China's smart glasses company Even Realities Technology raised $150 million in a pre-Series B funding round joined by Tencent and Meituan, valuing it at $1 billion.

CNBC reported on Sunday local time that the company, founded in 2023, became a unicorn with the funding.

Based in Shenzhen, Even Realities plans to use the proceeds to develop a next-generation smart glasses platform, strengthen AI integration, expand global operations and accelerate product innovation. Founder and CEO Will Wang (윌 왕) worked at Apple from 2016 to 2018 and took part in the development and mass production of the Apple Watch and iPhone.

The company launched the Even G2 smart glasses, which put a larger display into a lighter frame, and the Even R1 smart ring that controls the G2 display late last year. Will Wang's experience at Apple was partly reflected in the product concept for the Even G2.

Its main product, the Even G2, does not include a camera or recording hardware, unlike Meta's Ray-Ban lineup. Instead, it provides messaging, navigation and real-time translation through a lens-integrated head-up display and stressed user privacy.

Its user and developer base is concentrated in the United States. More than half of its users are in the United States, and about 80 percent of its developers are also in the United States.

The smart glasses market is also growing rapidly. IDC said global smart glasses shipments in the first quarter totalled 2.25 million units, up 167 percent from a year earlier. Meta ranked first with about a 70 percent share, followed by Shenzhen RayNeo Technology and Xiaomi. The growth was driven by the popularisation of no-display smart glasses led by Meta and Ray-Ban collaboration products. Global smart glasses shipments, including display-equipped and virtual reality-enabled products, are projected to more than double to 50 million units by 2030.

Alibaba launched its Quark AI Glasses in February. Even Realities has mainly raised funds from China-based venture capital and private equity firms including CDH Investment, Monolith Management and CVC Capital. In January, it also received investment from Hong Kong-based Unicorn Capital Partners and Xianghe Capital. Rival Rokid raised $522 million in March and was valued at $2.58 billion, while RayNeo, fostered by TCL Electronics, was valued at $239.9 million.