Time carves the footprints of strivers. Founded just 9 years ago, Shenzhen Orvibo Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Orvibo”) has entered the listing guidance period and plans to go public on the Sci-Tech Innovation Board next year.
This technology innovation company rooted in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is a passionate and innovative firm. As challengers and innovators, they continuously explore cutting-edge AIoT technologies and delve deeply into the field of smart living spaces. They have not only successfully launched several industry-influential smart home products, winning multiple global product design awards, but have also integrated smart products into a comprehensive smart home system, becoming a leading high-end smart home system supplier in China.
Wang Xionghui, the founder and CEO of Orvibo, stated: “Shenzhen is a label of China’s development, and the Orvibo team is a builder of Shenzhen, belonging to this city. Living space is an important part of life; it should be warmer, more comfortable, and more enjoyable. It relates to love and dignity. Technology is changing the way people connect with their environment, and fortunately, we are becoming participants and contributors in this era.”
On September 28, with its leading comprehensive strength in smart home technology, Orvibo was awarded the honor of “Outstanding Enterprise of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in 2020.” Two months prior, the company was listed among the top 100 unicorns in the smart home industry in the “2020 New Infrastructure Industry Unicorn TOP100 List.” This smart home company, which has grown from the innovative soil of the Greater Bay Area, has stood out among many excellent enterprises, and its corporate value and development potential are increasingly recognized by all sectors of society.
Innovative Business Models Leading Industry Development
Wang Xionghui, born in the 1980s, has a somewhat legendary status in the “circle,” where he is commonly referred to as a product manager. A product manager must possess the ability to identify needs and meet them with the right methods, ultimately productizing and commercializing the process of solving these needs.
Wang Xionghui embodies such qualities. He developed a wireless intercom in high school and officially started his entrepreneurial journey in college, earning his first pot of gold by creating intelligent diagnostic cards for computers. The millions in revenue not only allowed him to buy a small villa for his family but also gave him the confidence to embark on a new entrepreneurial journey, targeting the smart home industry with his forward-looking vision.
In 2011, Wang Xionghui assembled the founding team of Orvibo, leading the development and launch of the world’s leading GSM smart socket, with global shipments exceeding 1 million units. As the mobile internet boom began, the era of the Internet of Things opened up. Wang Xionghui keenly foresaw the commercial prospects of the smart home sector in the IoT era.
Wang Xionghui has a sharp sense for cutting-edge technologies, always able to grasp opportunities for technological innovation ahead of time. Over nearly a decade of entrepreneurship, Orvibo has consistently stayed one step ahead in technology. In 2013, the company launched a wireless smart home system based on Zigbee networking technology and smart switches, becoming one of the early adopters of Zigbee wireless smart home systems; in 2015, the company began focusing on AI and big data technologies, launching the “Smart Home Cloud” and “Smart Home 365” apps, and clearly defining its product proposition of “technological aesthetics,” creating a scene-oriented smart device ecosystem platform, providing one-stop device intelligence solutions (referred to as OI) for home appliance manufacturers.
In 2016, Orvibo released its commercial scene and artificial intelligence strategy, initiating the integration and innovation of AI (artificial intelligence) with IoT smart devices, smart scenes, and smart ecosystems, developing the MixPad 1.0 product, which garnered significant attention in the industry. Two years later, it launched the upgraded product Super Panel MixPad, becoming a “dark horse” in the smart home industry. At the same time, the company’s flagship smart lock T1 was launched, becoming a hot-selling product promoted during Tmall’s brand day.
Wang Xionghui proposed the concept of “scene equals intelligence” early on and led his team to proactively launch three major scene application solutions: smart home, smart office, and smart hotel, successfully implementing projects globally. Currently, Orvibo has completed the overall implementation of nearly 200 high-end smart communities and smart homes for over 50 well-known real estate developers, including Country Garden and Gemdale Group. Through its openness and compatibility, it has achieved interconnectivity with ecosystems such as Huawei HiLink, Midea IoT, Haier Smart Home, and Xiaomi. It has now connected over 8.5 million devices, helping over 2.5 million families achieve comprehensive smart home solutions, holding more than 200 core technology patents in the smart home field, and has won multiple global authoritative design awards.
Currently, “new infrastructure” is becoming a new direction for investment and development. Against the backdrop of consumption upgrades, the development of 5G, AI, and IoT technologies is accelerating industry growth. In 2019, Orvibo built a comprehensive smart home ecosystem with “entry + AloT platform + ecological device applications and services,” launching its first comprehensive smart home operating system, Home AI 2.0, constructing a new generation of comprehensive smart home systems that achieve full control of hundreds of product ecosystems across application scenarios such as lighting, HVAC comfort, shading, and security sensing. In April of this year, Wang Xionghui and his team launched the AI visual intercom system, supported by AI technology and cloud computing, creating a community center-level product that addresses the systemic interconnectivity and data silos of “people, devices, and services.”
Driven by a Sense of Mission, Unique Competitiveness
The ultimate goal of business is a choice of values. In Wang Xionghui’s view, every generation, every entrepreneur, and every business stage has its mission. “I believe our generation’s mission is to focus on doing things well. Currently, the market and economic environment in China provide opportunities for us to become the first in China and then the first in the world through technological innovation. The ceiling in the industry where Orvibo operates is very high; achieving sales of 100 billion is feasible,” Wang Xionghui said.
