Chinese smartphone maker Meizu secures new financing that values it at 30 billion yuan

Meizu, a Chinese smartphone maker backed by Alibaba, is set to secure more than 536 million yuan of new financing from several domestic investors, valuing the company at around 30.5 billion yuan.

Telling Telecommunication Holding Co, which is listed on the Shenzhen stock exchange, said last week it would invest 200 million yuan in Meizu in return for a 0.655 per cent stake in the smartphone maker.

As well as Telling Telecommunication, three other Chinese companies – Xiutong Investment Management Centre, Yuan Ke（Pingtan）Investment Fund and a Xinjiang-based investment company – plan to take minority stakes in Meizu, bringing the total amount injected by the four investors to over 536.67 million yuan, according to a report by Shanghai-based International Finance News. After the latest investments, the smartphone company will be valued at around 30.5 billion yuan.

According to the report, Meizu lost 1.037 billion yuan in 2015 and 304 million yuan in the first six months of this year.

Founded in 2007, Meizu is one of a growing number of Chinese suppliers selling smartphones based on either the ubiquitous Android operating system or Alibaba Group’s YunOS mobile platform.

E-commerce giant Alibaba, which owns the South China Morning Post, bought an undisclosed stake in privately held Meizu for US$590 million early last year, paving the way for Meizu to use Alibaba’s operating system. Meizu was valued at about US$ 2 billion at the time, mainland media reported.