Google Enters Smart Eyewear With $100 Million Investment in South Korea’s Gentle Monster

Google is betting on the smart glasses market. The technology giant has reached an agreement to invest 100 million dollars in Gentle Monster, the South Korean eyewear brand that has redefined optical design as an artistic experience. The deal, which will give Google a 4% stake in the company, is part of its strategy to position extended reality (XR) glasses as a fashion accessory rather than a technological device.

As advanced by the South Korean media Ked Global, the agreement is part of the development of a new model of smart glasses that Google will launch in 2026, jointly designed by Gentle Monster and Warby Parker, with Samsung responsible for the hardware part. The device will run on Android XR, the specific operating system for this new generation of visual wearables.

The investment represents a turnaround from the failed attempt of Google Glass in 2013, a product that failed due to its technical limitations, its high price and, above all, its design. Now, the Mountain View group intends for the technology to be frictionlessly integrated into its aesthetic language. "Smart glasses should be fashion objects that help the user forget they are wearing them," said Google CEO Sundar Pichai during the last I/O developer conference in May.

Gentle Monster, founded in 2011 by Kim Hankook, has turned its glasses into a generational symbol, with a brand universe that combines transgressive design, global celebrities such as singer Jennie or model Gigi Hadid and experiential points of sale in cities such as Seoul, Los Angeles or Shanghai. In 2024, the company posted sales of 789.1 billion won (around $571,3 billion), with an operating profit of more than 200 billion won, double that of the previous year. International sales already account for 38% of its turnover.

Google has acquired a 4% stake in the South Korean company Gentle Monster

Gentle Monster's current valuation, according to Ked Global, reaches 3.6 trillion won ($2.7 billion), tripling the valuation it obtained in 2020 when it became a unicorn. The alliance with Google reinforces its leap to a new stage: that of a global luxury technology brand.

With this move, Google joins the race to lead the new generation of smart glasses, in which Meta, in collaboration with Ray-Ban, Oakley and Prada; Apple, with its own design of glasses with integrated chips and Snap, which is preparing the launch of its Specs model for 2026, are also competing.