Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi valued at US$45b

Hong Kong

XIAOMI, the fast-rising Chinese smartphone maker, has mustered a new US$1.1 billion war chest in its latest round of fund-raising, the company's founder and chief executive said this week.

The round valued Xiaomi at US$45 billion, founder Lei Jun said in a post on his verified account on Weibo, China's Twitter-like messaging service. At that level, Xiaomi, which last summer claimed the No 1 position in China's smartphone market - the world's largest - is now worth much more than household technology company names like Sony or Nokia, and nearly as much as Yahoo's current market value.