A leaked document said that Chinese drone maker Shenzhen DJI Technology (DJI)’s net profit increased from USD eight million in 2012 to USD 250 million in 2015, and that it may go public in 2017, reported Tencent Tech on Monday.
DJI’s present valuation is USD 12 billion, according to the document. It also said that DJI’s sales revenue skyrocketed from USD 26 million in 2012 to around USD one billion in 2015. It estimated that DJI’s net profit in 2016 would soar to USD 460 million.
The document suggests three listed companies that are comparable to DJI: AeroViroment, which supplies small drones to the US army, GoPro, the well-known sports camera maker and Parrot, an American toy UAV maker.
Founded in 2006 in Shenzhen, DJI has grown into a world leader in camera drones and quadcopters, taking up 70% of the global consumer drone market. It has up to 3000 employees in its Shenzhen headquarters and has branched out to Beijing, Hong Kong, the US, Germany and Japan.
Its official website says it now makes varieties of drones that can be used in aerial photography, filmmaking, agriculture, search and rescue, energy infrastructure, remote sensing mapping and more.
DJI landed USD 75 million from Accel Partners last May, boosting its valuation to USD eight billion. Investment firm Sequoia Capital is among the list of DJI’s investors.
However, DJI CEO Wang Tao denied the IPO financing rumor in a WeChat post, saying that DJI currently has no plans for either an IPO or for fundraising.
An insider in the financial industry told Tencent Tech that the rumors of DJI’s sales revenue and net profit figures are true, and said that some investors are planning to sell off their shares in DJI because they think the company is overvalued.
DJI’s public WeChat account released an announcement claiming that DJI has not received any written applications for share transfer from its investors, denying the above-mentioned rumor to be true.
