Xiaomi expands in India with $25 mn investment

The Dollar Business Bureau

China’s leading smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi on Tuesday announced it has taken a step forward in the Indian market with a $25-million (about Rs.165.4 crore) investment funding in the entertainment business, Hungama Digital Media Entertainment.

The company, however, hasn’t disclosed the percentage of stake and the timeline of this integration.

“Xiaomi leading a $25 million round into Indian VoD & entertainment company Hungama, with Intel Capital and Bessemer, our first deal in India!” Hugo Barra, Xiaomi’s Global Vice President, said in a tweet.

This is also Xiaomi’s first investment in an Indian company. The company said it was open to more such opportunities to expand its base in India’s vast smartphone market.

The collaboration with Hungama will enable the world’s no. 5 smartphone vendor (in terms of global shipments, only after Samsung, Apple, Huawei and Lenovo) to enhance its content and services portfolio in India. It plans to do that by introducing localised Internet services on its smartphones. This was revealed by the Beijing-headquartered company to the media.

"Our Video on Demand (VoD) service in China has 100 million installs and 30 million daily active users. 4G has played a major role in this. India is now on the verge of witnessing a similar data explosion, and we wanted to ensure that we have a big play in this segment," Barra said, adding that Xiaomi will partner for video on demand (VoD) service in India and integrate it into the company’s platform.

Xiaomi entered the Indian market in July 2014 and began with local manufacturing of its smartphones a year later. Presently, over 75% of the company’s smartphones sold in India are manufactured in India.