Huami’s public listing comes at a time when Xiaomi itself is gearing up for an IPO. The multinational Chinese smartphone manufacturer is said to be in talks with leading financial institutions like Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and others. Incidentally, Huami is part-owned by Xiaomi itself, with the latter owning 19.3% shares. Besides, Xiaomi’s CEO Lei Jun’s investment firm Shunwei Capital owns another 20.4% shares in the wearable manufacturer. Established back in 2013, Huami has sold over 45.3 million smart wearables since its inception. Huami has, in fact, shipped over 11.6 million units of wearables in the first nine months of last year. Most of the shipments included Xiaomi’s Mi range of fitness bands, while the rest consisted of its own lineup of Amazfit wearables. Huami, in fact, launched its (affordable) Apple Watch competitor in the form of its Amazfit Bip earlier this week. The smartwatch comes with up to 45 days of optimum battery life. It is currently available for sale in the US through Amazfit.com at just $99. Furthermore, the watch comes with a heart rate sensor. The lump sum money raised from Huami’s initial public offering is expected to be used in developing even more smart wearables in the recent future. Xiaomi will, in fact, be the biggest gainer from Huami’s flourishing fate. Often than not Huami has had a skewed supply-demand ratio, thereby resulting in limited availability of Xiaomi’s fitness wearables. With the new funding in place, we can expect Huami to improve in this year. Indirectly, it will help Xiaomi stick to its claim of becoming the largest Chinese mobile brand in a span of two and a half years.
