Reborn multinational giant

“It’s been more than half a year since Xiaomi was founded last year. Everyone knows that I didn’t want Xiaomi to raise Series A too early. I didn’t want capital to intervene prematurely. At the same time, I hope that everyone’s entrepreneurial achievements can be achieved. With a reasonable return, Xiaomi can get a reasonable valuation." Mr. Lei ignored the eyes of everyone looking at Fang Zhe, but gave an explanation.

"However, now that we have released MIUI, we have taken an important step away from making mobile phones. In the future, we still have to face many difficulties and challenges. Making mobile phones is not more than a mobile operating system. MIUI only requires our own research and development. The team can do it.

But for mobile phones, in addition to our own R&D team, design team, and sales team, we also need more external suppliers and partners. In order to ensure that we can establish good cooperative relations with more suppliers and partners as soon as possible, so I decided to complete this round A financing as soon as possible!Mr. Lei explained to the entrepreneurial veterans present, why he wanted to raise a round of financing.

The entrepreneurial veterans here also understand the meaning behind Mr. Lei’s words. Although Xiaomi’s entrepreneurial team is luxurious, from the past time Xiaomi’s contacts with various mobile phone component suppliers, these suppliers are not very willing. In cooperation with Xiaomi, we can count the major domestic mobile phone manufacturers, whether it is Huawei ZTE Coolpad Lenovo, Meizu Changhong or even those fake mobile phone manufacturers in the south, they are much stronger than current Xiaomi in terms of scale and strength.

In other words, Xiaomi's current strength is not enough to see, and even some suppliers may feel that the output of tens of thousands of units that Xiaomi needs is not worth modifying the parts mold or production line.

Therefore, President Lei and Xiaomi now urgently need a company with sufficient strength to endorse Xiaomi, and Huizhong and Fang Zhe, who are very closely related to Xiaomi and President Lei, have become the best candidates. Huizhong is a BATH domestic One of the four major Internet companies, its ability to make money is obvious to all, so suppliers are worried about defaulting on payment and the like, and there is enough guarantee.

When Fang Zhe remembered his previous life, Xiaomi also faced the current difficulties. Therefore, at that time, Xiaomi completed the A round of financing by introducing Morningside Capital and other powerful domestic investment funds, and also used the method of pre-booking and production later. Ensure that the required output can be grasped in advance to prevent the danger of excessive production and overstocking. Later, after Xiaomi tasted the sweetness of this method, it has been using this method to sell mobile phones, and it has explored the sales model of hunger marketing. .

On April 25, Xiaomi announced the news of a round of financing of 40 million US dollars in a low-key manner. Investors included Huizhong, Shunwei Capital and Morningside Capital. While the outside world was in an uproar, they also speculated about Xiaomi’s estimate of this round of financing. According to the previous financing practices of startups, the A round of financing generally accounts for about 10%-20% of the shares. That is to say, Xiaomi's current valuation is at least about 200 million US dollars!

This valuation is too high, right?The entire domestic investment circle, the Internet industry and many colleagues in the mobile phone industry feel that Xiaomi’s valuation is a bit high.

You know that Xiaomi has only been founded for less than half a year, and there is no profit. The only product that can be obtained is a smartphone operating system MIUI that has just been born less than half a month ago. MIUI alone is valued at 200 million. The US dollar, which makes many people feel a little unbelievable, and even many people feel that the news that Xiaomi released a round of financing of 40 million US dollars is false news!

Financing fraud is also something that happens from time to time in many domestic startups. In order to increase visibility, gain eyeballs, or attract more investment, sometimes they dare to make 5 million when they get 1 million investment. If you get 10 million investment, you dare to boast 100 million. Anyway, how much money the company has raised is only known by the company’s management and investors. It’s hard for outsiders to prove it, but think of Mr. Lei. Most of the people believe that it is impossible to do such a thing in their identities.

Let’s not talk about Mr. Lei’s character and identity. One of the investors, Morningside Capital, is an established venture capital institution in China. Since its establishment in 1992, it has invested in many well-known companies such as Sohu, Ctrip, and Phoenix. Capital is regarded as one of the top investment institutions in the domestic investment circle. It is absolutely impossible for Xiaomi to do anything to damage its reputation alone.

Huizhong, another heavyweight investor, although a rookie in the domestic Internet industry, has great potential for rapid development. It is now one of the four largest domestic Internet companies in BATH. According to Huizhong’s past investment in JD or YY, Huizhong The investment of tens of millions of dollars is not a big deal.

The last one is Shunwei Capital. Many outsiders and the media feel unfamiliar. How can such a silent investment fund be able to invest in Xiaomi alongside Huizhong and Morningside Capital in the A round?

Fortunately, although there are few news about Shunwei Capital on the Internet, many people in the investment circle know the inside story. Shunwei Capital has not been established for a long time, only about one month. It is just that its two founders, one positive It is Mr. Lei, the founder of Xiaomi, and the other is Xu Dalai, a well-known investment broker in the investment circle. Therefore, everyone understands that this fund is an investment fund run by Mr. Lei himself. Fangzong’s domestic crowd-winning capital is not much different.

After some discussion and verification, the industry believes that the news of Xiaomi’s US$40 million in Series A financing does not appear to be false, which means that Xiaomi’s current valuation is really as high as US$200 million.

What is the concept of 200 million US dollars? According to the current exchange rate, it is about 1.4 billion yuan. There are not a few companies with this valuation in China, but Internet startups that achieve this valuation in the A round of financing are counted in one hand. When Tencent went public in 2004, its market value was only 600 million U.S. dollars. From 2007 to now, YY has hundreds of millions of users, and its valuation has just exceeded 200 million U.S. dollars!

Crazy, Huizhong and Morningside Capital, who invested in Xiaomi, must be crazy. The young boss of Huizhong must be a fool and have nowhere to spend more money!

Many people have this feeling in their hearts after knowing that Xiaomi’s valuation is as high as 200 million US dollars. Even some savvy entrepreneurs have also started to make mobile phones and smart phone operating systems. Like a bloodthirsty vulture, wherever the capital boom is, it doesn't matter whether it can be made into a mobile phone, the boss of Huizhong has a lot of stupid money, and he can cheat money out of it.