Smartmi aims to establish smart home eco-system with AI-featured air-conditioner
Smartmi, a home appliance company inside Xiaomi’s ecosystem, aims to double their revenue this year with business expansion into the intelligent air conditioner market and a complete smart home eco-system, the startup told Shanghai Daily today.
Xiaomi-invested Smartmi, the country’s leading air purifier vendor, also plans to begin overseas expansion into European and American markets with high-end products, said Su Jun, chief executive of Smartmi.
“Our products are designed to meet the demands of 80 percent of consumers, with good design, smart connection and reasonable prices,” Su said.
Surging demand and business expansion allows Smartmi to follow the growth of Xiaomi’s ecosystem, Su said, who hopes the company’s revenue to double this year.
Xiaomi’s eco-system products generated total revenue of 20 billion yuan (US$2.9 billion) last year, which is expected to double in 2018.
In 2016, SmartMi completed a round of financing which valued the company as US$1 billion.
In 2017, Smartmi sold 3 million air purifiers, representing 50 percent growth year-on-year. Smartmi hopes to copy that success in the air conditioner market as “the King of home appliances."
Compared with traditional home appliance makers, the Mijia Internet conditioner, developed and produced by Smartmi, has a 1.5 hp capacity, level-three energy efficiency and 0.1-degree temperature control. It costs 1,999 yuan including the installation fee, which meets the demands of “80 percent of Chinese families”, Su said.
As a company with “Internet DNA,” Smartmi’s air conditioner supports wireless control via Xiaomi’s Mijia App. China’s air conditioner maintaining market reaches 20 billion yuan annually.
This allows Smartmi to possibly kick off more entry-level air conditioners with starting prices around 1,000 yuan each, Su said.
“With advanced online data management and user feedback systems, firms like Xiaomi and Smartmi have the ability to create best-selling products,” said GF Securities in a note.
SmartMi also produces smart toilet lids, fresh air systems, humidifiers, fans and heaters, which together establish a smart home eco-system, with the support of Xiaomi’s AI chatbot Xiao Ai.
SmartMi has seen demand for fresh air systems, humidifiers and fans in Western markets, especially Western regions suffering from disasters like forest fires, he added.
Since Xiaomi issued its IPO in Hong Kong in July, the company's market value has hit 410 billion yuan by Sunday.
The AI-featured Mijia air conditioner, developed and produced by Smartmi, debuts this week. Smartmi aims to double their revenue in 2018.
