In late September, Snap, the company best known for ephemeral photo-sharing app Snapchat, announced its first hardware product: a pair of glasses with an embedded camera called Spectacles. Although the company released a promotional video and announced a $130 price tag, the actual release date was kept under wraps.
Well, the wait is over.
The initial Spectacles rollout has begun, with the company selling the glasses from custom-built vending machines dubbed Snapbots; one popped up in Venice Beach yesterday, just down the street from Snap’s headquarters. Snapbots will reportedly stay in the same location for only 24 hours, mirroring Snapchat’s fleeting nature.
Launched in 2011, Snap has raised north of $2.5 billion in funding from a long list of investors including Benchmark Capital, SV Angel, Spark Capital, Sequoia and Lightspeed Venture Partners. The company most recently secured a $1.8 billion round in May at a $17.8 billion valuation. Snap is also rumored to be prepping for a much-anticipated IPO sometime in 1Q 2017.
Check out our previous Snap coverage or take a look at the company’s public profile.
Article by PitchBook
