Xiaomi’s smart wearable partner Huami files for $150 million US IPO

Huami Corporation, the smart wearable device partner of Xiaomi, has filed with the United States SEC for a $150 million IPO. The company applies for the listing of its ADSs on Nasdaq Global Market under the ticker symbol “HMI”. No pricing terms were disclosed.

Founded in 2013, the Hefei-based startup is the sole partner of Xiaomi for design and manufacture of Xiaomi wearable products such as smart bands, watches (excluding children watches and quartz watches), scales and associated accessories.

As a prominent part of Xiaomi’s smart hardware ecosystem, Huami has surged to a world’s top smart wearable maker thanks to its low-cost strategy and the Xiaomi brand. The firm has shipped 11.6 million devices in the first nine months of 2017, taking the world’s top spot in terms of units shipped. As of September 30, 2017, it has registered 49.6 million users, according to data revealed in the prospectus. The firm is looking into data mining and AI as the new directions to maintain its sustainable development, Company CEO Huang Wang said at TechCrunch Shenzhen.

Xiaomi, the only customer and distributor of its wearables, currently holds 19.3% of Huami’s total outstanding shares. The firm has entered into a strategic cooperation agreement with Xiaomi, which grants the most-preferred-partner status globally to develop future Xiaomi Wearable Products. This strategic cooperation agreement will expire in October 2020.

The five-year old startup received funding from Xiaomi and Shunwei, the venture capital fund co-founded by Xiaomi CEO. In 2014, it has secured another US$35 million in Series B funding led by Banyan Capital. Rumors surround Huami’s new fundings started to pile up early 2017.

While the IPO filing of Huami was handled in a rather low profile, the IPO plans of its parent company Xiaomi rides on high expectations of the market. Sources close to Xiaomi’s senior executives are claiming that Xiaomi has decided to set its IPO for the second part of 2018 at a market of valuation of $200 billion.