EO reported on August 5 that AR diffractive waveguide manufacturer SEEV（广纳四维）had completed two consecutive funding rounds, raising nearly CNY 200 million in total.
The investors come from a range of backgrounds, including state-backed industrial funds, leading corporate investors and professional technology investment institutions. Major participants include Guangzhou Industrial Investment（广州产投）, Guangzhou Financial Holdings（广州金控）, Jinke Junchuang（金科君创）, Chengdu Sci-Tech Innovation Investment（成都科创投）, Xinxing Fund（新兴基金）, Midea Capital（美的资本）, Guangzhou Development District Sci-Tech Innovation Fund of Funds（广州开发区科创母基金公司）and Nazhen Investment（纳珍投资）. Existing shareholder Nano Fund（纳米基金）also continued to invest.
The proceeds will mainly be used to develop next-generation full-color waveguide technology, expand production lines for new manufacturing processes, pursue domestic and overseas market expansion, and recruit key talent. SEEV has also started raising its Series A round.
Founded in 2021 and headquartered in Guangzhou, SEEV was jointly incubated by the National Center for Nanoscience and Technology and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area National Institute of Nanotechnology Innovation. Its core team includes members from Beijing Institute of Technology, Germany’s University of Jena, BOE Technology Group（京东方）and Sony.
SEEV specializes in the research, development and production of micro- and nano-optical components for AR diffractive waveguides. It adopts a vertically integrated IDM model, maintaining in-house control across the entire process—from optical design and specialty materials to nano-fabrication, packaging and testing. The company has also developed its own optical simulation software, SEEVerse.
SEEV is pursuing two technical routes in parallel. Nanoimprint technology is intended for cost-effective consumer products, while semiconductor-grade deep-ultraviolet lithography and inductively coupled plasma etching are applied to silicon carbide substrates. SEEV is the world’s first company to mass-produce etched full-color diffractive waveguides based on silicon carbide.
Optics are both the most critical and the most technically challenging part of AR glasses. Because waveguides are thin, lightweight and transparent, they are widely regarded by the industry as an essential solution for consumer AR products. Mainstream mass-produced devices still predominantly use monochrome green displays, while full-color displays are seen as the next major upgrade.
According to third-party data, the global AR waveguide module market was worth approximately USD 100 million in 2025 and is expected to expand to around USD 1.6 billion by 2032, representing a compound annual growth rate of nearly 50%.
As AI glasses gain momentum, around 30 waveguide-based AI glasses are expected to be launched globally in 2026. The year 2027 is widely regarded as a critical window for the large-scale commercialization of single-chip, full-color waveguides. The maturity of full-color waveguide technology will directly determine whether device manufacturers can incorporate color displays into lightweight products.
The waveguide sector has relatively few participants. Established overseas companies include Lumus, Snap-owned WaveOptics and DigiLens. Chinese players include Lochn Optics（珑璟光电）, Lingxi AR（灵犀微光）, Leaps Photonics（理湃光晶）and ZG Technology（至格科技）. Most focus on a single technical route, such as array waveguides or nanoimprinting. The five largest manufacturers together account for approximately 80% of the global market.
SEEV’s differentiation is clear. Its two technical routes cover both high-volume and premium markets. Its vertically integrated, in-house IDM capabilities have reduced prototype delivery times to a matter of days. Its capacity to mass-produce full-color silicon carbide waveguides currently has no direct domestic equivalent, and the company says it can maintain a technological lead of one to two years.
In terms of commercialization, SEEV’s products have been incorporated into several mass-produced devices already available on the market, including the Even series from Even Realities（逸文科技）, the Coray Air2 and AR translation glasses from iFlytek（科大讯飞）. Cumulative shipments of its monochrome green waveguides have reached hundreds of thousands of units.
According to the company, SEEV’s orders on hand have reached the CNY 100 million level and could approach CNY 1 billion over the next three years. The Coray Air2 is the first mass-produced AR glasses product equipped with a full-color silicon carbide waveguide. The 49-gram Nimbo X1, which recently launched a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter, is the second.
Four years after its establishment, SEEV’s revenue has increased by several dozen times. The company expects to maintain three- to fivefold annual growth over the next three years. The participation of both state-backed and corporate investors also reflects growing investor confidence in upstream components for AI glasses.