Chinese AI glasses maker Rokid (若琪) reportedly planning Hong Kong IPO

IPO plans

It has been reported that Rokid (若琪), the Hangzhou-based maker of AI-powered smart glasses, is preparing to file for a Hong Kong initial public offering as early as the end of April, according to people familiar with the matter. The company did not respond to requests for comment, and details such as target valuation and timing remain unconfirmed. Why now? Investors and founders see a fast-growing wearable-AI market and want capital to scale hardware and software development.

Market context

The planned listing comes amid a broader global and domestic push into smart eyewear. Tech majors including Meta Platforms and Apple are already active, and in China firms such as Alibaba Group Holding (阿里巴巴集团) via its Quark brand, Baidu (百度), Xiaomi (小米) and Huawei Technologies (华为技术) are moving quickly to capture market share. Start-ups are crowded in too — Xreal filed for a Hong Kong IPO last week, and other smaller players like RayNeo, a sub-brand of TCL (TCL集团), and INMO are competing for attention and capital.

Products and pedigree

Rokid, co-founded in 2014 by CEO Misa Zhu Mingming, builds both industrial and consumer AR glasses and AI eyewear that pack dual-eye monochrome displays, cameras, audio and on-device features such as real‑time translation, conversational AI, navigation and eye-scanning payments. The company’s founder has a background at Alibaba and at UC Berkeley, lending both China-internal tech pedigree and international R&D credibility. Its product mix aims to straddle enterprise use-cases and mainstream consumer appeal — a challenging tightrope in hardware.

Geopolitics and risks

Any Hong Kong listing would come with geopolitical overhangs. Supply-chain frictions, export controls on advanced chips and increased US-China tech tensions can affect component availability and investor appetite. It has been reported that several Chinese hardware start-ups are accelerating filings to tap liquidity before market windows narrow; whether public markets will reward hardware-heavy AR firms remains uncertain. For Western investors less familiar with China’s tech ecosystem, IPOs in Hong Kong offer a direct route into companies operating at the intersection of AI, AR and mobile payments — but also exposure to regulatory and geopolitical risk.