Glance
4 known investors
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Glance builds a personalization and real-time discovery platform for a new model of commerce, delivering shopping experiences across consumer device surfaces. It operates as part of the InMobi ecosystem and serves consumers and brands, with a stated go-to-market focus on the U.S. market.
Also known as Glance AI, Inc. · Glance Smart Lock Screen
Founders & leadership
Investors · 4
Also in the syndicate · 1
Funding
SEC filings, press & company announcements$145M disclosed across 1 of 4 rounds · 2020–2025
- $145MraisedDec 2020 · 2 sources
Google (lead)
Source ↗
Source: company announcements and press reports — follow each round's link for the claim.
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Glance (Glance AI, Inc.) operates a consumer discovery and commerce platform positioned around "agentic commerce." Its current product is described as an intelligent shopping agent that interprets a user's style and context, predicts trends and returns personalized product recommendations, with purchases completed through official brand stores. The experience is delivered across multiple surfaces — smartphone lock screens, mobile apps, connected TV and brand websites — and the company states the intelligence layer can reach users without requiring an app download.
The platform is built on three stated models: a Commerce Intelligence model, a GenAI Experience model and a User Understanding model, which together curate a shopping feed and adapt to user interactions over time. Earlier and continuing capability centers on the lock screen: Glance turns the Android lock screen into a content and discovery surface delivering personalized news, short video, AI-generated wallpapers and casual games (Glance Games) in the user's preferred language, including English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Bahasa Indonesia, without requiring the user to unlock the phone or install separate apps.
Glance is part of the InMobi Group and shares founders and senior executives with InMobi. Help documentation covers enabling and disabling Glance on Samsung and Motorola Android devices, reflecting distribution through device pre-installation.
Founding story
Glance was conceptualized in 2015 and launched in 2017 after iterations to establish product-market fit, emerging from the InMobi Group; startup profiles date its founding to 2019 and credit Naveen Tewari, Abhay Singhal, Mohit Saxena and Piyush Shah as founders. InMobi shaped its development across product, content and related domains.
Business model
Glance is a consumer-facing (B2C) platform distributed through device manufacturers and carriers, monetized through content, advertising and commerce on the lock screen and other device surfaces; it combines personalized content delivery with monetization strategies at the intersection of content and commerce within the InMobi ecosystem. Brands and partners engage through a business/demo track on the company site.
Advertising and commerce monetization on the lock screen and related surfaces, with shopping transactions routed to official brand stores.
Traction
Reported metrics include 8M+ monthly active users in the USA with a stated target of 30M+ by December 2026, 175M+ edge devices reached globally across lock screen, mobile, connected TV and brand websites in 2026, a 4.7 App Store rating, presence on over 400 million smartphones as reported in January 2025, and more than $600M in capital raised. Employee count is listed as 1,000+.
Latest developments
The company has repositioned around an intelligent shopping agent and agentic commerce, with U.S. distribution live on Verizon, Samsung, Motorola and DirecTV and pre-installation on Samsung and Motorola devices. Leadership additions listed include Kelli Lin (SVP Product), Meghan Kirsch (VP Global Enterprise Marketing, InMobi & Glance) and Aimee Zmugg (Head of North America). A partnership with Swiggy Instamart aimed at brand engagement and sales has also been reported.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history
Market position
Glance describes itself as pioneering agentic commerce, contrasting its agent-led discovery model with traditional search-and-scroll e-commerce. It is characterized in Indian startup press as a unicorn and a "screen zero" lock-screen platform under InMobi, India's first unicorn.
Ownership of the device lock screen and other pre-installed surfaces gives Glance distribution without requiring a user-initiated app download, combined with an AI agent that personalizes discovery and adapts through interaction rather than requiring manual search and comparison.
Technology
An AI-based intelligence layer composed of three integrated models — Commerce Intelligence, GenAI Experience and User Understanding — that power a curated shopping feed and a promptable, conversational shopping agent. Related consumer features include algorithmically curated lock-screen content and an AI Wallpaper capability that generates and adapts backgrounds to user preferences.
Go-to-market
Distribution is primarily through pre-installation and partnerships with device makers and operators: Glance is pre-installed on Samsung and Motorola devices and is live with Verizon, Samsung, Motorola and DirecTV in the United States. The app is also distributed via app stores, and the company markets a business/partnership track for brands.
Consumers on premium Android smartphones, connected TVs and brand websites — particularly shoppers seeking style and fashion recommendations — alongside brands and retail partners seeking reach and engagement.
Geography
Live across the United States, Japan, India and Southeast Asia with local head offices; the company reports 8M+ monthly active users in the USA and 175M+ edge devices reached globally, with premium Android distribution in the U.S. Company profiles list Bengaluru/Bangalore, Karnataka, India as headquarters.
History
The company's own timeline marks 2019 as the point the lock screen became a discovery surface reaching millions of users across devices; 2021 as deepening personalization that turned passive screens into commerce moments; and 2023 as global expansion into new markets, devices and surfaces. Its current phase centers on a single intelligent shopping agent and community-based shopping. Reporting in January 2025 described a presence on over 400 million smartphones and an AI Wallpaper feature.
Compiled by commissioned research from 8 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Founder mafia
4 people who came through Glance went on to found or lead other companies.
Competitors · 3
by search overlap
Companies competing with Glance for the same Google search keywords, organic and paid, via search-intersection analysis.
Timeline · 6
launches, deals, and filingsGlance is live on Verizon, Samsung, Motorola and DirecTV in the United States and pre-installed on Samsung and Motorola devices.
Glance partnered with Swiggy Instamart to support brand engagement and sales.
Glance's AI Wallpaper feature generates personalized, dynamically changing lock-screen backgrounds based on user preferences.
Glance expanded internationally, launching across new markets, devices and surfaces.
Deepened personalization turned passive lock screens into active commerce moments.
Glance turned the smartphone lock screen into a content discovery surface reaching millions of users across devices.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
In the news
▸Research sources · 8
primary sources listed
- Glanceglance.com · web
8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Glance do?
- Glance is an InMobi Group company operating an AI shopping agent and lock-screen discovery platform across phones, TVs and brand sites.
- Who founded Glance?
- Glance was founded by Naveen Tewari, Piyush Shah, Mohit Saxena, Abhay Singhal.
- Who are Glance's investors?
- Glance's investors include Mithril Capital Management, Yolo Investments, Stride Ventures.
- How much funding has Glance raised?
- Glance has disclosed $145M raised across 1 of its 4 known rounds.