this rapidly growing market gains traction, newcomers like Even Realities are emerging to challenge the established leaders.

Shenzhen-based startup Even Realities, founded three years ago, has successfully raised $150 million in a pre-Series B funding round led by Meituan and existing investor Tencent, achieving a valuation of $1 billion. Company founder and CEO Will Wang told TechCrunch that while rivals focus on camera-equipped devices aimed at content creation and AI, the company is focused on display-first glasses that provide information directly in the user’s line of sight while maintaining privacy.

Initial backers of Even include several well-known Chinese investors, such as Hillhouse, Sequoia China, and Northern Light Venture Capital.

Founded in 2023 by former Apple engineers, Even’s CEO Wang has previously contributed to the development of the Apple Watch and iPhone, and other co-founders have brought experience from both tech and luxury eyewear brands, like Lindberg. The startup acted quickly, presenting its first product, the G1, in 2024, which Wang states is the lightest waveguide smart glasses available at that time.

According to Wang, Even exceeded its goal of selling 10,000 units, becoming the first in its category to achieve this landmark. The company secured funding faster than expected, expanding its team from 30-40 employees in 2024 to 300-400 today.

The latest flagship model, the G2, was launched last November without a camera. Instead, it comes equipped with a heads-up display embedded in the frames that conveys information to the user, which is navigated using the Even R1 companion ring, allowing tapping and swiping for interaction.

The removal of the camera aligns with Even’s commitment to privacy, though it represents only part of their approach. Wang emphasized that smart glasses may be the most personal computing device people wear. Given their all-day usage, comfort must be prioritized for the wearer and those around them, resulting in privacy being an inherent feature of both the hardware and software. For example, voice features such as translation convert audio to text without retaining audio clips; user data is encrypted, and the systems adhere to Europe’s strict privacy regulations, Wang added.

Power users of Even heavily depend on Conversate, a feature that interprets conversations in real time, clarifying jargon and providing follow-ups instantaneously while syncing summaries with their smartphones.

Nevertheless, Even has focused significantly on optics (display quality and overall optical performance), which Wang asserts differentiates smart glasses from other consumer electronics.

“While phones or watches commonly utilize standard OLED or LCD screens, smart glasses are the first category relying on optical displays, requiring a completely different technological framework; you must cohesively design the microchip, optics, and waveguide. That is where our most considerable investments have been,” stated Wang.

The company has developed a proprietary optical technology known as 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 user base resides in the U.S., its fastest-growing market, which also houses the largest segment of its developer community. Although Even has production facilities in multiple locations in China, it is not yet selling there, focusing instead on the U.S., Japan, South Korea, the Middle East, and Europe. “The demand in China is considerable, so we want to ensure we’re fully equipped,” Wang noted.

Even positions itself at the higher end of the price spectrum while achieving substantial sales volumes, making it a competitive player in this sector, according to Wang. “Our typical customers are male professionals aged 30 to 50, and a survey indicated that about one-third of our users are business executives,” he shared. The frames retail for $599 before tax, and when prescription lenses or the accompanying ring are factored in, average total costs can rise to around $1,000.