Xiaomi is moving very quickly these days. Only recently was the company accredited with being the world’s third largest smartphone maker and second to only Samsung and Apple. This is quite some feat when you remember Xiaomi only began in 2010 as an android software company. In spite of its humble beginnings and in a little over four years Xiaomi have become an extremely big company. A lot of their success is due to their approach of offering decent spec handsets at a very reasonable price. A prime example of this is the Xiaomi Mi 4 which is currently priced in China at under $330. Which is almost a third of the cost compared to Samsung’s recently announced Galaxy Note Edge or Apple’s iPhone 6. Another big winner for the company has been the Xiaomi Redmi devices which are extremely popular in India with a price tag of just over $100. With prices like this it is not surprising they are moving serious numbers of handsets and in the third quarter managed to shift 17.3 million units worldwide which cemented their position as the third largest worldwide manufacturer.
With such growth comes bigger aspirations and the latest news coming in is that Xiaomi are in talks for funding which could see the company’s value increase to between $40 and $50 billion. This is not the first time Xiaomi have sought funding in this way. Back in 2013 the company secured $10 billion in funding and although that was only a year ago that was before the almost unimaginable success they have had or the dizzy heights of third biggest manufacturer. With those kinda accreditations it does seem likely the company will be able to secure the second round of funding. A report by Bloomberg notes that the current rumored funding talks been confirmed by sources closed to the deal although they also note the sources did not want to be identified.
If Xiaomi is successful and does reach such an evaluation, then this will see them also pass more well-known Asian electronics makers in terms of value. For instance, Sony who is valued at $21 billion and Lenovo (the recently acquirers of Motorola) who are reportedly valued at $16 billion. If you are wondering what Xiaomi plan to do with all that cash then the short answer is grow more internationally. The company is not so well known outside of their immediate markets and only in April advised that they plan to launch in ten new markets including India, Brazil and Russia. So what do you think about Xiaomi having such an evaluation? Does it seem strange for a company to be worth so much or accredited with third largest manufacturer and yet are relatively unknown in Western markets? Whatever your thoughts let us know.