Chinese electronics company Xiaomi raises $1.1 bln in new funding round

Chinese electronics company Xiaomi has raised $1.1 billion in new funding at a valuation of $45 billion.

Xiaomi said that the round was raised from investors including U.S. investment firm All-Stars Investment, sovereign wealth fund company GIC, Chinese investment arm DST, private equity firm Hopu Fund, and peer Yunfeng Capital. Its present valuation of $45 billion is a whopping increase over its previous valuation of $10 billion in August 2013.

The company will likely use the capital to increase sales of its smartphones in its key growth markets of India, Southeast Asia, Brazil, and Mexico.

On October 30, 2014, Xiaomi borrowed $1 billion from 29 banks for a three-year loan, its first move to tap overseas funds for cash.