Chinese AI glasses maker Rokid planning Hong Kong IPO: sources
Listing plan comes as giants Apple, Meta, Alibaba, Baidu, Xiaomi and Huawei, plus start-ups like Xreal, Rayneo, anticipate market growth
Rokid, a Hangzhou-based maker of smart glasses, is preparing to file for a Hong Kong listing as early as the end of April, according to sources familiar with the matter, as artificial intelligence-powered eyewear gains traction in the mainstream market.
The planned listing comes as global and domestic technology groups including Meta Platforms and Apple, as well as China’s Alibaba Group Holding – through the brand name Quark – Baidu, Xiaomi and Huawei Technologies, all rush into the market. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.
Rokid said on Wednesday it was capable of pursuing an initial public offering, but plans had yet to be finalised.
Rokid was co-founded in 2014 by CEO Misa Zhu Mingming, who studied at Zhejiang University and University of California, Berkeley, before launching a start-up that was acquired in 2010 by Alibaba, where he led an innovation lab.
The company makes both industrial and consumer-grade AR glasses, as well as AI-powered eyewear, a format popularised by Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses.
Rokid’s AI glasses, which feature dual-eye monochrome displays, integrated cameras and audio, support real-time translation, a teleprompter function, conversational AI, navigation and eye-scanning payment.