Drei Finanzierungen in sechs Monaten. Warum hat Thunderbird Innovation so dringend Bedarf an Geld?

There have been subtle changes in the smart glasses market.

Not long ago, Thunderbird Innovation, a consumer-grade AR startup, completed its Series C+ financing, exclusively participated by Jinyu Maowu. This is already the third round of financing in just six months.

This means that Thunderbird Innovation currently has a great demand for funds.

Why does Thunderbird Innovation keep seeking financing? With tech giants like Xiaomi entering the market, can Thunderbird Innovation maintain its leading position? As AI glasses are becoming irresistible, where should Thunderbird Innovation, which focuses on AR glasses, go?

Cross - border competitors are emerging continuously

Smart glasses are not a new thing.

As early as 2012, Google Glass was launched. It was widely criticized for being "more expensive than a mobile phone and less useful", and eventually faded away.

However, the evolution of wearable smart devices has not stopped.

With the continuous iteration of AR technology, smart glasses have shifted from being just a technological showcase to being practical, gradually becoming a new way to perceive the digital world and breaking the constraints of traditional scenarios such as mobile phones and computers.

As a result, smart glasses have moved from dreams to reality.

Startups represented by Thunderbird Innovation have emerged, targeting the AR glasses market. Through technological innovation, they have gradually become part of the world's first - tier players and the leaders in the domestic market.

For example, the Thunderbird X2 is the world's first binocular full - color MicroLED waveguide AR glasses, which for the first time solved the problem of combining three primary colors of MicroLED and achieved a full - color display effect.

Li Hongwei, the founder and CEO of Thunderbird Innovation, once said: "AR (glasses) are more like real mobile phones. They are products that can sell hundreds of millions of units a year. They are a general computing platform and a product that can be used 24 hours a day."

Image source: Qichacha

Despite its high aspirations, the future of Thunderbird Innovation is not so optimistic.

As the market grows, the competitive landscape has changed dramatically: IDC predicts that the global shipment of smart glasses will reach 14.518 million units in 2025, and the Chinese market will reach 2.907 million units, with year - on - year growth of 42.5% and 121.1% respectively.

Under such high - growth circumstances, challengers are emerging one after another.

However, the main focus of the challengers is not AR glasses but AI glasses, which provide users with a "portable AI assistant" through various intelligent services.

As Mark Zuckerberg said: "I still believe that glasses will be the ideal form of AI because they can allow AI to see what you see, hear what you hear, and talk to you."

AI glasses have been quite popular in the capital market recently

Based on this, tech giants of all sizes, such as 360, Huawei, Xiaomi, Baidu, Li Auto, and Alibaba, have entered or are about to enter the market to find new growth curves.

For example, on June 26, 2025, Xiaomi officially launched its first AI glasses, which are defined as "personal smart devices for the next generation". They can achieve functions such as taking photos and videos, answering questions, translation, acting as headphones, and payment, and have become a key entry point for Xiaomi's AI ecosystem.

Another example is that many mainstream media reported that Li Auto is about to launch its first AI glasses, which may be able to achieve functions such as remote unlocking, remote air - conditioning control, and checking the vehicle status. This is an important part of its transformation from a car manufacturer to an artificial intelligence enterprise with the strategy of "All in AI".

It's not hard to see that the pressure is now on Thunderbird Innovation.

An Internet observer told Zinc Scale: "Thunderbird Innovation has to compete with old rivals in the AR glasses field and go head - to - head with tech giants in the AI glasses field. The pressure of fighting on two fronts is obvious. Although it is still the leader in the smart glasses market, it's still unknown how long it can maintain this position. So, seeking more financing and accumulating resources have become necessary choices for Thunderbird Innovation."

Competing with giants, but not on the same level

It should be noted that Thunderbird Innovation has also made arrangements in the AI glasses segment, and the Thunderbird V3 has achieved remarkable results. However, it is also an undeniable fact that there may be deviations in the technical route.

"Lei Technology" said: "The large AI models have injected new'selling points' into the glasses category. Whether it's first - person shooting, AI translation, or AI voice assistants based on large models, AI glasses are at least easier to tell a story about in terms of functional perception than previous smart glasses and are easier for consumers to understand their value."

In other words, AI glasses may be the main battlefield.

