Xiaomi has come a long way since it took its first tentative steps as a Chinese tech startup in 2010. In the first few years of its existence, the company was mostly ridiculed by sections of the media for being a bit too inspired by Apple and its aesthetics, but as the company started maturing and becoming more important in the Chinese technology industry, it has slowly but surely been able to steer people away from talking about its similarities with Apple and start dialogues about the innovations it has brought about in the industry. Xiaomi is now far more than just a smartphone vendor, and has a wide array of products in its portfolio, including smart air-conditioners, smart lamps, smart routers, smart bikes, smart TVs, smart bulbs and a myriad other smart devices.
The company also recently announced the Android TV-based Xiaomi Mi box, which is expected to hit U.S. shores later this year, making it one of the first major Xiaomi products to launch in the country. Sadly for American Xiaomi fans though, there’s no word just as yet on when the company’s much talked-about smartphones like the Mi 5 and the Redmi Note 3 will be available in the country. The company has also partnered with UnionPay for an online payments service that it believes can rival current market leader Alipay, which is owned by the country’s largest internet company, Alibaba. With a series of achievements behind it already in its rather short history thus far, Xiaomi is now believed to be harboring ambitions of going public by 2025.
Speaking at a tech expo on Tuesday, Xiaomi’s affable and charismatic co-founder and CEO, Mr. Lei Jun, informed members of the press that it would take about 15 years from inception for the company to be ready to launch an IPO. Having been registered in 2010, that then means the company is looking at 2025 as the time by which to get listed on the stock market. In late 2014, the company was reportedly valued at a whopping $45 billion after raising over $1 billion from investment firms and venture capitalists based out of Russia, Singapore and the U.S. However, the company has experienced a downturn in its fortunes since then, after having failed to launch a flagship product for the whole of last year to replace its aging Mi 4 handset that was launched way back in 2014.