Latest investment values Xiaomi at $45b

Xiaomi Corp will release a next-generation smart device, likely to be called MI 5, in January after raising US$1.1 billion in a latest round of funding, Chairman Lei Jun said yesterday.

With the new investment, privately owned Xiaomi is said to be valued at about US$45 billion, 200 times higher from its first round of financing in 2010. Xiaomi's market value was triple that of its closest competitor, Lenovo Group.

The investors in the latest round of funding included DST, GIC Pte and All-Stars Investment Ltd, Lei said in the company's Weibo account yesterday.

Lei said previously that Xiaomi would sell 100 million phones next year after expanding into India, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, although it faces a patent lawsuit in India raised by Sweden's Ericsson.

In China, Xiaomi's market share was 15 percent in the third quarter followed by Lenovo's 13 percent, according to US-based researcher International Data Corp.