Xiaomi’s Bigger Than BlackBerry

For such a small company, China’s Xiaomi punches well above its weight. The company didn’t sell its first smartphone until summer of 2011. Now, just two years later, it’s on track to sell about 15 million — and it has recently completed a round of funding that has spiked its valuation.

According to a Weibo post by Xiaomi founder Lei Jun, verified by a company representative, the smartphone maker’s latest funding round values it at $10 billion.

That’s more than double the $4 billion valuation attributed to Xiaomi last June after it raised $216 million — and nearly twice BlackBerry’s current value. An impressive showing for Xiaomi, which is currently the sixth-biggest smartphone vendor in China. Clearly, its strategy of selling high-spec smartphones at low-spec smartphone prices is paying off quite well.

Earlier this year, Xiaomi co-founder Bin Lin appeared onstage at D: Dive Into Mobile, discussing the company’s sell-at-cost strategy and its focus on services. Below, video of that session.