The track Elon Musk is not optimistic about: Raised 3.5 billion yuan in financing
Recently, the AR glasses market is a bit like a mahjong table, and everyone wants a seat.
At the table sit established players like Thunderbird Innovation and Rokid. But recently, several new players have joined the game—three AI glasses companies almost simultaneously announced their fundraising rounds, with the largest single round reaching 700 million yuan. They are: Shoujing Technology, Xingzhe Wujiang, and Zhijing Weizhi.
According to a rough estimate, in just a few months since the start of 2026, over 3.5 billion yuan has been poured into the AI glasses industry. But just three years ago, Elon Musk commented that any device that needs to be worn in front of the eyes would not succeed as it goes against human nature.
Plans can't keep up with changes, and no one can predict which direction AR glasses will take.
Background of the New Players? Mostly Veterans from the Mobile Phone Industry
Have you noticed? Most of the AR glasses entrepreneurs come from the mobile phone industry.
On February 27th, Zhijing Weizhi announced the completion of a Pre-A round of financing exceeding 100 million yuan, with Skyworth, Boyu Capital, and Lenovo Capital and Incubator Group participating.
The founder of this company is Wu Dezhou. He once served as the general manager of Honor's product line and later joined Smartisan Technology. After the high - stakes game in the mobile phone industry ended, he didn't leave the consumer electronics field but instead turned to AI glasses.
In 2022, Wu Dezhou founded Zhijing Weizhi. Alibaba provided the angel round of funding. Two years later, he launched a brand called BleeqUp, integrating AI into sports glasses. Whether it's ski goggles or cycling glasses, the temples hide chips, and AI models run on the lenses.
Another company, Xingzhe Wujiang, completed a $100 million Series B+ round of financing on February 27th, led by Legend Capital and followed by Bertelsmann Asia Investments (BAI Capital), with a cumulative financing amount exceeding $220 million.
Its founder, Zhu Zhaokai, also comes from the mobile phone industry. He once served as a core executive at HTC, participating in the product systems of smartphones and HTC Vive VR devices.
The company was established in 2021, focusing on consumer - grade XR glasses products. Its core product is the "Viture One" AR glasses, targeting end - consumers. The biggest feature is that it looks almost the same as sunglasses.
Somewhat special is "Shoujing Technology", which completed its Series A financing on March 3rd. Its founder doesn't come from the mobile phone industry but from the AR/optical hardware circle.
Of course, "Shoujing Technology" doesn't make complete glasses but components. It specializes in manufacturing the "heart of the lens" for AR glasses—waveguides. Waveguides can make AI lenses almost completely transparent when not in use, just like optical lenses.
In this round of financing, Daoming Optical, a listed company on the A - share market, invested 30 million yuan and took an 11% stake.
WHY NOW? The Proof is Done
The capital's rush into this market didn't happen suddenly; they've been waiting for a long time.
The development of smart glasses in China actually started quite early. In 2020, XREAL, Thunderbird Innovation, Rokid, and INMO were already in the queue, collectively known as the "Four Little Dragons of AR".
Capital didn't enter the market on a large scale as it does today. They were waiting for one thing: market validation.
In 2023, when commenting on Apple Vision Pro, Elon Musk judged that any device that needs to be worn in front of the eyes would not succeed because it goes against human nature.
This statement actually points out a key direction: If glasses are to become the next - generation terminal, they must be small enough to make people unaware of their presence.
One year later, this judgment was proven.
In May 2024, the second - generation Ray - Ban Meta AI glasses, a collaboration between Meta and Ray - Ban, exceeded one million in sales. It was only eight months since its launch.
Why is this number important? One million in sales is an unwritten signal in the industry: Only when the sales volume exceeds one million can a product category be proven to have passed market validation; otherwise, it may be a false demand.
How did Meta achieve this with its product? Two key factors.
1. It realized part of Musk's idea: It's not a big goggle but looks like an ordinary pair of glasses.
2. It integrated an AI assistant into the glasses, which is a major breakthrough.
Users can use voice interaction to translate menus in real - time, identify plants, and manage schedules, turning the glasses from a "display device" into a "smart assistant".
Against this background, capital began to enter the market at an accelerated pace.
In 2025, many manufacturers intensively launched AI glasses. In September of that year, Omdia predicted the global annual shipment to be 5.1 million units, and by December, the forecast was revised to 6.85 million units.
In 2026, the capital enthusiasm continued to explode. On January 5th, Thunderbird Innovation completed a financing round exceeding 1 billion yuan. In the first half - month of the year, leading AR companies received nearly 2 billion yuan in financing. Leading companies can even get two or three times more financing than expected.
Among the capital, there are various operators, such as China Mobile's Chain - Leader Fund and China Unicom's Lianchuang Innovation Fund; it also includes many mobile phone and AI companies, such as Xiaomi, Huawei, and ByteDance.
AI Glasses: Easy to Use and Smart Sell Best
Capital always leads consumers, but what are the main selling points of AI glasses for consumers?
Pencil News' observation shows that high - selling products have common features: easy to wear, usable in daily life, and practical functions.
1. Easy to wear.
Take the second - generation Ray - Ban Meta, a collaboration between Meta and Ray - Ban, as an example. This pair of glasses weighs about 50 grams and looks like ordinary sunglasses rather than the bulky VR helmets of the early days. It is comfortable to wear, making it convenient for users to go out, work, or exercise.
2. Usable in daily life.
If a pair of glasses can only be used for a few minutes after being worn for a whole day (say, 10 hours), the cost - effectiveness of wearing it is very low.
Today's AR glasses are changing this situation. Their application scenarios have penetrated into daily life, not only for sports or short - term experiences but also for going out, working, and traveling.
3. Function implementation.
The main function of most products is an AI assistant, which supports functions such as voice interaction, real - time translation, text recognition, and schedule management. Ray - Ban Meta falls into this category.
Some products focus on sports, such as the BleeqUp sports glasses under Zhijing Weizhi. The temples are equipped with built - in chips, and AI models run on the lenses. Users can control navigation and record sports data by voice while keeping their vision clear and safe.
Data shows that since 2025, the market demand for AR glasses has been skyrocketing.
According to official data from the JD platform, the trading volume of AR/AI glasses in the first half of 2025 increased by more than 10 times year - on - year. During the same period, the number of AI glasses brands on the platform increased by about 3 times, and a new product was launched on average every 9 days.
According to industry reports, during the "Double 11" period in 2025, the turnover of smart glasses on Tmall increased by 2500% year - on - year.
If we draw an analogy with smartphones, the current AR/AI glasses market is in the "pre - explosion period" (2007 - 2010). After concept validation and early - adopter validation, it is expanding from the niche market to the mass market.
This article is from the WeChat official account “Pencil News” (ID: pencilnews), author: Truth - teller. It is published by 36Kr with permission.