Carl Pei
Founder & CEO, Nothing; Angel Investor
Reviewed Updated Jun 10, 2026This profile is AI-generated. If you spot an error, please help us fix it by sharing a URL to the correct information.
Background
Carl Pei Yu (裴宇) was born on 11 September 1989 in Beijing, China. His family moved to the United States and then to Sweden, where he grew up; he holds Swedish citizenship 1. He enrolled at the Stockholm School of Economics in 2008 but left in 2011 to work in the Chinese smartphone industry full-time 1.
After a three-month internship at Nokia in 2010, Pei joined Meizu’s marketing team in 2011, then moved to Oppo in November 2012 as international markets manager, working under Pete Lau 1. In December 2013 he co-founded OnePlus with Lau in Shenzhen, leading design and marketing of OnePlus devices until October 2020 1. The OnePlus One sold close to a million units in 2014 against an initial sales target of 50,000 1.
Pei announced Nothing — a London-based consumer-electronics company — on 27 January 2021 1. Nothing has launched the ear (1) audio product (2021) and the Nothing Phone (1) (2022) 1, and raised a $15M Series A led by GV (Google Ventures), with $7M of earlier funding from angels including Tony Fadell, Kevin Lin, Steve Huffman and Casey Neistat 2. Pei runs his angel investing alongside his role as CEO of Nothing.
Stated Thesis
Pei has not published a formal angel investing thesis. His public commentary frames consumer hardware and the Asia–Europe corridor as his domains. On the Sifted Startup Europe podcast he stated: “If you’re serious about hardware, you should spend time in China” 3. In conversation with The Generalist he described creativity — “the ability to solve problems” — as a defining human capability 4. He has repeatedly framed India as a major growth market for consumer electronics in podcast and press appearances 5.
Risk-disclosure from his own community fundraise reflects how he talks to other angels and small backers: “Me and the team will give this our best shot, but please keep in mind that most startups fail. Only invest what you can afford to lose” 2.
Inferred Thesis
Sample size warning: Only 5 angel investments are independently verified across public databases 67. Percentages would be misleading at this scale, so the analysis below is qualitative.
Verified pattern across the 5 known checks:
- Consumer hardware and wearables — Oura (smart ring, 2020) 6 and Mendi (consumer neurofeedback headset) 8 are direct extensions of Pei’s operating expertise in consumer electronics.
- Consumer-facing software and creator economy — Stacked (creator platform, exited) 6, Steep (productivity/consumer software, 2022) 6, and Dance (e-bike subscription, 2023) 69 sit in adjacent consumer-experience categories.
- India D2C / commerce — Dukaan (e-commerce enabler for SMB merchants in India, 2021) 610 is the only verified India bet but is consistent with his repeated public framing of India as a priority market 5.
- Geography — split across Europe (Dance/Berlin, Mendi/Stockholm, Oura/Finland), the U.S./creator-economy companies (Stacked), and India (Dukaan). No verified investments in mainland China despite his deep operating experience there.
- Stage — mix of seed (Dukaan), early-growth (Stacked Series A, Oura Series B, Dance) and pre-seed (Steep). Reported check size of $5K–$50K with a $25K sweet spot 6 is small even by angel standards, consistent with strategic/signaling rather than financial returns being the primary motive.
- Co-investor pattern — verified syndicate partners include Ritesh Agarwal (OYO) on Dukaan 10 and Alex Asseily (Jawbone, Lilium) on Dance 9, both fellow operator-founders in consumer hardware/lifestyle.
Notable gap: only 5 deals are publicly verifiable; he may have additional undisclosed investments. The last verified deal is from September 2023, suggesting angel activity may have slowed as Nothing scaled.
Portfolio
| Company | Year | Stage | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oura | 2020 | Series B ($28M round) | 6 |
| Dukaan | 2021 | Seed / pre-Series A ($11M round, 2021-09-07) | 610 |
| Stacked | 2022 | Series A ($13M round); exited | 6 |
| Steep | 2022 | Pre-Seed (~$970K round, 2022-10) | 6 |
| Mendi | ~2022 | Angel/seed (date unverified) | 8 |
| Dance | 2023 | Venture round (2023-09-12) | 69 |
This table represents 6 publicly attributable investments. Signal by NFX lists 5 6; Mendi is independently confirmed via the company’s investor materials 8. Some aggregators may list additional undisclosed checks, but no other investments could be independently sourced as of this profile date.
