Nothing

Nothing is a London-based consumer technology company founded in 2020 by Carl Pei, previously co-founder of OnePlus, with the stated ambition of putting "design and imagination back at the core of technology" . It styles itself as the only scaled independent smartphone company to emerge in the past decade and is now pivoting toward building what it calls an "AI-native platform" integrating hardware and software .

The company has raised significant venture backing across multiple rounds: a $70 million Series B in March 2022 led by EQT Ventures and C Ventures , and a $200 million Series C in September 2025 led by Tiger Global at a $1.3 billion valuation, with participation from GV, Highland Europe, EQT, and Qualcomm Ventures among others . Gaorong Ventures, which has published extensively on the company, invested in 2022 and continued to support subsequent rounds .

Nothing's product line began with the Ear (1) wireless earbuds in 2021, designed with a transparent aesthetic and carbon-neutral credentials, shipping over 400,000 units in its first run . It expanded into smartphones with Phone (1) in 2022, Phone (2) in 2023, and the mid-range Phone (2a) in early 2024 . As of mid-2025, cumulative device sales had surpassed 7 million units, with the user base notably young—average age 26, or roughly a decade below industry norms—and design-driven, with over 60% citing aesthetics as their primary purchase factor . The company also launched its first over-ear headphones, Headphone (1), in July 2025, developed in acoustic partnership with KEF .