Wu Dezhou, originally from Ningde, Fujian, embodies the resilience often associated with the province’s entrepreneurial culture. Over the past decade, he has moved from leading Huawei’s Honor product line to serving as vice president of hardware R&D at Smartisan, and later as president of Newstone Lab at ByteDance. But through each professional chapter, the idea of launching his own venture never left him.
In 2022, Wu left ByteDance to start ARknovv, a company developing smart glasses. The move placed him among a growing group of Chinese entrepreneurs, among them longtime collaborator Luo Yonghao, chasing what many believe could be the next frontier in consumer tech.
Wu is perhaps best known for his time at Smartisan, a brand that hasn’t released a phone in nearly five years but still garners nostalgic comments on his Weibo posts. That experience, he said, helped shape his entrepreneurial instincts. At Smartisan, he learned how to build products with limited capital, manage investor expectations, and balance idealism with pragmatism.
When Wu sat down for this interview with 36Kr, he was dressed in a simple blue cycling shirt. He recently picked up cycling to better understand his user base and now rides daily. The habit has not only slimmed his figure, but also inspired a fitness trend among his company’s product team.
More than a pastime, cycling is the main use case for BleeqUp, ARknovv’s newly launched sub-brand.
Unlike companies like RayNeo, Sharge, or Rokid that are building smart glasses for general use, BleeqUp focuses on vertical integration in sports. Its first product, the BleeqUp Ranger, is an artificial intelligence-powered pair of sport glasses designed for outdoor activities like cycling and hiking. It’s set to launch overseas at the end of June.
From afar, the BleeqUp Ranger looks like a typical pair of cycling sunglasses. But several design choices distinguish it:
- The camera is mounted in the center, allowing for optimal recording angles, unlike side-mounted lenses common in competing products.
- It uses physical buttons for capturing photos and videos, avoiding gesture controls that can falter during high-speed movement.
- It features double the usual number of speakers to ensure audio clarity, even at speed.
- It automatically records video during sudden braking or collisions to help with incident analysis.
Meta is reportedly working with Oakley on a similar sports eyewear product for release next year. While both are targeting comparable scenarios, BleeqUp’s product will hit the market first.
Wu is clear about what gives startups a fighting chance. General-purpose AI glasses, he argues, operate too close to smartphone territory—an area dominated by companies with vast resources, years of imaging R&D, and tight control over mobile ecosystems. That’s not a fight startups can win.
In Wu’s view, AI glasses will eventually evolve into personal digital assistants. But without full integration with smartphones—for tasks like booking flights, ordering food, or taking voice notes—the experience will likely fall short.
Phone makers haven’t fully entered the space yet, but Wu is certain that when the time is right, they will dominate. “Whether they enter six months earlier or later doesn’t matter,” he said. “When this market matures, it will be a full-stack competition. And on that front, phone companies have a crushing structural advantage.”
That’s why ARknovv is focusing on vertical markets.
To illustrate, Wu points to Garmin, which has held its ground in the sports watch market despite competing offerings introduced by Apple and Huawei. Garmin’s strength lies in building deeply specialized products for elite athletes, be it divers, trail runners, or climbers. Where mass market players prioritize sleekness and general appeal, Garmin packs in functional details like waterproofing, decompression algorithms, and emergency flashlights. That, Wu said, is the model ARknovv wants to follow: to make BleeqUp the Garmin of AI glasses.
Analysts expect 2025 to be a pivotal year for AI glasses, with nearly 100 brands joining the fray. These include hardware giants like Xiaomi, Samsung, and Lenovo; tech firms like ByteDance and Baidu’s Xiaodu; and startups such as RayNeo and Lawaken.
But Wu believes that first-mover advantage and hardware experience aren’t enough. What matters most, he said, is choosing the right niche, understanding the user deeply, and refining the product with precision.
“All of our product decisions—features, specs, everything—are made with the athlete in mind,” he said. “As we iterate, we’ll learn more and more about users. The better we get at serving them, the more likely it is that we’ll win their loyalty. That will be our moat.”
KrASIA Connection features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This article was written by Wang Fangyu for 36Kr.