Xiaomi Founder Lei Jun targets $14.5 billion in revenue for 2017, to strengthen offline presence

Xiaomi, a company that’s already valued at over $45 billion, is now targeting $14.5 billion in revenue in 2017. While this figure does seem quite small in comparison to companies like Apple (which made around $45 billion per quarter last year), it’s an ambitious figure for a startup like Xiaomi. In fact, Xiaomi is already considered to be one of the world’s most valuable startups. It was also rated as the third-largest smartphone maker in the world, after Samsung and Apple. Bloomberg reports that Xiaomi’s founder and CEO Lei Jun laid out his goals for 2017, where he spoke of plans for increasing its offline network, expanding globally and focusing more on artificial intelligence and online finance. The report also points out that Xiaomi’s initial success came from its online-only model, but that rivals soon caught on. Xiaomi is now looking to establish a better retail presence and plans to open more outlets. Xiaomi is a startup that launched in April 2010. While the company is primarily known for its smartphones, it has a presence in the consumer electronics in general and sells everything from drones to smart rice cookers and electric bicycles.