When Xiaomi is dying for expansion

Never mind smartphones – Chinese tech giant Xiaomi is now eyeing anything and everything as it broadens its investment portfolio.

With the mobile handset market increasingly crowded globally, and offering diminishing returns, a new Xiaomi expansion strategy has been created: moving into new markets which offer growth potential.

Co-founder Liu De has told Wired magazine he plans to extend the company’s business model of investing in companies and giving them access to its designers, marketing might and supply chain, to branch into other industries and different products. Xiaomi usually buys a 10 to 20 per cent stake in such companies, insisting on the rights to brand and market products made by these businesses.

“We’re using our entire platform to lift these companies to the next level,” De told Wired.

Four of the companies Xiaomi has invested in have already achieved market capitalisation greater than US$1 billion and the portfolio of companies have now collectively sold more than 50 million connected devices.

The star product is the Mi Air Purifier, one of the most popular models in China.

Xiaomi believes its investment approach will turn it into a so-called “Everything Company.”

“It’s a unique model that I haven’t seen before and that I think is only viable for a company that comes from China,” Hugo Barra, the company’s outgoing global VP, said.