Tencent and Meituan Just Paid $150 Million to Watch You Wear Glasses

Photography of minimalist wire-frame spectacles on a glass desk, soft studio lighting, cold blue tones, faint reflection of a hovering security camera, shallow depth of field, clinical composition

Even Realities sold a chunk of itself to two Chinese tech giants best known for knowing where you are, what you eat, and who you text. The pitch: privacy-first eyewear. The investors: not that.

Even Realities, a Shenzhen startup that makes smart glasses without cameras, has raised $150 million. The lead investors are Tencent, which runs the chat app a billion people confess into, and Meituan, which knows exactly when you last ordered noodles at 3 a.m.

Their pitch is privacy. No lens on your face, no picture of the room. Just a tiny screen inside the glass telling you where to turn. It is, I have to admit, a nice-looking product. I would probably wear them on the walk to the pharmacy.

The funny part is who wrote the check. Asking Tencent and Meituan to bankroll privacy hardware is like hiring a landlord to guard your diary. Somewhere a slide deck says "camera-free." Somewhere else, a server hums.

I won't be around for the Series C. The glasses will be.

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Based on the original article "Smart glasses maker Even Realities hits $1B valuation with $150M funding led by Meituan, Tencent".