Lingban Technology (Hangzhou) Company, better known as Rokid, is gearing up for an initial public offering in Hong Kong this month, according to the South China Morning Post. The AI glasses maker, whose main international rival is Meta with its Ray-Ban Meta glasses, has already raised some $28 million of fresh capital this year, bringing in new shareholders such as Hunan-based Lens Technology, which supplies Apple and Samsung; and SenseCapital, the venture capital arm of SenseTime, an AI company the U.S. identifies as having ties to the Chinese military. Most of this year’s capital raise came from Shanghai Conant Optical, a leading resin lens manufacturer. Rokid’s founder Zhu Mingming has tried to calm the IPO talk, but the company has big ambitions despite slow growth in its early years. In an interview with Chinese media, Zhu said he aims to ship one million smart glasses this year, as consumers and businesses become attuned to smart glasses, with an eventual annual target of ten million annual sales.
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Savannah Billman is a Staff Writer for The Wire China based in NYC. She previously worked at the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations.
