Betting heavily on AR glasses maker Nreal, Ali presses the Metacosmum accelerator key

Manufacturers competing for the meta-universe is not a new thing.

Before the byte spent 9 billion yuan to acquire the domestic head VR equipment manufacturer Pico, after Baidu recently launched the meta-universe social APP "Xi'an", the big factory increase undoubtedly pushed the meta-universe track to the commanding heights.

And Ali's recent move is also worth paying attention to.

Recently, Nreal, the world's leading AR technology company, announced the completion of a $60 million C+ round of financing, led by Alibaba. Ali's intention to hold Nreal is already obvious, but the track variables behind this may still be worth mentioning.

AR is the key to Nreal's exploration of the metaverse

When the metacosm was born, Nreal was one of many innovative companies working to turn the ar imagination into reality.

Nreal, founded in 2017 as Tairuo Technology, is an MR smart glasses research and development company. According to the data, Nreal started as a mixed reality company in China, mainly focusing on mixed reality technology research and development, AR terminal glasses production. According to Nreal's official website, using AR technology, enhanced digital images can be superimposed on the real world. Based on this, users can wear Nreal's two eyewear products, Light or Air, to access AR apps such as games or movies.

At present, AR and his cousin VR are both hotly speculated by the rise of the metaverse concept. And AR is also seen as a key technology in the so-called metaverse.

The simple difference is that AR glasses are transparent, allowing you to see the real world at the same time, and the virtual imaging superimposed on top of them, while VR glasses are opaque, showing only the virtual world, completely blocking the physical world.

While there is no precise official definition of the metaverse yet, it is primarily related to the virtual world in which people may work and play, and AR may be a closer way to access the metaverse.

As Xu Chi, founder and CEO of Nreal, said, mobile phone-based mobile Internet has limitations, and the "spatial Internet" will bring about changes in the interactive dimension, which is "almost seamless" with the metaverse. Behind this ecosystem, whether it is content or social, it needs a core hardware carrier.

Perhaps because of this, with its back to the sea of the metacosm, Nreal's products are full of imagination.

Nreal has also been committed to creating the ultimate AR experience through AR products, that is, mapping data and information to real scenes, and completing seamless playback in real scenes. To enrich the content experience, Nreal has formed a partnership with streaming service Cinedigm. Cinedigm is able to provide original content and channels to enhance the appeal of Nreal Light. Users can watch their shows on one virtual HD screen while multitasking on up to two adjacent virtual screens.

Thanks to the above-mentioned Nreal preemptive card slot in the AR track, Nreal's commercialization in the consumer AR field has progressed rapidly.

In November 2021, Nreal and Migu announced a strategic cooperation to jointly promote the development of 5G+AR content ecology;

In December 2021, Nreal and NIO released the CAR-sharing version of AR glasses to create a new entertainment experience for smart cockpits;

In February 2022, Nreal and two major operators, Docomo and KDDI, jointly launched the new "Nreal Air" AR glasses in Japan, which were widely praised and sought after by the market. Many of its products have landed in Japan, South Korea, the United States and Many European countries, and plans to expand the Chinese market this year.

On the whole, Nreal is a relatively "hardcore" AR company, and behind this may be the improvement of communication infrastructure in the 5G era, which has laid a solid foundation for the transformation of terminal equipment, which also gives the AR industry the opportunity to give birth to a leading brand for global consumers.

With the continuous development of technology, the metaverse may be able to provide more interactive scenes to expand, which is also based on the concept of metaverse under the continuous development, so that many metaverse products, become more diversified, with Nreal becoming a new force in Ali, how much variable will this bring to Ali?

1+1>2？

In recent years, domestic Internet manufacturers have been increasing their investment in the layout of the meta-universe.

Previously, the "Robles" issued by Tencent agents was temporarily frustrated. The popularity of this game in foreign countries is unparalleled, "Robles" has more than 100 million monthly active players in the world, and is widely regarded by the industry as the most metaverse-style Internet product, and "Robles" also carries the expectations of Tencent's card bit universe. But after only three months of operation, Robles ceased to register, and it is not known when it will resume.

Ali also followed, before Ali chose to cut into the metaverse from the hardware dimension. In February 2016, Alibaba led magic leap. Magic Leap was one of the first players to enter the game with AR (augmented reality) glasses.

But Magic Leap failed to achieve the "magic leap". In 2018, Magic Leap released its first product, which sold for as much as $2300. The founders originally planned to sell 1 million units in the first year of listing, but the sales volume in half a year was only about 6,000 units.

Faced with a huge gap, investors began to lose confidence, and Magic Leap's valuation shrank sharply from $6.4 billion in 2019 to $450 million in September 2020, a drop of more than 90%.

Alibaba not only recorded huge investment losses, but also paid a considerable opportunity cost.

Based on the above experience, this also shows that Ali and Tencent are not smooth to win the meta-universe plate. The way to let the big factory "buy" the meta-universe ticket is marked with a question mark. They began to turn inward, searching for the nugget route of the metaverse on their own.

At the 2021 Yunqi Conference at the end of October, Ali announced the establishment of the XR Laboratory, mainly for AR and VR-related technology research, which will become a bridgehead for Ali to enter the meta-universe.

Tan Ping, head of the XR Lab, gave a speech around the metacosm. He said that in the future, if it comes to the VR and AR era, it is likely that each of us will have a virtual double, through the virtual double, we can communicate face-to-face in the virtual world, in such a setting, it is very likely that social, e-commerce, many applications will change.

Judging from this description, Ali's vision is consistent with the concept of the founder of Nreal above, and the future virtual e-commerce application scenarios need a carrier, and Nreal has undoubtedly become one of the keys for Ali to open the metaverse.

In addition, for Ali, committed to the construction of the meta-universe is also one of the auxiliary means to serve its e-commerce business, and adding AR glasses is also a new variable for Ali e-commerce.

At present, all of Ali's industrial layouts are centered around Ali e-commerce. Whether it is investing in film and television, video, or Weibo, in the final analysis, it is still to "drain" the e-commerce platform. Overseas, in addition to investing in e-commerce platforms, Ali has also invested in distribution service providers, application search engines, e-commerce service providers, etc., which are also around e-commerce, and the idea is extremely clear.

With the addition of nreal, this can play a huge role in Ali e-commerce, such as Tmall holographic stores, virtual home improvement, etc.

From Nreal's point of view, how to achieve from 1 to 100 is still an important challenge. Lack of resources, channels, it is actually difficult to really grow on its own, and even if there is, it will take longer. If NREAL wants to rely on AR to build the core platform of the metaverse, it means that it needs to invest billions of dollars or more every year, and it needs to continue to invest for 10 to 20 years.

Then, after obtaining Ali's investment, at least more traffic help can be obtained. Taking Byte's acquisition of domestic head VR manufacturer Pico as an example, with the support of ByteDance traffic, Pico's new products have obtained a large number of promotion resources on platforms such as Douyin, Volcano Small Video, and Today's Headlines, and during the Spring Festival, many stars rushed to Douyin hot search with terms such as "2022 Treasure New Year Goods" and "Play VR Selection Pico", gaining nearly 1 billion plays.

In this logic, Ali's investment in Nreal is actually a "win-win".