In Augmented Reality News
January 29, 2024 – XREAL, a provider of consumer augmented reality (AR) glasses, has today announced that it has secured an additional USD $60 million in funding in a new strategic round. This brings the total amount raised by XREAL to USD $300 million to date.
Financial backers to-date have included Alibaba, Nio Capital, Sequoia, Kuaishou, Gentle Monster, among others. The company stated that at this time, it will not be disclosing the main investor in this latest strategic round however.
According to XREAL, the new funding will go toward research and development and factory expansion, where the company’s proprietary optical engine for its popular AR glasses are produced and manufactured. XREAL stated that the expansion of its factory will allow the company to further ramp up production of its AR glasses in 2025 and beyond as it aims to reinforce its mission to bring spatial computing to global consumer markets.
“This latest strategic fundraising round reinforces our position in the global AR market, it skyrockets our expansion goals, and it demonstrates strong commitment from our trusted fundraising partners,” said Chi Xu, CEO and Co-founder of XREAL. “As the first unicorn in AR glasses, we see where the AR industry is heading and are honored to continue leading and teaming with the industry’s finest today, through the launch of XREAL Air 2 Ultra in the spring, and beyond. Developer, partner and retailer conversations are underway now to make XREAL Air 2 Ultra’s first-year the biggest in AR history.”
In January XREAL announced that it had shipped 350,000 AR glasses to date. The company also unveiled its latest innovation, the XREAL Air 2 Ultra, offering full-featured spatial computing to consumers at a more affordable price compared to competing devices such as Apple’s Vision Pro and Meta’s Quest 3. The Air 2 Ultra is available for pre-order now for USD $699 with shipments expected to start in March.
The latest fundraising round, and the recent announcement of the XREAL Air 2 Ultra comes at a time when the AR industry is witnessing significant growth, according to XREAL, which noted an IDC report that stated worldwide spending on AR/VR headsets was forecast to reach USD $3.9 billion in 2023 and grow to USD $16.2 billion by 2027. Further to this, IDC also noted that XREAL managed to capture 51% of the augmented reality headset market during Q3 2023.
Finally, XREAL also recently shared that it saw year-on-year growth in revenue of 320% in the first 9 months of 2023.
For more information on XREAL and its consumer AR glasses, please visit the company’s website.
Image credit: XREAL
About the author
Sam Sprigg
Sam is the Founder and Managing Editor of Auganix. With a background in research and report writing, he has been covering XR industry news for the past seven years.
