Alibaba founder Jack Ma is interested
Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi has raised the 800 million euro in a fundraising round, which values the company at 45 billion dollars (37 billion euro). According to The Wall Street Journal, Russian technology fund DST Global and Chinese Yunfeng Capital (belonging to Alibaba founder, Jack Ma), among others, have participated in the fundraising round.
Xiaomi sold 17.3 million smartphones in the past quarter, while it ‘only’ managed 5.6 million in the same quarter last year. That is a 300 % increase, which has made it the world’s third largest manufacturer. Analysts expect the company to have a 2014 turnover of nearly 10 billion euro.
In China, Xiaomi already sells more smartphones than Apple and Samsung combined, which is a huge accomplishment for a company that has only been around for 4 years. It is a firm warning for the world’s number one and two in the smartphone market.
