Nothing CEO and co-founder Carl Pei says that the company looks to build new AI-native device categories to complement smartphones. Pei says that this will be an additional device that users will become ubiquitous with, alongside phones.

Consumer technology company Nothing has closed a $200 million Series C funding round, achieving a valuation of $1.3 billion. The round, led by Tiger Global, received strong backing from existing investors including GV, Highland Europe, EQT, Latitude, I2BF, and Tapestry, with new strategic investments from Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath and Qualcomm Ventures. This infusion of capital, the company says, will propel Nothing's ambitions to build an AI-native platform, integrating hardware and software into a unified intelligent ecosystem, while fueling global expansion and product innovation.

As the only independent smartphone brand to scale successfully in the past decade, Nothing is leveraging this funding to transition into the next phase of consumer technology. The company, founded by former OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei, has already shipped millions of devices, crossed $1 billion in total sales entering 2025, and posted 150 percent growth in 2024. With robust manufacturing, supply chain, and a co-creative global community in place, Nothing is poised to launch AI-native devices next year, starting with enhancements to smartphones, audio products, and smartwatches.

Carl Pei's Vision for AI-Native Innovation

In an extensive statement, Nothing CEO and Co-founder Carl Pei outlined the company's strategic roadmap, emphasising the convergence of AI and consumer hardware. "This milestone marks the start of our next phase: From being the only independent smartphone company to emerge in the last decade, towards building an AI-native platform in which hardware and software converge into a single intelligent system," Pei wrote.

Reflecting on Nothing's foundational work, Pei highlighted the challenges and triumphs of building a hardware ecosystem from scratch. "When we started Nothing, we had a thesis that if we could build a smartphone business at scale and own the last-mile distribution point in consumer tech, we would be well-positioned for the next technology shift. Although we didn’t know what that would look like at the time, the opportunity is now crystal clear."

Pei stressed the importance of an end-to-end value chain for rapid, high-quality product delivery. "From the start, we knew that the foundation had to be an end-to-end value chain capable of delivering products at speed, scale, and quality. As we’ve seen from many others that have tried, building a hardware company is hard. There are many potential failure points and almost no room for error. For us, it required assembling a team that balanced a pragmatic approach of rapidly launching products, with an innovative mindset to deliver experiences that our community would immediately love."

He noted the company's hard-won infrastructure as a key competitive edge. "Today, the foundations are firmly in place. From award-winning design, to our global manufacturing and supply chain network built for quality and cost. In four years, we have shipped millions of devices, began 2025 crossing $1B+ in total sales, while growing 150 percent in 2024. Building this infrastructure has been the hardest and most valuable thing we’ve done so far. With the support of our community, we’re fortunate to have made it here. Today, we’re in a position that will be very hard to copy: The ability to launch any consumer hardware product from start to finish within months, go-to market operations that can ship and service worldwide, a global user community that co-creates with us, all without the innovator’s dilemma or bureaucratic constraints that the incumbents face. On to chapter 2."

Reinventing the Smartphone OS in the AI Era

Pei addressed the stagnation in smartphone innovation despite AI's rapid advancements. "In the last 18 years, the smartphone became ubiquitous. It is the primary personal computing tool to manage the countless tasks of daily life. Beyond its distribution scale, what makes the smartphone the most powerful consumer device in the market is its unmatched access to contextual information and user knowledge. For this reason, I believe the smartphone will remain one of the most important devices in the AI era. On the other hand, while AI has made revolutionary progress in the last three years, the smartphone experience has barely evolved. Most of the innovation has been underwhelming, limited to incremental improvements in photo editing, translations, and assistant features that barely work."

Looking ahead, Pei envisioned a paradigm shift in operating systems. "For AI to reach its full potential, consumer hardware must reinvent itself alongside it. This is the opportunity we see for Nothing. We see a future where operating systems are significantly different from the ones today. Each system will know its user deeply, and be hyper-personalised to each individual. Interfaces will adapt to our context and needs. Suggestions will surface naturally, and once we confirm an intent, agents will execute on our behalf. The system will handle the non-essential for us, allowing us to focus on what truly matters, which will be different for every person. Unlike today’s one-size-fits-all solution, a billion different operating systems will be rendered for a billion different people."

He detailed the platform's expansion across devices. "Over time, this OS will be transversal across all form factors: We’re starting with smartphones, audio products and smart watches, devices that people already use every day. In the future, our OS will carry into smart glasses, humanoid robots, EVs, and whatever comes next. Why we are uniquely-positioned to create this future: Owning the last-mile distribution point with all its contextual and user knowledge is essential to developing an OS that will help people in their daily lives. An AI OS that doesn’t know its user and isn’t ever-present can’t deliver a hyper-personalised experience. This is the next chapter for Nothing, integrating an AI experience into our hardware devices to reinvent how technology amplifies us."

The Rise of AI-Native Devices at Billion-Unit Scale

Pei forecasted the emergence of new device categories to complement smartphones. "In the near-term, we believe that the smartphone will remain the only device shipping at billion-unit scale each year. But soon, we’ll all be carrying an additional device that will be just as important. In the coming years, we’ll learn that the more context we can feed our AI, the more useful it becomes. The smartphone, while powerful, can’t always be there for us. Sometimes it’s in our pocket, or we might be on the move with our hands full. A new class of AI-native devices will emerge. Products that are available to the user at the moment of need, paired with intelligence that turns understanding into action. This is a very exciting time, imagining devices that capture context across modalities and generate interfaces on demand, shaped by what the user is trying to accomplish. We have been hard at work imagining what this future could look like, and can’t wait to launch some of our first AI-native devices next year."

The Series C round brings Nothing's total funding to over $450 million, enabling accelerated development of its AI roadmap and expanded distribution. Pei expressed gratitude to stakeholders: "As we continue our journey, we do so with huge gratitude to our community, our team, and our partners. This next chapter is only possible because of you."

Complementing the institutional funding, Nothing plans to launch a new Community round soon, allowing fans and supporters to invest at the same $1.3 billion valuation. Details on participation will be announced shortly, underscoring the company's community-centric ethos.

With Nikhil Kamath's involvement, known for his investments in consumer tech and sustainability through ventures like Gruhas, Nothing gains a prominent Indian backer at a time when the country remains central to its growth strategy.