For a brand called Nothing, the London-based consumer tech company has achieved a lot since being founded just a year ago—in October 2020.
The brainchild of Carl Pei, the co-founder of Chinese smartphone major OnePlus, Nothing has already raised around $74 million in funding. In October alone, it raised $50 million as part of its Series A extension. Its investors include Google Ventures, the venture capital arm of Google parent Alphabet, iPod inventor Tony Fadell, Twitch co-founder Kevin Lin, Reddit co-founder and CEO Steve Huffman, and YouTuber Casey Neistat.
And Nothing has managed all of this on the back of just one product so far—the ear (1) Bluetooth earbuds, launched in July 2021. The company claims it has shipped 180,000 of the 320,000 orders it has received.
Retailing for a premium-ish Rs 5,499 ($73) in India, Nothing’s earbuds come with a unique transparent stem and charging case. The design stands out in a sea of similar offerings that have flooded the market during the rise of truly wireless stereo truly wireless stereo truly wireless stereo With the development of Bluetooth technology, wireless earbuds have evolved into a very small size and cordless form factor that we call it True Wireless Stereo (TWS). From Indian brands such as BoAt and Noise, which are priced around Rs 1,500 ($20), to Apple’s top-of-the-range AirPods, which retail from Rs 18,500 (~$250).
The company has already captured the third spot in the premium TWS segment in India, with a 7% market share, according to the latest data from Counterpoint released on Tuesday.
This, though, is just the start. For Nothing, the earbuds are merely an easy entry point. More than 200 million wireless earphones were sold in 2020, up from 100 million the previous year, according to market research company Counterpoint Research. It expects 600 million units to be sold by 2022. The goal, though, is to build an ecosystem ecosystem The Ken Xiaomi’s smart plan to continue its Indian summer Read more of seamless connectivity across multiple devices. For instance, Apple’s AirPods can sense which device you are using—your iPhone or Macbook or iPad—by detecting proximity and distance.
India is an especially important market for Nothing, evidenced by the fact that, of the company’s three offices globally, one is in India. And understandably so—revenue from India’s consumer electronics segment is projected to grow from $15.7 billion in 2021 to $22.5 billion by 2025, according to consumer data company Statista.
Pei has already had success in the Indian market, with OnePlus effectively cornering the premium smartphone segment through a combination of smart marketing as well as competitive specifications and pricing.
