Chinese tech giant Xiaomi has reportedly been in talks with investors and banks to be able to raise more or less $1.5 billion for financing. According to Jiemian of the Shanghai United Media Group, it will be the "largest investment (excluding IPO) raised by any Chinese company backed by venture capital."
"Xiaomi shipped 18 million smartphones in the third quarter, an increase of 18 percent from the previous quarter. For the first nine months, Xiaomi, whose name means "millet" in Chinese, shipped a total of 44 million units," Xiaomi founder and CEO Lei Jun said. It is most likely that they will hit or even surpass their target of shipping 60 million units by the end of the year, as they continue to gain followers and expand their market outside China.
Moreover, South China Morning Post reported that 4-year old Xiaomi, already valued at $50 billion will tap the IPO market in 2015. Investors are now eyeing the company as a probable candidate in becoming the "Chinese IT Legend" next to Alibaba. According to Jiemian website, one potential investor of Xiaomi is DST Global, an investment firm based in London, which focuses on internet companies.
According to IDC, Xiaomi has 5.3 % share of the market which is still behind Apple's 12% and Samsung's 23.8% share. However, in terms of smartphone shipments, it garnered a total of 211% from last year, "making it the fastest growing among the top vendors." Xiaomi has now removed Apple and Samsung as the "number 1 maker by volume" in its very own country.
Xiaomi was founded by Lei Jun and his friends in Beijing's technology hub Zhongguancun, also known as "China's Silicon Valley," back in April 2010. It started as a ROM maker and has only been operating for four years, but the overwhelming reception by consumers of their devices such as Mi3, Redmi 1S, Redmi Note, and their latest flagship smartphone Mi4, made them the world's 3rd top smartphone manufacturer this 3rd quarter of 2014, as reported by IDC and Strategy Analytics.
