Summary: CMF by Nothing and Optiemus Group are expanding their existing partnership to cover smartphone R&D in India. Optiemus will also invest in CMF’s upcoming Series A round, which will give CMF a majority Indian shareholding. The announcement comes a day after Carl Pei confirmed CMF is becoming an independent Indian company.
Just a day after Nothing CEO Carl Pei confirmed that CMF will become an independent Indian-owned company, the brand is already moving forward with it. Nothing co-founder Akis Evangelidis announced on X that CMF and Optiemus Group are expanding their partnership. Taking things beyond manufacturing and into research and development.
CMF and Optiemus Expand Deal to Cover Smartphone R&D in India
According to the post shared by Akis Evangelidis on X (@AkisEvangelidis), the two companies want to build India’s first end-to-end smartphone R&D capability. On top of the expanded partnership, Optiemus will also invest in CMF’s upcoming Series A funding round, and that investment is what will give CMF a majority Indian shareholding.
The size of the round and the timeline have not been shared yet. CMF and Optiemus already had a deal in place. Nothing first announced a $100 million manufacturing joint venture with the Indian company back in September 2025, with a plan to create around 1,800 jobs over 3 years.
CMF was then formally registered as CMF India Private Limited in December 2025. Yesterday, Carl Pei confirmed on X that Indian shareholders will hold a majority stake, while Nothing will stay on as a minority shareholder and partner.
Today’s announcement explains the how. The earlier deal covered making phones in India, but this expanded partnership now aims to handle the design and development side locally as well. If it plays out as planned, CMF would not just be assembled in India but also designed in the region too.
There is no word yet on when this will lead to actual products. CMF is not launching a new phone this year, as Evangelidis said in June that rising memory costs made a successor to the CMF Phone 2 Pro hard to build at a price that makes sense for the brand.