In Their Own Words
“If you’re serious about hardware, you should spend time in China.”
— Carl Pei, Sifted Startup Europe podcast, November 27, 2025 3
“As humans, one of our superpowers is creativity. Both on an individual level, but also on a species level. And by creativity, I mean the ability to solve problems.”
— Carl Pei, The Generalist podcast, January 13, 2026 4
“When you want to build something new and different, the best way is to start off on a clean sheet and with a change of environment.”
— Carl Pei, on starting Nothing after leaving OnePlus, in TechCrunch, February 16, 2021 2
“We want our community to be part of our journey from the very start and play an active role in it.”
— Carl Pei, on Nothing’s community-investor round, TechCrunch, February 16, 2021 2
“Me and the team will give this our best shot, but please keep in mind that most startups fail. Only invest what you can afford to lose.”
— Carl Pei, to community investors in Nothing, TechCrunch, February 16, 2021 2
What Founders Say
No independently sourced founder testimonials about Carl Pei as an angel investor were found in this research pass. Public coverage of his portfolio companies (Dukaan, Dance, Oura, Stacked, Steep, Mendi) names him in investor lists but does not contain founders’ on-the-record commentary about working with him.
Sources
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“Carl Pei.” Wikipedia, accessed June 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Pei↩↩↩↩↩↩↩
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Romain Dillet, “Want to invest in Nothing? Carl Pei opens investment opportunity to community.” TechCrunch, February 16, 2021, accessed June 2026. https://techcrunch.com/2021/02/16/want-to-invest-in-nothing-carl-pei-opens-investment-opportunity-to-community/↩↩↩↩↩
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“Nothing founder Carl Pei: ‘If you’re serious about hardware, you should spend time in China.’” Startup Europe — The Sifted Podcast, November 27, 2025, accessed June 2026. https://podcast.sifted.eu/1877446/episodes/18250675-nothing-founder-carl-pei-if-you-re-serious-about-hardware-you-should-spend-time-in-china↩↩
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“Nothing’s Carl Pei on Building a $1B Smartphone Company, Why He Left OnePlus After 10 Days of Retirement, and Why He Thinks About Death Every Week.” The Generalist, January 13, 2026, accessed June 2026. https://www.generalist.com/p/nothings-carl-pei-on-building-a-1b-smartphone-company↩↩
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“Ep #23 | WTF are Consumer Electronics? | Nikhil ft. Carl Pei, Rahul Sharma & Amit Khatri.” WTF is with Nikhil Kamath podcast, April 26, 2025, accessed June 2026. https://podcasts.apple.com/in/podcast/ep-23-wtf-are-consumer-electronics-nikhil-ft-carl-pei/id1677107935?i=1000705019762↩↩
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“Carl Pei’s Investing Profile.” Signal by NFX, accessed June 2026. https://signal.nfx.com/investors/carl-pei↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩
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“Carl Pei — Portfolio & Founded Companies.” Tracxn, accessed June 2026. https://tracxn.com/d/people/carl-pei/__QxPKKauII2tyYLvWTdq_CJJ7iaa5-SMhY6jPAvx2FaM↩
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“Mendi — Company Profile.” CB Insights, accessed June 2026. https://www.cbinsights.com/company/mendi↩↩↩
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“Dance bags some groovy new investors and hits 10k members.” Tech.eu, September 12, 2023, accessed June 2026. https://tech.eu/2023/09/12/dance-bags-some-groovy-new-investors-and-hits-10k-members/↩↩↩
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“Dukaan raises $11 million from Ritesh Agarwal, Carl Pei among others.” TechStory, September 7, 2021, accessed June 2026. https://techstory.in/dukaan-raises-11-million/↩↩↩