Avatar Effect: Venture capital gold mining investment of 6 million yuan in 3D glasses

"Avatar" has just left, "Alice in Wonderland" relay. At a time when the global audience is paying attention to the content of the screen, Reald, the world's most famous 3D equipment manufacturer, formally applied for IPO to the US Securities Regulatory Commission on April 9, marking the 3D wave officially sweeping the industry.

Reald and other international 3D equipment giants, their first generation polarized 3D glasses manufacturers are mostly in the Pearl River Delta region, and the profits made by domestic lens manufacturers and assemblers are less than 10% of the terminal prices in Europe and the United States. Chinese people take advantage of the east wind of "Avatar" to interpret the connotation of ldquo; made in China & rdquo;.

at present, with the promotion of 3D TV, the second generation of shutter 3D glasses is becoming the mainstream of the market, and domestic manufacturers take advantage of the opportunity to upgrade their products & ldquo; to set up its own door & rdquo;,VC (venture capital) has a more sensitive sense of smell, one after another to spend a lot of money to seek the rich returns brought by the wave of 3D TV.

< strong > Chinese & ldquo; take screwdriver & rdquo; < / strong >

it has 50 or 60 workers with Hunan and Sichuan accents, several factories with continuous machine grinding and cutting sounds, as well as a temporarily rented general manager's office and sales department, which is all the belongings of a 3D lens processing factory around Shenzhen & ldquo; & rdquo;. Just looking at the appearance, you certainly wouldn't associate it with Cameron's 3D behemoth Avatar. But in fact, without such a factory, audiences in the United States and Europe may not be able to appreciate the three-dimensional magical Pandora.

data show that more than 70% of North American cinema chains that watch 3D movies such as "Avatar" use polarized 3D glasses. The biggest difference between these glasses and second-generation shutter 3D glasses is that they do not have built-in electronic devices. It mainly uses optical principles to create a three-dimensional sense, so the cost is not high and suitable for large-scale distribution. Precisely because of the low threshold for entry & ldquo; & rdquo;, some factories in the Pearl River Delta region of China have joined the ranks of & ldquo; gold panning & rdquo;. On April 13, the head of a 3D glasses manufacturing company in Shenzhen told this newspaper that the first generation of polarized 3D glasses used in the US market were almost all assembled in China and were worthy of the name-ldquo; made in China & rdquo;.

East China Color Film Company, located in Longgang, Shenzhen, is one of many lens processing enterprises, which is Taiwan-funded and has about 50 workers. It started polarizing 3D lens processing business in Shenzhen in 2008. Sales manager Zhou said on April 15 that all the raw materials for the lenses came from Taiwan. Before "Avatar", monthly & ldquo; shipments & rdquo; was about 100000. After "Avatar", factory shipments doubled, and about 200000 pairs were sold in March this year, all of which were sent to 3D glasses assemblers in the Pearl River Delta and Zhejiang. Assemblers get orders from foreign trade companies from foreign brands, ranging from 100000 to 1 million pairs, and then select lens processing enterprises and frame processing enterprises to cooperate. Jilong Printing Co., Ltd., located in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, is one of the customers of East China Color Film. Hong Dongtong, its general manager, mainly takes orders from a foreign trade company in Shanghai to operate polarized 3D glasses. He said that in the first generation of 3D polarized glasses industry chain, Chinese manufacturers are at the lowest end of ldquo; & rdquo;, lens raw materials are also mainly imported. Polarized 3D lenses made by domestic manufacturers are mainly produced in Japan and Taiwan. & ldquo; Chinese people use screwdrivers. & rdquo;, the head of Shenzhen 3D glasses manufacturer, is more straightforward.

Hong Dongtong analyzed that 3D equipment giants such as Reald have monopolized the brands and marketing networks of the European and American 3D glasses market, and domestic assemblers and processors can only listen to their price cuts, making very small profits. The current price of mid-range polarized 3D glasses in North America is about $9, but in the end, Chinese assemblers sell for less than $1, or even less than the end price of the market.

< strong > VC gold panning < / strong >

& ldquo; made in China & rdquo; is all-pervasive, finding its way to the bottom of the value chain of polarized 3D glasses, but that is quietly changing after the hit of Avatar, and VC's investment managers first sensed the change.

A private investor in Guangdong who specializes in investing in the electronics industry told reporters that he had invested 6 million in a shutter 3D glasses manufacturer in early March this year.

& ldquo;, like movies, 3D TV is a big market. & rdquo; Shenzhen Eastar display Technology Company is one of many & ldquo; changed careers & rdquo;. Liu Meihong, its general manager, said that the company used to mainly produce LCD screens, and there were international shutter 3D glasses brands who came to the door to do OEM, but they were rejected by the company because he thought that the industry started at the same time at home and abroad, and domestic brands could also be created. Just at the beginning of this year, Eastar received an investment from Hong Kong's VC, which is very optimistic about the first generation of shutter 3D glasses and believes that the huge domestic and foreign 3D TV market will be a source of return.

according to industry experts, from this year to 2015, the global 3D TV market sales will increase from 1.1 billion US dollars to 15.8 billion US dollars, and shipments will increase from 1.2 million to 15.6 million units. The current sales strategy of glasses manufacturers like Yishida is very simple: ldquo; is popular with tycoons & rdquo;, customizes shutter-style 3D glasses for 3D TV manufacturers such as Changhong Skyworth and other 3D TV manufacturers with 3D TV manufacturers' Logo printed on them and given to consumers when the TV is sold. The effect of this sales strategy is so impressive that 10,000 copies were sold in March alone.

at present, domestic sales of 3D televisions, both foreign and domestic, are in their infancy. According to March statistics, some manufacturers are more suspected of ldquo; show & rdquo;. In first-tier cities such as Beijing, the daily sales of some brands of 3D TVs are even in single digits due to high prices, which is too uncertain for glasses manufacturers. At the same time, international giants such as Reald have been the first generation of polarizer giants, but now they have quietly launched their efforts in the field of the new generation of shutter 3D glasses and began to cooperate with TV giants such as Sony, which has also posed a threat to domestic glasses manufacturers.

however, domestic shutter 3D glasses enterprises have their own solutions.

& ldquo;, like air conditioners and televisions, may launch lsquo; Universal & rsquo;3D glasses & rdquo; in the future. The reporter learned that at present, the codes of 3D TV manufacturers are different, so they can only use their own brands of glasses, and the market price is generally more than 2000 yuan. But in the future, there may be a large number of ldquo; universal & rdquo; glasses, which only need to modify a certain format, they will be compatible with most manufacturers of 3D TVs, and the price is lower than that of brands. This approximation-ldquo; knockoff & rdquo; compatible 3D glasses are not yet available, but VC investment managers have noticed that no matter who sells well, the glasses must be the most popular & ldquo; knockoff & rdquo; shutter 3D glasses.