Those familiar with Wang Xionghui believe that he has always carried a sense of mission and passion throughout his entrepreneurial journey. “Many people say entrepreneurs have a hard time; I never feel it’s hard. It’s not that I don’t suffer, nor that I can endure hardship, but I believe this is fundamental. This is the mission and responsibility of a founder, and all of this is what I want. On a smaller scale, it’s my accountability to myself; on a larger scale, it’s my accountability to the team; and on an even larger scale, it’s about this society and the country that has enabled Orvibo. Paying more taxes and serving the country with real industry is what we should do,” Wang Xionghui believes this is very fair.
In the nine years since its establishment, Orvibo has continuously launched products and services that exceed user expectations, becoming a leader in the smart home industry. However, in Wang Xionghui’s eyes, this is not the company’s core competitiveness.
For Wang Xionghui, who has grand entrepreneurial dreams, he believes that Orvibo’s advantages in products, channels, order numbers, and patents are all superficial, not fundamental. Competitiveness is dynamically changing; the true core competitiveness lies in him and his team’s adherence to fundamental values, loyalty, and passion, respect for users and the market, and a commitment to putting users first and striving for excellence. This is the core competitiveness of Orvibo.
Even during the pandemic in 2020, the company, driven by a sense of mission and rooted in respect for users and the market, along with its technological innovation capabilities, navigated through the gloom and achieved rapid growth. In early July, Orvibo’s mid-year report showed that the company successfully signed 114 high-end real estate projects, averaging one project signed every 1.1 days, surpassing the total order volume for the entire year of 2019.
In Orvibo’s revenue composition, the retail market, primarily through offline stores and e-commerce channels, accounts for 70%, while the industry market, mainly in smart real estate, accounts for 30%. In Wang Xionghui’s view, this is Orvibo’s way of maximizing its capabilities and is the result of market judgment and strategic choice. Retail has always been the cornerstone of Orvibo, while the real estate business has only developed in recent years. As a strategic consideration, Wang Xionghui does not want Orvibo’s development to rely too heavily on real estate.
Entering the Listing Guidance Period, Future Development Looks Promising
Now, Orvibo is on the verge of an IPO. As a technology innovation-driven, technology-leading smart home brand, the capital market has paid great attention to its listing.
On the evening of July 28, the Shenzhen Securities Regulatory Commission’s official website disclosed the “Public Notice on the First Public Offering and Listing Guidance Filing Information of Shenzhen Orvibo Technology Co., Ltd.” The notice shows that Orvibo completed its listing guidance filing with the Shenzhen Securities Regulatory Commission on July 10, intending to list on the Sci-Tech Innovation Board, with Shenwan Hongyuan Securities as the guiding broker.
As a leading enterprise in the smart home industry, Orvibo has received continuous capital investment and attention for many years. In 2014, the Orvibo team received angel round financing from SoftBank China Venture Capital (SAIF); in 2015, it secured 78 million RMB in A+ round financing from Lenovo Star, MediaTek MTK, and Tiger Fund; in 2016, it obtained 110 million RMB in B round financing from Topband Electronics and SAIF Asia Fund; in May 2019, it received 130 million RMB in C round financing from Midea Real Estate and Red Star Macalline, and in November of the same year, it secured strategic investment from Evergrande Group in the Pre-IPO round.
In recent years, as new technologies such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and 5G have matured, the revolution in living spaces has intensified, ushering in the era of smart homes. The smart home industry is experiencing a boom and focusing on comprehensive smart upgrades. The “2020 China Smart Home Ecosystem Development White Paper” indicates that China has become the world’s largest IoT market and will also become the largest consumer market for smart homes, accounting for 50%-60% of the global smart home market consumption share.
Only foresighted individuals can encounter prosperity early. By the first half of 2020, Orvibo had become a strategic procurement supplier for many leading real estate groups, including Evergrande Group, Midea Real Estate, CIFI Group, Shimao Group, and Fantasia Holdings, forming a new retail and service network covering provinces and cities across the country and some overseas markets. It has opened over 400 offline stores, including 235 specialty stores, 168 brand-authorized dealerships, and 2 flagship stores, covering nearly 200 cities nationwide. Its products have entered over 2.5 million households, covering over 5 million users, and have implemented over 200 high-end smart communities and smart real estate projects, becoming a leading enterprise in sales scale in the comprehensive smart home industry.
Wang Xionghui believes that the smart home industry is on the verge of explosion, and Orvibo’s brand value is severely underestimated, not yet in the state it should be. “The ceiling in the smart home industry is very high; achieving sales of 100 billion is feasible for Orvibo,” Wang Xionghui stated as the company’s goal.
Industry insiders believe that with the full rollout of 5G networks and the accelerated popularization of smart homes, Orvibo, having occupied the market entry and user mindset early, is expected to become one of the first companies to benefit from the smart home industry’s explosive growth, especially with the support of capital following its listing next year.
Regarding future development, Wang Xionghui expresses great confidence, stating, “Only through continuous innovation and creation can we have a future.” He hopes to lead the Orvibo team to continuously grow and become the industry leader in smart homes, and even the global leader.
(News)