In the wake of the July 31 launch of its first product, the Ear (1), Nothing today announced a “Series A Extension” of $50 million, bringing its total funding to $74 million to date. The round follows the February announcement of a $15 million Series A.
Shortly after that, Nothing announced a $1.5 million equity round aimed at tapping into the sense of community that founder Carl Pei’s former company, OnePlus, had long prided itself in developing. Nothing hasn’t revealed the names this round, though the Series A was led by GV and featured a number of private investors, including Tony Fadell, Casey Neistat, Kevin Lin and Steve Huffman.
The new funding will be used for “research and development in preparation for the brand’s entry into new product categories as part of its ecosystem,” per Nothing. As Pei told us earlier this year, “We have a lot of products in the pipeline.”
The other news this morning is a “collaboration” with Qualcomm. Specifically, it’s the announcement that Nothing will use Snapdragon chips in future devices.
“Seamless connectivity is paramount to achieving our vision of a future without barriers between people and technology,” Pei said in a release. “We look forward to working alongside Qualcomm Technologies and our strategic investors to achieve Nothing’s next phase of growth.”
Nothing recently announced that its earbuds shipped more than 100,000 units in their first two months. The company has also long hinted additional products, though it has yet to offer up more information. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon line is used to power a broad range of products, from wearables to laptops, though phones have always been the heart of the line.
Qualcomm has no doubt been smarting as companies like Apple and Google have worked to build their own chips internally.
