Nothing has just announced a $50 million Series A co-led by GV (Google Ventures) and C Ventures, with participation from Tony Fadell’s Future Shape, EQT Ventures, and Gaorong Capital. Total funding is now $57 million. The round closed alongside a strategic partnership announcement with Qualcomm that gives Nothing early access to Snapdragon platform technology for upcoming products. Both pieces of news together are telling a specific story: Nothing is done being an earbuds company. It is becoming a smartphone company with the funding and chip access to make that real.

The Qualcomm partnership is the more interesting news of the two. GV money is significant, and the EQT involvement signals European institutional confidence. But early access to Snapdragon platform technology is the kind of relationship that you cannot buy with a press release. OnePlus had it at the critical moment of the OnePlus One launch in 2014, and it is a significant part of why that phone had the Snapdragon 801 at $299. Nothing having that relationship now, before its first phone has been announced, suggests that the phone is closer than Nothing has publicly indicated.

What GV’s involvement signals

Google Ventures investing in a hardware company building an Android phone is not a neutral act. GV has invested in companies across sectors without obligating Google to adopt their technology, so this is not an announcement that Nothing phones will have special Android features or Google integration. But it does mean Google is watching and is interested in what Nothing is building. For a startup trying to establish credibility in the premium Android market, that is worth considerably more than the dollar amount of the investment.

The phone question

Nothing has not announced a phone today. What it has announced is that it has $50 million, a Qualcomm relationship, and a venture partner whose primary business is Android. The read-between-the-lines for anyone who has been following this company since January is obvious. The ear (1) sold 100,000 units and proved the brand. The Series A and the Qualcomm deal are preparing the ground for the product Carl Pei actually left OnePlus to build. The phone announcement is coming. The question is when, and whether the community that has been building since the $1.5 million in 54 seconds moment is patient enough to wait for it.

Based on what we know today: $57 million raised, Qualcomm access, GV backing. Nothing is getting serious.

Part of Nothing Company: The Complete Story, my running diary of Nothing from founding to global expansion.