Xiaomi, the Android smartphone maker and Internet service provider, reportedly has invested in AV Concept Holdings Ltd., a Hong Kong-based electronic components distributor. Except for that AC Concept is a over two decades old distributor, Xiaomiโs investment is also likely for Nitgen, a Korean biometric application/technology provider, of which AC Concept is one of the major shareholders.
Nitgenโs offerings include fingerprint recognition solutions. Smartphone makers attached more attention to fingerprint access or related applications after iPhone 5S was launched with a fingerprint sensor. Xiaomi, as a smartphone maker itself, was working on technologies for entrance authentication too.
Xiaomiโs investment must be for having its own devices better powered by advanced technologies. But other Chinese investors also saw investment opportunities there. Before Xiaomi, well-known individual investors including David Wei Zhe, former CEO of Alibabaโs business-to-business e-commerce marketplace and now chairman and founding partner of Vision Knight Capital.
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