Lei Jun seems to be rewriting the story of Apple’s late CEO and visionary Steve Jobs, whom he idolizes and admires. Jun is a serial entrepreneur, top angel investor and the Co-founder and CEO of the Beijing-based fastest-growing mobile phone company, Xiaomi, which makes simple yet graceful and stylish Smartphones. Founded in April 2010, Xiaomi raised over $200 million through venture capital; some renowned investors include QiMing Venture Partners, Morningside Group Temasek and DST Group’s Yuri Milner, and IDG.
As of now, the company has already sold over 3 million Smartphones and has been valued at about $4 billion. One of its Smartphones Xiaomi MI-One, which sells for about $320 and runs on Android os, has already become a craze among the Chinese youths. The phone is equipped with awesome features and sells less than half the price of Apple 4S.
His Position and Investments
As an angel investor, Lei Jun has been heavily involved in the Chinese Silicon Valley and is often compared with Ron Conway. In 2000, Jun founded Joyo.com that was later, in 2004, taken over by Amazon.Com Besides, he has been an ex-executive director of Kingsoft and is the board chairman of the leading Chinese mobile browser UCWeb.
His studies and Honors
In 1991, Lei Jun graduated from Wuhan University with Computer Science. In 1998, his significant contribution to the field of computer science through his books on Windows programming, DOS and some other programming books earned him the ‘Honorary Professor of Wuhan University’. Later, he established a USD $36 million scholarship to fund and encourage exceptional and outstanding students of Computer Science from the same university.
Info Source: forbes.com