Nreal Completed $60 Million Series C+ Financing Led by Alibaba
This latest round of funding brings Nreal’s total investment raisedwithin 12 months to US$200M.
BEIJING, March 30, 2022 – Nreal, a leading company in augmented reality (AR) industry, todayannounced the completion of US$60M in series C+ fundraising, led by AlibabaGroup. This latest round of funding brings Nreal’s total investment raisedwithin 12 months to US$200M. CGC Capital led the round A financing of Nreal and continued to raise bets in subsequent rounds of financing.
The Series C+ funding will be used to increase investmentin R&D, accelerate the company's global business expansion to new marketsthis year - including China, and strengthen Nreal’s existing partnerships withdevelopers and partners to deliver a wider range of content and experiences toend-users.
Alibaba's investment in Nreal follows previous strategicinvestments from leading brands and institutions including Kuaishou, and iQIYI,as more firms make the leap from exploring to developing AR-based integrationswithin their existing businesses. Other key investors backing Nreal fromprevious rounds include Yunfeng Capital, Sequoia China, Hillhouse, NIO Capital,Aplus, CICC Capital, Shunwei Capital, CPE, China Growth Capital, among otherworld-renowned investors.
Nreal is leading the world in the revolutionary ARtransformation and is the only company that has launched consumer AR glasses ona global scale. Widely recognized for its superior display technology andproduct design, Nreal has established partnerships with more than 10world-renowned carriers and brought its product to 6 countries to date.
Nreal’s Milestones Supported by Local Carriers
Key to Nreal’s localized sales strategy are its carrierpartners, enabling Nreal to regionally sell its line of AR glasses includingNreal Light and Nreal Air. Most recently, Nreal Light began retailing in theUnited States in Verizon stores nationwide, before selling out within the first day. And to drive interest amongconsumers, Nreal In February 2022, Nreal launched Nreal’s brand new line ofultra-thin AR glasses, "Nreal Air” through an online and offline retailpartnership with NTT DOCOMO and KDDI, two leading telecom operators in Japan.
Scaling Support for Partners & Developers
2022 is a milestone year for Nreal that earmarks theculmination and realization of the potential for mass adoption of Nreal's brandof AR glasses globally. Key to this are key past and future partnerships inkedwith brands, developers and content providers in consumer verticals. Some ofthese include automotive, 5G content, and more from Cinedigm, NIO and Accedo.
AR in Electic Vehicles - In December 2021, Nreal and NIO announced the EV industry’s firstAR glasses tailored for Electric Vehicles, and will integrate with NIO'sPanoCinema, a panoramic and immersive "digital cockpit." The new ARglasses for EV are slated to enter the market in 2022.
Streaming Video for AR Glasses - Nreal announced a partnership with streaming service Cinedigm. The partnership offers original content and channels 24/7, but on acompletely new and highly immersive AR format Nreal Light AR glasses. Audiencescan enjoy watching their shows on one massive virtual HD screen, whilemultitasking on up to two adjacent virtual screens, all at once.
Design Reference for AR Streaming - Nreal updated its SDK, enabling content providers tostream DRM video content on Nreal's AR glasses. In addition, Nreal partnered with Accedo to introduce the first interactive AR design reference for interactive ARgames or video viewing experiences.
About Nreal
Founded in 2017, Nreal is leading the world withtransformational impact of AR, starting with a brand of consumer AR glassessold at global scale. Widely recognized for its superior display technology andproduct design, Nreal has established partnerships with more than 10 world-renownedcarriers and brought its product to 6 countries to date.
Nreal first received worldwide recognition when itdebuted Nreal Light in early 2019, the first ever AR glasses for consumers. Notonly did it feature a revolutionary design, it was also the first AR glassesconnected to the mobile content ecosystem. To date, Nreal has nearly 400employees and is backed by reputable VC firms and industry leaders, includingAlibaba, Kuaishou, NIO Capital, Yunfeng Capital, Sequoia China, Hillhouse, Aplus,CICC Capital, Shunwei Capital, CPE, China Growth Capital, iQIYI, etc.