Nothing was founded a little over a year ago with the ambition of building a hardware company that in the long run would challenge big giants like Apple and Samsung with unique design and “affordable” quality.
The first and so far only product that the company has released is the wireless headphones “ear (1)”. More than 400,000 copies are said to have been sold during the first half of the year.
Behind the company stands Carl Pei which is best known for having built up the mobile company Oneplus. It is now clear that the Swedish-Chinese 32-year-old, who dropped out of his education at the School of Business, Economics and Law to start his own, will also compete with his old company.
After raising SEK 700 million in a round led by EQT Ventures and C Ventures for two weeks, Nothing confirms that the company will release its first mobile at the digital event “The Truth”. The phone will go by the name phone (1) and the planned release will take place in the summer.
“After raising SEK 1.4 billion, building a team of over 300 people and securing support from partners such as Qualcomm Tecnologies, we are ready to let phone (1) be the beginning of a change in the tired smartphone market,” says Carl Pei.
The phone is an Android and should have the company’s own operating system Nothing OS. Otherwise, much about the phone, such as price and features, is still unknown.
A recurring theme during the launch event was the vision of creating an integrated ecosystem of different products similar to Apple, a possible hint that the company plans to release more product categories in the future.
The first pictures on the phone show that the company plans to release the phone in both black and white.
Will bring in an additional SEK 100 million
“We are also taking our new round for our community so that our supporters also have the chance to be part of our journey when we challenge the industry giants,” says Carl Pei.
The company opens for investments on April 5 via the crowdfunding platform Crowdcube, who recently entered Sweden. Last year, Nothing closed its first community round of SEK 15 million in just 54 seconds.
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