Xiaomi denies fundraising rumors: ‘We have more than $1.5 billion in the bank’

Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun has admitted that he’s at least considering an IPO. But the rumors that the company is trying to raise another round of funding and having difficulty doing so? Total nonsense, he says. Lei told Sina Tech on Monday that Xiaomi has more than US$1.5 billion in the bank, and it is not looking to raise additional funds.

“There’s no pressure to raise funds,” he told the Chinese site. “The reports that we’re developing a funding round are just rumors. Xiaomi is absolutely not raising a new round of funding.”

Lei Jun also expanded a bit on his IPO comments. He reiterated that Xiaomi has no specific plans to IPO, and that he personally isn’t interested in an IPO now. But he also conceded that the company has discussed the possibility of a domestic IPO with the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC). That doesn’t mean an IPO is imminent, but it’s a far cry from what Lei’s previous insistence that Xiaomi wouldn’t IPO within five years.

Xiaomi didn’t have the strongest 2015, missing sales targets and generally underwhelming observers. But while 70 million phone sales isn’t the 100 million the company was originally aiming for, it’s still 70 million phone sales. With the revenues from those kinds of sales numbers, a shiny new flagship phone, and a strong foothold in fast-growing India, it does seem unlikely that Xiaomi’s facing any financial pressure to raise funds or IPO, especially if it really does have an extra billion-plus in the bank.

Of course, the company could still be aiming to IPO for other reasons – Lei said last week that the best reason for listing soon would be incentivizing employers and paying back investors. But with so much cash on hand and a business that’s still growing (albeit growing more slowly than initially hoped) it seems like Xiaomi probably doesn’t care about raising cash anytime soon.