The smartphone world just got a shake-up. Startup Nothing, the brainchild of Carl Pei (yep, the guy who co-founded OnePlus), announced it has raised a massive $200 million Series C round, pushing its valuation to a cool $1.3 billion. Leading the round? Heavyweight Tiger Global, with existing investors like GV, Highland Europe, EQT, and Latitude also doubling down. Qualcomm Ventures and investor Nikhil Kamath also jumped in to give strategic backing. That brings Nothing’s total funding to over $450 million since launch. Not bad for a company still building its global footprint.
The pitch? Nothing isn’t just making phones — it’s reimagining hardware and software with an AI-native vision. Tiger Global partner Matt Watcher even described their goal as “pioneering AI-native experiences.” Translation: they’re betting that your next device won’t just look cool (shoutout to their transparent design flex) but will be built from the ground up with AI running the show.
So far, the design-first gamble has worked. Earlier this year, Nothing passed $1 billion in total sales and launched the Phone (3) — only its second handset to hit general distribution in the U.S. Globally, it holds under 1% market share, but in India (its biggest market), Nothing has carved out 2% and shipped over 5.1 million units, with more than a million shipped in just Q2 2025. Clearly, it’s punching above its weight.
Looking ahead, the startup wants to go beyond sleek smartphones. They’re working on an AI-first operating system with personalization baked in — think smarter search, device-wide AI helpers, and maybe even AI-driven experiences outside of phones. They’ve even brought in Sélim Benayat (ex-Linktree and Bento) to lead the charge.
But here’s the catch: AI hardware is a tricky game. We’ve already seen Humane fizzle and Rabbit scramble to fix its R1 device. Carl Pei, however, insists smartphones will remain the main AI playground for the next 3–5 years, and Nothing wants to be the cool kid leading that charge.
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