Meta and Snap launched new smart glasses last month, the latest sign that the industry is racing to put cameras and AI assistants on users’ faces. As the fast-growing market heats up, startups like Even Realities are trying to take on the giants.
Realities, a three-year-old Shenzhen-based startup, also raised $150 million in a pre-Series B round led by Meituan and previous backer Tencent. This round valued the startup at $1 billion. Founder and CEO Will Wang told TechCrunch that while competitors are chasing camera-equipped devices built on content capture and AI, his company is investing in display-first glasses that transmit information directly into the wearer’s field of view without sacrificing privacy.
Even’s early backers are mostly prominent Chinese names such as Hillhouse, Sequoia China, and Northern Light Venture Capital.
Even was started by former Apple engineers in 2023. CEO Wang was responsible for Apple Watch and iPhone. The other co-founders came from the technology sector, and two came from high-end eyewear companies, including Lindberg. The startup moved quickly, launching its first product, the G1, in 2024, which Wang calls the lightest waveguide smart glasses on the market at the time.
According to the company’s CEO, it even surpassed its own goal of more than 10,000 units, making it the first company in its category to sell more than 10,000 pairs. We raised funding faster than expected, and our staff has grown from 30 to 40 in 2024 to 300 to 400 now.
The startup’s latest flagship, the G2, hit the market last November and skips the camera entirely. Instead, a heads-up display built into the frame provides the wearer with information controlled by Even R1, an even ring that users can navigate by tapping and swiping.
Removing the cameras is an important part of Even’s privacy philosophy, but it’s not the whole story, Wang continued. He said smart glasses are probably the most personal computing devices people will ever wear. Wearing it on your face all day should feel comfortable for both the wearer and those around you, so privacy is designed into both the hardware and software. Speech features like Translate convert audio to text instead of saving the recording. User data is encrypted and the infrastructure is built to meet Europe’s strict privacy standards, Wang added.
Power users of Even rely heavily on Conversate, a co-pilot that reads the conversation in real time, explains unfamiliar jargon or provides an impromptu follow-up, and then syncs the summary to their phone.
Still, Even has invested the most in optics (display and overall optical performance), which Wang said is what sets smart glasses apart from other consumer electronics.
“The display on a phone or watch is just a traditional OLED or LCD screen. Smart glasses are the first product category to rely on optical displays, which requires a completely different technology stack. Microchips, optics and waveguides need to be designed together. This is where we have invested the most,” Wang said.
The company has developed a proprietary optical technology called Even HAO (Holistic Adaptive Optics), an end-to-end design that integrates microchips, waveguides and prescription support from the ground up rather than combining separately designed components.
More than half of Even’s users live in the United States, its fastest-growing market, as does most of its developer community. The company produces its products in China through several factories, but does not yet sell them there. Main markets are USA, Japan, Korea, Middle East and Europe. “The demand is significant, so we want to make sure we are ready first,” Wang said.
Wang said it’s even selling close to the top of the category in terms of price, while still moving real volume, making it a profitable player in the space. “Most of our customers are male professionals aged 30 to 50,” he said, adding, “We conducted a survey and found that about a third of our users are company executives.” Retail price for the frame is $599 before tax. Add $200 to $300 for prescription lenses or ring tacks, bringing the average order to about $1,000.
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