A young man born in the 1980s in Sichuan started his own business on the projection track, with a revenue of over 3.4 billion yuan in one year!

If you have paid attention to the consumer electronics sector in recent years, you must be familiar with this phenomenon:

Young people are no longer obsessed with having a big TV at home. Frequent moves due to renting, small apartments with no space, and a decreasing frequency of turning on the TV...Instead, projectors, which can turn any white wall into a screen, have quietly become the new favorite in many households, directly driving the entire industry into a phase of rapid development.

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According to data released by precedenceresearch:

In2025,the global portable projectormarket sizewill reachUSD 1.99 billion,and it is predictedthat this marketwill grow fromUSD 2.12 billion in 2026 to about USD 3.82 billion in 2035,with acompound annual growth ratestabilizing at6.74%,showing very strong long-term growth momentum.

Image source:precedenceresearch

Backed by this high-potential, steadily rising quality track, many brands at home and abroad are increasing their investment, and many outstanding portable projector brands have emerged in our domestic market.

Today, the brand I want to introduce,XGIMI,is a highly representative benchmark among them.

Starting as a local startup in Chengdu, it has grown into a leading industry brand with annual revenue exceeding3.4 billion yuan.Next, let’s take a deep dive into how this breakthrough journey was made.

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From TV chips to“screenless TV”, a breakthrough by a post-80s entrepreneur

According to public information, XGIMI is a global leader in smart projection headquartered in Chengdu, Sichuan, and the brand was officially established in 2013.

Its rise began with its founder, Mr. Zhong.This post-80s entrepreneur from Zigong, Sichuan, has ten years of rich experience in the TV chip industry,having worked at Hisense and MStar Semiconductor.

Because he observed the long-term monopoly in the traditional projection industry and the serious lack of household-grade products, he firmly believed that large screen without a physical screen is the future trend for home audio-visual, so he returned to Chengdu to start his entrepreneurial journey, focusing on the home smart projection track.

In 2013, Mr. Zhong officially founded the XGIMI brand in Chengdu with a professional team of engineers.

The team's original intention was very clear:toreshape the home projection market with the concept of“screenless TV”,bringing private home theaters into ordinary households.

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12 years of steady progress, from Chengdu to global No.1

2014 was the year of XGIMI's breakthrough.In April, the brand launched its first mass-produced smart projector, the XGIMI Z3, pioneering a three-in-one combination of projector + speaker + smart system,with a body only the size of an A4 sheet, but capable of projecting30 to 180 inchesofultra-large images. With its differentiated product strength, it quickly ignited the home projection market.

In August of the same year, XGIMI secured 100 million yuan in Series A financing,firmly establishing its first-mover advantage in the industry.

In 2015, the brandushered in explosive growth in the domestic market. The hit modelZ4X quickly went viral with its highly recognizable vinyl record appearance, becoming a phenomenal product and greatly boosting the brand's reputation and popularity.

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After firmly establishing itself in the domestic market,XGIMI made its debut at the internationalCES show in 2017 and won industry awards, marking the official start of its global expansion.

In 2018,the brand'sdomesticshipmentsexceeded400,000 units, firmly ranking first in the domestic projection market. At the same time,global expansionalsoaccelerated comprehensively.

In its overseas marketdeployment,XGIMIadheres to a localized product strategy, precisely optimizing for different regional consumer needs:

Catering to Japanese users' small apartment living habits, focusing on short-throw space-saving models; catering to European and American consumer preferences, strengthening outdoor portability; deeply exploring German camping culture, creating exclusive outdoor scene devices, and improving the product matrix according to local conditions.

On the channel side,XGIMIhas deeply deployed on Amazon, covering multiple core sites such as the US, Japan, Germany, and the UK.

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On the capital track,XGIMIhas also made great strides.InMarch 2021,itsuccessfully went public on the STAR Market, with a market value exceeding26.5 billion yuanon the first day of listing.

