Which Chinese electronics company startup was founded by Lei Jun? Xiaomi. Lei Jun co-founded Xiaomi in Beijing on April 6, 2010, together with six other founders, including Lin Bin and Liu De. The company began by developing MIUI, an Android-based software interface, before releasing its first smartphone in August 2011.
Xiaomi initially sold devices mainly online and built its reputation by offering phones with strong specifications at relatively aggressive prices. It later expanded into televisions, wearables, appliances, smart-home products, laptops, and electric vehicles. Its name, 小米, literally means “millet” in Chinese, though Lei Jun has also associated it with ideas about starting small and overcoming difficult challenges.
A common mix-up is treating Xiaomi as only a phone maker. Smartphones remain central to its identity, but the company describes itself more broadly as a technology and consumer-electronics business with an interconnected ecosystem of products. Lei Jun also had an earlier technology career at Kingsoft and was involved with Joyo.com, which Amazon acquired in 2004.