China smartphone maker Xiaomi confirms $216m round of funding

PanARMENIAN.Net - Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has been speculated to be close to completing funding, and now the company’s CEO has revealed that it has just closed a new round worth $216 million, its third to date, The Next Web reports.

Speaking to Sina Tech, Xiaomi founder and CEO Lei Jun disclosed that the deal was completed over the weekend, however he neglected to reveal precise details of the firm’s latest backers and the valuation that the series C funding was raised at.

Recent reports from China speculated that the, then-unannounced fund, could see the smartphone maker valued at $4 billion, and it remains to be seen if the company is worth that amount – which was considered excessive by many.

The company was valued at $1 billion December when it secured $90 million in a series B round led by Morningside Ventures, IDG, Temasek and others. The same investors led its $41 million series A investment in 2010.

Xiaomi has been public about its need to raise more money, as it remains focused on building its devices - which retail at $320 - and traction within the Chinese marketplace.

“We are not looking to make any money, or to make Xiaomi profitable, for the next two or three years,” Xiaomi president Bin Lin told Bloomberg in February. “We will be able to look at profitability from software and services after we have the user base.”

Nonetheless, the firm revealed in May that it was already seeing impressive revenues of $158 million each month, and is shipping half a million handsets each month, showing that there is much potential for low- and mid-range devices in China.