Chinese smartphone company Xiaomi valued at $10bn

Xiaomi, the three-year-old smartphone maker that overtook Apple's iPhone in China, has a valuation of $10 billion after completing its latest round of funding, according to a board member.

Hans Tung, a director of Xiaomi, confirmed the valuation. Founder and chief executive Lei Jun confirmed the estimate for the closely held company.

Xiaomi said it had a valuation of $4 billion in June 2012. Since then it has announced plans to more than double handset sales to 15 million this year, struck a deal to supply devices to China Mobile and risen to sixth in the nation's smartphone market, one place ahead of Apple.

A $10 billion valuation on Xiaomi compares with a market value of $10 billion for Lenovo, the world's biggest maker of personal computers, and about $20 billion for Sony.
– (Bloomberg)