Sharge Technology Completes Multi-Million Yuan Series A Financing with the Introduction of Zero One All Things Co-Creation. | Exclusive from 36Kr.

Author | Qiu Xiaofen

Editor | Su Jianxun

36Kr has learned that "Shanji Technology" has completed a Series A financing of tens of millions of yuan, led by Guangyuan Investment, with Future Light Cone Frontier Technology Fund and edge AI chip company Intellifusion as co-investors, and Leap Capital as the exclusive financial advisor.

The financing funds will be mainly used for the market expansion of the new product "Shanji AI Shooting Glasses", AI technology research and development, and the construction of the talent echelon.

In 2023, "Shanji Technology" entered the AI hardware field and plans to use one year to develop and launch an AI glasses. It is understood that this new product will be released on December 19, and its selling points are long battery life, high-definition shooting, audio-visual texture, and AI capabilities.

Recently, AI glasses have become the focus of AI hardware. Many AR glasses companies and large factories including Baidu are releasing new products targeting Meta Ray-ban, but they are basically concentrated in mass production in the second and third quarters of next year. According to the previous exclusive report of 36Kr, the AI glasses products of Xiaomi and Samsung will be released next year, and OPPO, vivo, Huawei, Tencent, and ByteDance are also intensively researching this field.

Pan Xin, a partner of "Shanji Technology", told 36Kr that the brand-new AI ecosystem requires a brand-new hardware model to carry.

He said that the typical capabilities of AI are multimodal understanding ability and autonomous decision-making ability. Compared with the past mobile phones and PCs, AI glasses are a more suitable direction for AI implementation - the glasses category not only has a small billion-wearer group worldwide, but also is the only device with the first-person perspective information and can obtain the user's voice information at close range, which can better help users record and remember information.

In order to prepare for the "Hundred Glasses Battle" next year, at the end of this year, major AI glasses players are intensively replenishing ammunition and food, supplementing their respective AI capabilities, building channels, etc.

For AI glasses, although AI has not yet become the first factor determining users' purchase, in the long run, the AI function will directly affect the subsequent wearing experience and is the key barrier of this category.

Therefore, in terms of AI investment, "Shanji Technology" recently introduced Pan Xin, the former first research software engineer of Google Brain, the former head of ByteDance's AI platform, and the co-founder of "Zero One Everything", as the company's partner, responsible for AI-related technology research and development.

At the same time, "Shanji Technology" also previously announced a cooperation with iFLYTEK and Intellifusion. The three parties will jointly build an AI multimodal capability framework and invest in the multimodal large model and application ecosystem level.

In addition, AI glasses manufacturers are also intensively seizing cooperation opportunities with domestic and foreign glasses brands at the end of this year. It is understood that "Shanji Technology" recently reached a deep cooperation with the Hong Kong glasses thousand-store brand LOHO, and will use its advantages of covering the entire category, all customer layers, and all scenarios of glasses to supplement the terminal channel layout of the new AI glasses product.

Zhang Bo, the founder and CEO of "Shanji Technology", said, "This financing will inject potential energy into the research and development, promotion, and sales of the new Shanji AI Shooting Glasses, helping us seize the precious time window."

It is understood that "Shanji Technology" was established in 2020. Before entering the AI glasses industry, the company's main business was in the field of high-end charging, energy storage, and photography peripheral equipment.

The founding team of "Shanji Technology" comes from companies such as OPPO and DJI. They have customized and developed many charging and storage products for NIO, Great Wall Motors, OPPO mobile phones, and Meizu mobile phones. The previous annual revenue has exceeded 100 million yuan.

Investor Evaluations

He He, Director of the Capital Department of Intellifusion: "As a combination of wearable devices and large model products, smart glasses are expected to become the core hardware and interaction entrance in the edge AI era. The Shanji team is young and innovative, with the ability to develop high-quality hardware and the experience of serving domestic and overseas markets. We believe that Shanji can make the best products in the market. At the same time, based on the large model capabilities and accumulation in industry applications, Intellifusion will also work with Shanji to promote the application exploration of smart glasses in visual semantic personal assistants and industries."

Ji Shisan, CEO of Guokr and Founding Partner of Future Light Cone Frontier Technology Fund: "In the domestic AI shooting glasses battle, Shanji has gained the initiative and will become the actual first mass-produced brand, and is also one of the few startups recognized by the market-oriented funds. AI hardware is the focus of this round of AI 2C-end products, and smart glasses are the top priority. The team's extreme hardware capabilities, AI software capabilities, supply chain and channel accumulation, and understanding of the geek crowd make Shanji an extremely important company in the AI hardware field."

Han Hui, Head of Kunpeng Guangyuan Fund: "AI shooting glasses are one of the best terminal forms for multimodal data collection. The Shanji team has a unique understanding of the product and user value of AI shooting glasses and multimodal large models. We believe that Shanji can continue to lead the product and interaction design innovation of the AI shooting glasses category, and look forward to the majority of users and Shanji jointly creating a beautiful and magical AI experience."

Zhao Jing, Investor of Lightspeed China: "As the first-round institutional shareholder of Shanji, we are very pleased to accompany and witness the rapid growth of the team. In the past three years, the company's annual performance growth has exceeded expectations, and the products are deeply loved by users. This year, the company has entered the more challenging AI hardware stage and has made the ultimate and innovation in hardware, supply chain, software, and AI algorithms. We believe that Shanji will become an industry-leading brand and continue to bring surprises to users and the industry."

Wang Chen, Head of the AI Track of Leap Capital: Leap Capital is deeply engaged in the AI and smart hardware industry, and has long been optimistic about glasses becoming the next-generation computing platform and interaction entrance, and firmly believes that smart glasses are about to usher in the iPhone moment. The Shanji team, with a keen and detailed user insight, combined with an extreme and profound hardware and supply chain capability, has designed an epoch-making product that meets the user's needs and solves the user's pain points, standing out from many startups. At the same time, with the spirit of hard work, pragmatism, and extremity, it has achieved the first mass production at a speed leading the entire industry. With the gradual formation of a gathering effect of top talents and industrial resources, we believe that Shanji will lead the industry development and become a new leader in AI smart hardware."

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