In July 2025, Zhi Hui Jun, once dubbed a “Huawei prodigy” and now co-founder and CTO of the emerging embodied intelligence company Zhiyuan Robotics, took the stage at WAIC wearing a sleek pair of AI glasses. The design immediately drew attention—notably, it resembled a sophisticated LINDBERG frame. These were Even Realities’ first flagship AI eyewear: the Even G1.
Launching a memorable AI eyewear product in 2025 is no small feat. New entrants flood the market, all defaulting to built-in cameras and microphones, often mimicking the design of Ray-Ban Meta. Most AI glasses blend together; unless the logo is front and center, it’s hard to tell one brand from another.
Yet Even Realities has broken through. In just two years, this startup has captured the attention of celebrities, tech founders, and global luminaries. Among those who have tried the Even G1 are Palmer Luckey (Oculus founder), Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak (UAE Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence), and renowned music producer Steve Aoki, alongside Zhi Hui Jun himself.
Even more remarkable is the company’s traction in the investment world. In 2024 alone, Even Realities completed four funding rounds with investors including Qingshan Capital, Sequoia China, Dinghui Investment, and Monolith, bringing its valuation into the hundreds of millions of dollars.
What makes a two-year-old AI eyewear startup so coveted by top-tier investors? What is the logic behind its multi-hundred-million-dollar valuation in a market still in its early stages?
Experienced Founders Inspire Investor Confidence
Investment is ultimately about people. In a brand-new field like AI eyewear—without clear market benchmarks—this is even more true.
IDC predicts that the global AI eyewear market will surpass $300 billion by 2030. Yet many investors hesitate, wary of the technical complexity. AI eyewear is deceptively simple; in reality, it requires mastery across algorithms, hardware, optics, and industrial design. Successful execution demands a founding team with rare depth and complementary expertise.
Even Realities’ founder, Will Wang (Wang Xiaoyi), checks all the boxes. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Shanghai Jiao Tong University and a master’s from UC Berkeley, before joining Apple to work on the Apple Watch project. He oversaw manufacturing design, from material selection to factory-level quality control, giving him deep insight into China’s consumer electronics supply chain.
He later joined Anker, helping the brand secure Apple Store partnerships, and moved on to OPPO, where he contributed to the transition from the R Series to Reno Series smartphones. At Smartisan Nut Projector, he served as CPO, driving product, R&D, supply chain, and marketing efforts—essentially running an internal startup. By the time he founded Even Realities in early 2023, Wang was a fully matured, capable entrepreneur with a proven track record.
Moreover, his core team is elite and stable:
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CTO Ouyang Jian, formerly responsible for multiple generations of iPhone main camera modules.
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Chief Designer Hu Dan, ex-member of Philips Lighting Design Committee in China and lead designer of the first five generations of Soundcore products.
Both followed Wang from Smartisan Nut Projector, signaling strong trust and alignment with his vision.
Will himself is also a passionate eyewear enthusiast, constantly exploring premium brands. The design of the G1 draws directly from this personal passion—a unique advantage in an industry where many founders are purely technical.
A Bold, Contrarian Approach to AI Eyewear
In 2024, the consensus in AI eyewear was to imitate Ray-Ban Meta and compete on specs—stacking cameras, speakers, full-color displays—resulting in bulky, heavy, and short-lived devices. Even Realities took the opposite approach: subtraction over addition.
Recognizing that over 80% of the global glasses market are prescription users, Even Realities prioritized vision correction. The company deliberately excluded cameras, full-color displays, and speakers, focusing resources on integrating green monochrome displays with prescription lenses. The result: light, wearable AI glasses with key features like teleprompter translation, AI Q&A, real-time captions, and calendar notifications.
This “less is more” approach extends to software: the G1 app is minimalist, with only seven icons, easy to use out of the box—compared to competitors whose apps take half an hour just to connect.
While some critics argue the G1’s limited features narrow its market, the glasses have already launched in over 40 countries and 300+ European optical stores, establishing Even Realities as a top-tier newcomer in AI eyewear.
Premium Positioning and Strategic Business Thinking
Despite its pared-down functionality, the G1 commands a high-end price: $599 (~¥4,358). This reflects a strategic decision:
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Early-stage AI eyewear is fashion-forward and fragmented. Competing on volume and low cost risks damaging user experience and brand perception.
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High-end targeting establishes brand prestige, allowing Even Realities to educate early adopters and later introduce more accessible products—mirroring Tesla’s strategy with Roadster/Model S before Model 3.
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The company emphasizes eyewear as an accessory, not just a consumer electronics device, making design and wearability a higher priority than raw specs.
Even Realities also recruited top-tier European designers and executives from LINDBERG, MYKITA, and ic! Berlin, and focused its initial market launch on Europe, the luxury eyewear epicenter, reinforcing its premium positioning.
This careful balance of high pricing, controlled supply, and product quality allowed Even Realities to sell over 10,000 units in just half a year, ensuring both revenue and customer satisfaction.
Conclusion
Even Realities’ rapid rise to a multi-hundred-million-dollar valuation is no accident. Its success stems from the synergy of a mature, capable founding team, disciplined product definition, and strategic market positioning.
In the fiercely competitive AI eyewear space, Even Realities has established an early lead. However, sustaining investor confidence and market momentum will depend on its ability to continue innovating, launch next-generation products, and remain ahead of both supply chain and market trends.