According tothird-party agencyRUNTO'sdata,in 2023, XGIMItopped the global home projection list with a6.5% global market share,withoutstanding performance in overseas markets and overseas revenue reaching913 million yuan.

Since then, the growth momentum has continued. In2024,the brand's annual operating income further climbed to3.405 billion yuan, with annual sales of complete projectorsreaching1.0893 million units, firmly standing at the top of the industry and becoming a benchmarkseller in the global home projection track.(Data from CSC Financial)

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Social media breakthrough: building a brand “gravitational field” onTikTok

To become No.1 globally, product strength is the foundation, but being able to bring products to consumers worldwide also owes much to the operation of social media content.

XGIMI's approach in overseas marketsisnot just to focus one-commerce platforms forsales,but also to leveragethe traffic dividends of global popular social platforms such as TikTok, continuously raising the brand'svoice and awareness inoverseasmarkets.

1. Building a localized account matrix

In terms of content layout onTikTok,XGIMIhas builtacomprehensive account matrix.

In addition to the official main account@XGIMI, the brand has also set uplocalized regional accounts for key overseas markets such as the US, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, Singapore, and Australia, precisely adapting to the preferences of users in different regions.

Image source:TikTok

Currently, the brand's main account@XGIMI has accumulated 20,900 followers, with content mainly focused on product unboxing and real-life testing, authentically recreating the home usage scenarios of projectors and allowing potential users to immerse themselves in understanding various core functions.

For example, one video on the accountdemonstrates practical features such as wall adaptation and night mode, covering a variety of home usage scenarios.

In the comments section of the video,manyusers actively inquire about the price and purchase channels, which shows that real-life test content can effectively dispel consumer concerns and efficiently guide purchase intentions.

Image source:TikTok

Unlike the main account, which focuses on functional science popularization, each regional local account adopts a differentiated operation strategy tailored to local conditions.

For example, the Vietnamese local account@XGIMI Việt Nam,sincelocal users prefer a lazy and comfortable home atmosphere,the account downplayshardcore parameter displays, and its content is tightly centered around the core pain points of relaxing at home and healing movie-watching experiences.

For example, a viral video on the accountuses16 seconds to capturethe warm daily life of a couple watching movies in bed. The visuals are simple and healing, precisely hittinglocal users' leisure needs and conveyinga relaxed and comfortable lifestyle.

So far, this video has received1.2 million views and 61,300 likes. It is evidentthat lightweight content that fits local living habits is often more likely to resonate with users.

Image source:TikTok

2. Collaborating with vertical influencers for precise breakthrough and traffic generation

In addition to consolidating its own account matrix, the XGIMI brand has further partnered with high-quality vertical influencers, leveraging their traffic and content creativity to expand the boundaries of communication and achieve refined circle breakthroughs.

For example, TikTok influencer @giftgenius, with over2.2 million followers, has collaborated with XGIMI multiple times, producing several highly viral pieces of content.

Image source:TikTok

One of the popular promotional videos showcases the core advantages of the projector's flexible adjustment of projection angles and free switching of screen sizes, intuitively highlighting the product's convenience and practicality.

Since its release, the video has reached14.2 million views and 1.5 million likes.

It can be seen that fully leveraging the influence of influencers to stimulate users' curiosity can quickly amplify product exposure and help the brand rapidly increase its popularity and discussion in overseas markets.

Image source:TikTok

Conclusion

Looking back at XGIMI's development path, as long as the product is sufficiently differentiated, the channels are sufficiently detailed, and the content is sufficiently localized—if these three things are done well, the market will naturally give you feedback.

Now, the home projector track is clearly on the rise, and the global portable projector market is expected to grow to about USD 3.82 billion by2035. The opportunity is here—the key is who can be the first to complete the puzzle of product, channel, and content.

There is never a shortage of participants in overseas markets; what is lacking are brands truly willing to settle down and do things well. And this road has only just begun.