Mysterious Tech Imprint Nothing Announces Teenage Engineering as Founding Partner
Carl Pei’s curious new company is also opening up community investments.
Nothing, the extremely low-key tech imprint founded after OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei left his prior company, has mostly kept the lid tight on its ongoing projects, but it has finally broken silence to announce Teenage Engineering as one of its founding partners. Perhaps best known for the OP-1, its signature portable synthesizer, Teenage Engineering has been aiding Nothing in the construction of its debut products, which are set to be revealed “in the coming months.”
With co-signs from the likes of Alphabet’s venture capital branch, Twitch co-founder Kevin Lim and Reddit co-founder and CEO Steve Huffman, Nothing seems poised for success despite having shown, well, nothing publicly. Pei has teased that the brand will eventually produce “an ecosystem of smart devices” that will include products like wireless earphones and other non-audio devices.
Still, Stockholm-based Teenage Engineering’s expertise in the realm of high-end sound design should prove invaluable. “When Carl first told me about Nothing’s vision I remember being super excited thinking about how this would be translated into the design identity of the products,” said Jesper Kouthoofd, co-founder and CEO of Teenage Engineering, in a statement. “After months of research and development, we are now in a place where I believe we will have something exciting to show to the world.”
Kouthoofd has become Nothing’s founding partner and creative lead while Tom Howard is now Nothing’s head of design.
“I’m really excited to welcome Teenage Engineering to the growing Nothing family,” Pei continued. “They consist of some of the best designers and creatives that I’ve had the pleasure of working with. Together, we’ve created a product roadmap that’s unique and true to Nothing’s vision.”
We are happy to unveil teenage engineering as a founding partner of Nothing. Over the past months, their unique craftsmanship and thorough experience in industrial design have been instrumental in shaping Nothing’s design identity. pic.twitter.com/dukyXHl20J
— Nothing (@nothing) February 24, 2021
Nothing is also preparing to crowdfund amongst its community as part of its Series A funding round. 20,000 signees have already joined early access with a reported infusion of approximately $30 million USD before it even opens to the general public on March 2.
Visit Nothing’s website to subscribe to its newsletter and keep up with the understated company’s forthcoming ventures.
Nothing isn’t the only emerging tech brand to receive major attention; upstart app Clubhouse has drawn over eight million downloads before even properly launching.
