Some connected products, notably marketed by Dreame, Roborock or Roidmi, can be controlled through the Mi Home application, in other words Xiaomi’s app. Why ? What is the nature of this relationship? Explanations.
On Digital, we cover Xiaomi products in almost all categories. And this is only the tip of the iceberg, since the Chinese firm is hiding behind dozens of other brands and manufacturers. Indeed, Xiaomi is an ecosystem with sprawling ramifications.
Xiaomi, limitless incubator
This is also where his strategy takes shape. If the group founded in 2010 by Lei Jun initially focused on smartphones, it quickly wanted to be a pioneer in connected objects. In 2013, Xiaomi therefore invested in more than 100 start-ups in the sector. This is why we find brands such as Roborock, Dreame, Roidmi, Aqara or Yeelight within the Mi Home application. Their devices can thus be controlled from a single application, which facilitates their use and interactions. This umbrella also explains, to a certain extent, the similarities that we can establish between these different products.
And Xiaomi, which always aims higher, does not hesitate to multiply partnerships. Today, the monumental ecosystem consists of 310 companies and 2000 products designed and manufactured by them.
The ecosystem as an economic strategy
The group, considered a business incubator, invests in start-ups that it considers promising without obeying a predefined financial model. Concretely, Xiaomi is a shareholder of these companies at different levels: the quantity of shares held by the group varies according to the start-ups, no threshold being fixed.
Sometimes these young companies even adopt the Xiaomi emblem, until they are strong enough. Once mature, they stand on their own as an autonomous entity, under a name of their own.
In short, it’s case by case.
Anyway, this ecosystem is a formidable financial lever for the Chinese giant. It has indeed achieved a turnover of more than 10.5 billion euros (or 73.3 billion yuan) in the first quarter of 2022. And this result could well increase. Indeed, the Beijing-based group has recently invested in the so-called smart electric vehicle sector, through its subsidiary Xiaomi EV. A promising new sector that has already brought in nearly 407.7 million euros (2.9 billion yuan), for an investment of more than 61 million euros (425 million yuan).