According to EqualOcean, AR glasses startup "HONOR THE UNKNOWN"（致敬未知） has recently completed a angel funding round, securing USD tens of million. The funding was led by Alibaba（阿里巴巴）, with participation from prominent institutions such as NEEO FUND（泥藕资本） and Taiya Investment (泰亚投资) among others.
Established in 2022 by former partner of Smartisan（锤子科技）and former General Manager of Honor（荣耀） product line, Wu Dezhou, "HONOR THE UNKNOWN" focuses primarily on AR glasses for consumers.
For a long time, consumer-oriented AR glasses have faced a challenge of explaining their purpose to users, resulting in fragmented and unclear usage scenarios. The AR smart glasses developed by "HONOR THE UNKNOWN" aim to address this challenge by meeting the rigid demands of users and serving as a genuine productivity tool.
On the other hand, a common pain point of many existing AR glasses is the sacrifice of display functionality for the sake of achieving a lightweight design. These glasses often rely on monochrome monocular displays, limiting their usage to simple message notifications. Additionally, to achieve a slim profile, most glasses have forsaken spatial positioning technology.
The inaugural smart glasses from "HONOR THE UNKNOWN" will feature both SLAM spatial positioning technology and an optical display system suitable for outdoor use. Furthermore, they will be equipped with a self-developed operating system.
From Google's introduction of the first smart glasses, Google Glass, in 2012 to Apple's recent release of the all-new Vision Pro headset, the continuous innovation in AR technology has attracted the attention of various companies, including major players like Amazon, Meta, and others, as well as emerging players like Pico, Rokid, Xreal, INMO, Lawaken（李未可科技）, and Thunderbird Innovation(雷鸟创新). These companies have set their sights on the AR glasses market.
According to data from app research firm appdevelopermagazine, the global AR glasses market is projected to reach a size of USD 15.4 billion in 2023, with an expected compound annual growth rate of 16.6%. By 2033, the global AR glasses market is estimated to reach USD 72 billion.
The funds raised by "HONOR THE UNKNOWN" will primarily be used for product development and company operations. With the completion of this funding round, they are set to launch their new consumer brand, "ARknovv," along with their first consumer-grade AR smart glasses.