Xiaomi is in an increasingly bitter spat with LeTV following "damaging" accusations over its smart TV product line. (Photo : Reuters)
Xiaomi co-founder and president Bin Lin announced Monday that the company has raised $1.1 billion in new funding and is poised to reveal their new smartphone early next year.
The new investment ups the value of the privately-owned Xiaomi at $45 billion, making it the most valuable startup of the year next to Uber, whose latest round of funding earned it a valuation of $40 billion, according to Wired Magazine. The company's market value is now also triple that of its nearest competitor, Lenovo Group.
The investors in the most recent round of funding include GIC Pte, Hopu Fund, Yunfeng Capital, and All-Stars Investment Ltd, Lin said a Facebook post.
"This is an affirmation of Xiaomi's stellar results in four years, and heralds a new phase for the company. We will strive to continue bringing innovation to everyone, with a goal of producing high-quality, high-performance devices with great user experience." Lin added.
In addition, Lin said that Xiaomi is set to reveal a new flagship in January. The new smartphone, which will succeed the Mi4 and is most likely to be called the Mi5, is rumored to have a bezel-less display, an octa-core CPU, and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 chipset. It is scheduled for launch during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2015 in Las Vegas.
Starting as a local smartphone maker in Beijing in 2010, Xiaomi quickly expanded to world markets. The company sold nearly 19 million smartphones last year and is expected to reach 40 million by the end of this year.
In October, a report by the International Data Corporation (IDC) pegged Xiaomi as the world's third-biggest smartphone manufacturer, following Apple and Samsung.
