When you think about the meaning of the word ‘nothing,’ $200 million is hardly the first association that comes to mind. However, in this case, Nothing represents the name of the London-based startup, which has raised $200 million in fresh capital to push deeper into artificial intelligence hardware. The Series C round was led by Tiger Global, with participation from Qualcomm Ventures (QCOM) and existing investors such as GV, Highland Europe, EQT, Latitude, I2BF, and Tapestry. The funding values the company at $1.3 billion.
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Nothing was founded in 2020 by Carl Pei, who previously co-founded OnePlus, another unorthodox mobile maker. The firm launched its first smartphone in 2022 and immediately stood out in the mobile phone scene due to its unique design. Since its first release, it has expanded into earbuds and other consumer devices. To date, Nothing has shipped millions of units and crossed $1 billion in total sales.
AI Ambitions and Competition
With the new capital, the company plans to build consumer devices designed for the age of AI. The initial focus will be on phones, earbuds, and smart watches, while the long-term plan includes smart glasses, humanoid robots, and electric cars. Pei said that future operating systems could adapt to individual users, rather than remain one-size-fits-all.
The global smartphone market is still led by Apple (AAPL) and Samsung (SSNLF). In Europe, only a few small players, such as Fairphone and HMD Global, compete in the space. Nothing will attempt to carve out a role by aligning new hardware with AI software at a time when major tech firms are also investing heavily in this trend.
We used TipRanks’ Comparison Tool to line up and compare the notable smartphone makers, among them, Apple, Samsung, Google (GOOG) (GOOGL), and Xiaomi (XIACF). This helps investors gain a broader perspective on each stock and the smartphone industry as a whole.
