Zhuimi wants to "go to heaven"

Author | Huang Yu

Editor | Zhou Zhiyu

The mutual invasion of each other's "backyard" by enterprises has always been one of the most talked-about business themes. In this year's smart hardware sector, such cross-border stories have played out multiple times, such as consumer drone giant DJI entering the robotic vacuum and panoramic camera markets, and panoramic camera giant Insta360 targeting drones, among others.

There are many such cross-border players, and one of the most watched is the active robotic vacuum brand, Dreame. After announcing its entry into the major appliance market with air conditioners, refrigerators, and washing machines at the beginning of the year, and recently signaling its intention to enter the television, projector, and audio markets, Dreame has once again expanded its scope, setting its sights on drones.

On August 20, Dreame confirmed to Wall Street Journal that it will officially expand into the drone business, strategically laying out plans for the low-altitude economy, a trillion-dollar new sector.

Currently, Dreame is actively assembling a professional drone R&D team, and the core team structure is taking shape, marking a substantial phase in its cross-border development.

On some recruitment platforms, Wall Street Journal found that Dreame has posted multiple job openings related to drones, including HR for drone business, technical management with drone R&D experience, drone navigation modeling algorithm engineers, sales positions for drone operations, and drone channel directors.

Regarding Dreame's cross-border move into drones, some speculate it is to counter DJI. In early August, DJI, which holds a leading position in the global drone market, officially launched its first flagship robotic vacuum, ROMO, adding fuel to the already competitive vacuum market.

However, insiders told Wall Street Journal that this is not the case; Dreame's plan to enter the drone market had been in place for some time, as its founding team possesses aerospace technology genes.

It is reported that Dreame's founder and CEO, Yu Hao, graduated from Tsinghua University with a major in aerospace, is one of China's earliest quadcopter developers, and the inventor of the tri-copter, as well as the founder of Tsinghua University's "Sky Factory." Many members of Dreame's founding team come from Tsinghua University's "Sky Factory."

This genetic background undoubtedly provides Dreame with an inherent advantage in entering the drone market.

Industry insiders believe that Dreame's technological accumulation in its core robotic vacuum products, such as three-dimensional spatial perception, dynamic obstacle avoidance, and core capabilities like high-speed digital motors, can be directly transferred and reused in drone flight control and navigation systems.

For example, the centimeter-level dynamic mapping technology generated by the robotic vacuum can significantly improve the recognition accuracy of drones and exponentially increase the success rate of obstacle avoidance.

In other words, leveraging its mature technology honed in ground cleaning scenarios, Dreame may find it easier to enter the competitive drone market.

Additionally, Dreame's mature intelligent manufacturing system and global supply chain resources will support the rapid industrialization and mass production of its drone projects In the sweeping robot market where ZhiMi is located, the domestic landscape has basically stabilized, while facing fierce competition and low market penetration issues. This has led players in the field to explore new growth spaces.

According to IDC data, in 2024, China's sweeping robot market is expected to ship 5.389 million units, a year-on-year increase of 6.7%. In terms of market share by brand, Ecovacs accounts for 25.4%, Roborock for 21.6%, Yunji for 16.3%, and Xiaomi and ZhiMi account for 13.7% and 12.2%, respectively.

While focusing on the overseas market, ZhiMi is also targeting more product categories and broader tracks in hopes of opening up more growth space.

In Yu Hao's view, great companies must possess the ability for continuous entrepreneurship; Amazon, Alibaba, and ByteDance are all examples of continuous entrepreneurship.

However, simultaneously crossing into new fields such as large home appliances and drones will undoubtedly be a significant test for ZhiMi's management team.

Now, ZhiMi is attempting to carve out a piece of the drone market, which is dominated by a giant, DJI, which holds over 70% of the global consumer drone market share.

Even so, the development prospects of the drone market still attract new players like ZhiMi and YingShi to enter the field. Industry insiders believe that these new players have opportunities because the drone industry still has unresolved user pain points such as flight experience, extreme imaging, and intelligent interaction.

The "challenge" has been issued, and the upcoming wins and losses will depend on how the "commanders" arrange their troops.

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