This is not good news for Thunderbird Innovation, which started with AR glasses. After all, there are many cases in history where companies successfully overtook their competitors by seizing the trend of technological evolution. The replacement of traditional fuel - powered vehicles by new - energy vehicles is the best example.

This can also be seen from the market share.

According to the "Global Smart Glasses Model Shipment Tracking", the global shipment of smart glasses in the first half of 2025 increased by 110% year - on - year, of which AI smart glasses accounted for 78% of the total shipment, compared with only 46% in the same period of the previous year.

Image source: Counterpoint

However, Thunderbird Innovation has not shifted its focus.

Li Hongwei has a different view: "I think in the next one or two years, the sales volume of AI glasses will be much larger than that of AR glasses. But after 2027, the sales volume of AR glasses will exceed that of AI glasses."

It's still too early to conclude whether Thunderbird Innovation can resist the industry trend. However, in this major change, how to avoid becoming a stepping - stone for giants is an urgent matter.

As we all know, in terms of technology, funds, talent, and resources, smart glasses startups such as Nreal, Rokid, and Thunderbird Innovation are not on the same level as the giants and are actually at a disadvantage in the competition.

In this way, Thunderbird Innovation is in an awkward situation.

Take Thunderbird Innovation as an example. The Thunderbird V3 is equipped with a customized version of Alibaba's Tongyi Qianwen large model, and it also provides C2M customization for Alibaba's Quark AI glasses. The competitive and cooperative relationship is obvious.

"Yidu Pro" pointed out sharply: "Small manufacturers like Thunderbird Innovation may survive in the future by leveraging their technological accumulation and cooperating with giants, even if it means becoming a supplier."

What's worse, mobile phone giants have accumulated rich experience in hardware manufacturing, cost control, and supply - chain management. Coupled with their strong brand appeal, the potential of their challenges is even greater.

Public data shows that within the first five days after the launch of Xiaomi's AI glasses, the sales volume in the JD flagship store exceeded 10,000 units. After 15 days of launch, the overall sales volume across the network reached about 80,000 units.

Currently, Lei Jun himself has taken the lead in promoting the product. He wore Xiaomi's AI glasses during live - broadcasts and at major events, which not only attracted a lot of attention on the Internet but also endorsed the product and got closer to consumers.

Image source: Xiaomi's official Weibo

It should be noted that Lei Jun's promotional ability is well - known, which is difficult for Thunderbird Innovation to match.

In addition, Thunderbird Innovation also faces another serious challenge: As functions such as translation, navigation, and payment gradually become standard features, smart glasses are becoming more and more functional and applicable in more scenarios. The problem of homogenization has emerged, and thus the importance of the ecosystem has become more prominent.

Regarding this, Zhao Zhongxia, a researcher at the Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence, said: "In the future, three types of companies are expected to gain an advantage: companies with large models, companies with AI application entry points, and companies with hardware ecosystems."

Unfortunately, Thunderbird Innovation lags far behind the giants in terms of ecosystem building.

Take Alibaba as an example. Quark AI glasses don't operate alone. It can cooperate with Taobao for product search and price comparison, with Fliggy for adding business travel itinerary reminders, and with Gaode Navigation for setting navigation instructions...

In short, it is an inevitable trend for smart glasses to seek differentiated competitiveness and enhance user stickiness through ecosystem building, and ultimately form a scale barrier.

Li Chuangqi, the senior product director of Xiaomi, said: "The moat in this field is not the device itself but the ecosystem behind it. For Xiaomi, our greatest advantage is that we have the world's largest consumer IoT platform."

Therefore, how to build a sustainable and positive - cycle ecosystem has become a thorny problem for Thunderbird Innovation.

All in all, smart glasses are no longer just for "tech enthusiasts". They are evolving from being usable to being easy - to - use and commonly used. In this process, Thunderbird Innovation's first - mover advantage has been severely challenged. How to keep up with the times has become a must - answer question, and this cannot be solved simply by financing.

So, as the smart glasses market evolves from niche to mainstream, how can Thunderbird Innovation avoid falling behind? This tests the wisdom of its management.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Zinc Scale" (ID: znkedu). Author: Chen Dengxin, Editor: Li Wenjie. It is published by 36Kr with permission.