In December, OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei announced that he will be moving on to start a new venture on his own without sharing many more details. Today, the new company received seed investment from Kunal Shah, the founder of Cred.
Carl announced his departure from OnePlus in October, just around the global launch of the Nord. He spent the following months working on starting a new consumer electronics brand. While we still don’t know what it will be called or which products it will deal in, an extensive list of investors was shared. The roster included Tony Fadell (principal at Future Shape and inventor of the iPod), Casey Neistat (YouTuber), Kevin Lin (co-founder of Twitch), Steve Huffman (CEO of Reddit), Liam Casey (founder and CEO, PCH), Paddy Cosgrave (founder of Web Summit) and Josh Buckley (CEO of Product Hunt) – raising $7 million in seed funding.
What smart devices (excluding smartphones) do you own and how happy are you with them?(Asking for a friend 😉)January 10, 2021
As a part of its Series B funding, the company received an investment from Kunal Shah, which is the first from India. Shah is one of the most notable entrepreneurs in the country, having founded popular fintech companies such as Freecharge and Cred. He’s also an advisor to the board of Bennett Coleman & Co., the Chairman of the Internet and Mobile Association of Indian, and an advisor to Y-Combinator and Sequoia Capital India. He’s also an angel investor and mentor to Unacademy, RazorPay, Go-Jek, Innov8 and Zilingo, among others.
“Carl is working on a new consumer electronics company that I am sure will be a disruptor in the tech industry. I am excited to be part of this journey,” said Kunal Shah.
The new company will be unveiled on January 27. Earlier reports stated that it will deal in audio products and hardware, but Carl did not confirm that. To celebrate the launch, he is also hosting a big Apple MacBook Air (M1) giveaway on his Twitter.
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