MAD Gaze, the augmented reality (AR) smart glasses company closes USD 18.6 million in Series A funding in January 2020, after receiving USD 12 million in Pre-A round funding last year. The new round of financing will be used in research and development of new generation smart glasses, new optical technology, AR technology and algorithms, smartwatches, and market expansion.
MAD Gaze, a top-notch AR smart glasses brand founded in 2013. It is also the first smart glasses company in China that integrates hardware, software, optics, algorithms, developer community, APPs online mall, and industry application solutions. MAD Gaze AR smart glasses has launched 7 AR glasses including Ares, X5, X5S, X5P, Vader, GLOW, GLOW Plus, and a smartwatch, MAD Gaze Watch. The latest binocular MR smart glasses GLOW weigh only 75g. It has successfully raised over USD 650k on the overseas crowdfunding platform Indiegogo and has engaged more than 3,000 developers in the community. The mass production of GLOW has been well completed in January and delivered to 45 countries. MAD Gaze is the bestseller among AR glasses in China. Its high-tech and trendy products are highly recognized by the consumer market.
The Latest AR financing will be focused on technology and hardware
According to media analysis reports, the amount of China’s domestic financial funding in the VR/AR industry has been doubled. It indicates that the domestic investment market in 2019 is more confident compared to 2018, which also leads to an increase in the single investment amount. In which, the VR sector accounts for 40% of the funding which amounts to USD 760 million, while the AR sector accounts for 37%, and the financing amount reaches USD 1.84 billion, far exceeding VR.
Apart from the financing amount, the distribution of the investing field also focuses on technology-related companies, especially in optical technology and AR hardware companies. The capital mainly invests in B2B use cases.
MAD Gaze has accomplished Series A funding at the beginning of 2020. Founder and CEO Jordan Cheng stated, “MAD Gaze has always been leading innovation in technologies. Our effort in firmware research and development has won more than 40 professional awards. Our self-developed optical technology makes us one of the rare AR field leaders in China. The four types of optical technology include a prism, free-form surface, Birdbath, and waveguide, with two interactive technology algorithms.”
MAD Gaze has established a unique and complete AR ecosystem that allows users to access a high degree of utility and entertainment. The ecosystem is including an independent online app marketplace - MAD Store, an automatic AR app generation platform - AR Cloud, a developer platform - Developer Console, and a remote solution platform - ME Support. MAD Gaze has successfully promoted the applications of smart glasses to various fields including education, medical, security, industry, etc., and cooperated with more than 400 international corporates such as Nespresso, Decathlon, Cathay Pacific, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, OPPO, Sony, Carl Zeiss, and SAP, etc. MAD Gaze has marketed in more than 40 countries which is far ahead in the global smart glasses industry.
The consumer AR market is well poised with the deployment of 5G
With the deployment of the commercial 5G era in China, the consumer AR market will be gradually expanded. According to the forecast brought by Digi-Capital, the installed base of AR mobile and AR smart glasses will exceed 2.5 billion by 2023, with a revenue of 70 billion to 75 billion US dollars. The expansion of China’s AR market is believed to be the most conspicuous among the global AR industry. IDC Worldwide Augmentation and Virtual Reality Guide predicts that China's AR/VR market expenditure will reach 65.21 billion US dollars by 2023. The dawn of 5G has risen the enormous potential of AR technology.
Regarding the consumer market, Jordan Cheng declared, “The previous generations of MAD Gaze smart glasses are biased towards the business usage, yet the fourth-generation MR smart glasses GLOW is specialized for the consumer market. It is lightweight and trendy as sunglasses which is portable and easy for daily use. Simply plugging into the smartphone, it streams the mobile screen onto the glasses. It is more personal and easily integrated with the consumer’s everyday life.”
In addition, MAD Gaze has newly launched its bone conduction smartwatch at the Las Vegas CES 2020 in January. By pairing it to the MR smart glasses, it simplifies the control on smart glasses and become a trending gadget for the latest 5G network. “MAD Gaze, with a stylish brand image and unique insight of user experience, is aiming to achieve differentiated marketing strategies among the fast-expanded AR consumer market. Currently, MAD Gaze has already implemented different sales channels.” Jordan Cheng said.
The investors of MAD Gaze
The investor DNS is a quasi-listed company of domestic and international markets. It is a technology company specializing in R&D, manufacturing and marketing of mobile phone accessories and electronic products. DNS CEO Mr. Chan stated, “MAD Gaze has contributed in the AR field for 7 years. Their team has well-rounded effort with an outstanding innovative spirit. Their products are well-developed with their comprehensive and mature AR technology and the interactive algorithm. It is believed that MAD Gaze retains unlimited potential as a global leader. DNS feels optimistic to the development of AR industry under 5G network. He expected that MAD Gaze will exert its expertise in the AR field, seize the opportunity, and maintain its leading position in the market.
thThe second investor Black30 Venture is a well-known high-tech venture capital in Hong Kong. It specializes at futuristic technology field. The CEO of Black30 Venture Mr. Leung indicated, “MAD Gaze is the only AR company in China that has mass-produced 8 products and sold more than 10,000 units. Also, it has mastered the most critical core technology in the AR field.It is definitely a practical enterprise that delves R&D for the market. The team is young, creative and highly innovative. We will continue to support MAD Gaze in the future financial funding, I hope they will become a unicorn in e AR industry.”