Nothing Closes $200 Million Series C, CEO Carl Pei: First AI-Native Devices Coming Next Year

Recently, Nothing announced the completion of its $200 million Series C funding round at a $1.3 billion valuation. This milestone marks Nothing's official entry into a new phase — from the only scaled independent smartphone company of the past decade to an ambition to build an AI-native platform where software and hardware converge into one intelligent system.

The round was led by Tiger Global, with continued strong support from existing shareholders GV, Highland Europe, EQT, Latitude, I2BF, and Tapestry. New strategic investors include Nikhil Kamath and Qualcomm Ventures. Gaorong Ventures had previously invested in Nothing in 2022.

Nothing co-founder and CEO Carl Pei also shared with users the foundations Nothing has built to date, his thinking on integrating AI experiences into hardware, and his conviction in creating an entirely new category of AI-native devices.

Here is his open letter:

Building the Foundations for the Future

When we founded Nothing, we were convinced that if we could scale a smartphone business and master the "last mile" touchpoint in consumer technology, we would be positioned to seize the next technological transformation. At the time, we didn't yet know what form that transformation would take, but today the opportunity is unmistakably clear.

From the start, we knew we had to build an end-to-end value chain capable of delivering products with speed, scale, and quality. As countless failures have shown, building a hardware company is extraordinarily difficult, with virtually no margin for error. For us, the key to success was assembling a team that could move fast and pragmatically to ship products, while maintaining an innovative mindset to create experiences that our community would immediately love.

Today, the foundations for future growth are firmly in place — from award-winning design to global manufacturing and supply chain operations that balance quality and cost. In just over four years since our founding, we have shipped millions of devices, crossed the $1 billion cumulative sales milestone in early 2025, and achieved 150% growth in 2024.

The most difficult yet most valuable achievement of our journey so far has been building this foundation for the future. With the support of our community, we have reached this point. Our current advantages are difficult to replicate — we can take any consumer hardware product from R&D to market in a matter of months; we have global operations, distribution, and service capabilities; we have a global user community that builds with us; and we face none of the innovation dilemmas and constraints that burden traditional giants. This is our Chapter Two.

The Continuous Evolution of Operating Systems

Today, smartphones are everywhere, serving as the core personal computing device through which people handle countless daily tasks. Beyond their scale advantage, smartphones' greatest strength lies in their unparalleled access to contextual information and user awareness. For this reason, we believe smartphones will remain one of the most important devices in the AI era.

Yet while AI has made revolutionary advances over the past three years, the smartphone experience has remained virtually stagnant. So-called innovation has been limited to marginal improvements in photography, translation, or voice assistants — with underwhelming results at best.

For AI to reach its full potential, consumer hardware must be reimagined in parallel. This is the opportunity Nothing sees. We believe the operating systems of the future will be fundamentally different from today's:

• Systems will deeply understand users and be highly personalized;
• Interactions will adapt to context and needs;
• Suggestions will emerge naturally, and once intent is clear, agents will execute on the user's behalf;
• Systems will handle non-essential tasks for us, allowing everyone to focus on what truly matters — and that differs for each person.

The future will no longer be one identical answer for all, but one hundred million different operating systems for one hundred million people.

Over time, this operating system will span all device form factors. We are starting with smartphones, audio products, and smartwatches — devices people already use every day. In the future, it will extend to smart glasses, humanoid robots, new energy vehicles, and more.

Why are we uniquely positioned? Mastering the "last mile" touchpoint and its contextual and user data is the key to building a truly everyday, personalized AI OS. If an AI OS doesn't understand its user and isn't ubiquitous, it cannot deliver deeply personalized experiences. This is Nothing's next chapter: integrating AI experiences into hardware, reimagining how technology unlocks human potential.

The Next Billion-Scale Product

In the near term, smartphones will remain the only device with annual shipments reaching one billion units. But soon, each of us will carry another equally important device. In the coming years, we will come to realize: the more contextual access AI has, the more valuable it becomes. Smartphones are powerful, but they are not always present. They may be in our pockets, or rendered useless when our hands are occupied.

An entirely new category of AI-native devices is about to emerge. They will be instantly available when users need them, intelligence-driven, translating understanding into action. This is an incredibly exciting moment — devices capable of capturing context across modalities and generating interfaces on demand, adapting to the user's objectives.

We have been exploring what this future looks like, and plan to launch our first AI-native devices next year.

Series C Funding Details

This funding round will accelerate our innovation roadmap and further expand our distribution scale.

At the same time, we are preparing our next community funding round, giving supporters another opportunity to become part of Nothing's journey. More details will be announced soon.

As we move forward, we are deeply grateful to our community, team, and partners. It is because of you that we can embark on this new chapter.