OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei’s next venture is an audio hardware company

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Raises $7 million in seed funding from notable personalities

Carl Pei
(Image credit: OnePlus)

Carl Pei, who was the face of OnePlus in the initial years, announced his departure from the smartphone company in October. Post a break, he has finally broken silence on what he will be doing next. Now 31, he is looking to get into the audio space.

Pei founded OnePlus in 2013 along with Pete Lau, who was his colleague at Oppo before that. He was well-known for his candid keynotes and strong claims about products being launched. After successfully disrupting the smartphone market, he quit the company but did mention that he will continue to be a part of the tech space. Fast forward to today, he announced his next steps in an interview with Wired — It will be audio-related, and more information around the products and launches will be announced in early 2021.

The new company, whose name has not been disclosed yet, already has a star-studded roster of private investors such as Tony Fadell (principal at Future Shape, and inventor of the iPod), Casey Neistat (popular 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). Together, they have invested $7 million in the venture. 

The funds will be used to set up a head office in London, hiring team members, and finance product research and development. He did follow up saying that they are looking to hire for multiple positions. A closer looks at the openings do not really reveal any further details about what the company will be dealing with. There seems to be a second office in Bangalore, too, with roles such as PR, HR, design and marketing. 

“I am deeply grateful and tremendously excited to have friends of this calibre supporting us in building what’s next. We plan on moving aggressively against our vision, and can’t wait to see how the market will react”, said Carl Pei at the announcement. It seems like we will have to wait till next year to know exactly what he is getting into.

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Aakash Jhaveri
Aakash Jhaveri

Aakash is the engine that keeps TechRadar India running, using his experience and ideas to help consumers get to the right products via reviews, buying guides and explainers. Apart from phones, computers and cameras, he is obsessed with electric vehicles.