The founder of Dreame Technology spent 2.2 billion yuan to buy an "old shell" to tell a new story.

Despite having obtained a shell for capital operation through acquisition and outlined a business landscape comparable to that of Elon Musk and Lei Jun, Dreame still needs to address the real technological synergy mainline and growth core within its vast ecosystem.

Seven years ago, when Dreame emerged into the spotlight, probably no one expected that this brand, known for selling smart home appliances, especially robotic vacuum cleaners, would set its sights on "reaching for the sky."

Recently, Yu Hao, the founder of Dreame, acquired control of Jiami Packaging, a listed company on the A-share market, for 2.282 billion yuan. This seemingly significant leap from smart home appliances to food packaging has sparked widespread speculation in the market: Is it for industrial synergy or capital operation?

This is not Dreame's first foray into different sectors. In recent years, Dreame has been spinning an increasingly grand narrative, involving projects such as car manufacturing, robotics, and an astronomy business unit. According to Yu Hao, Dreame aims to build a global high - tech ecosystem of "people - cars - homes - space - the universe," which combines the concepts designed by Lei Jun and Elon Musk. Against this backdrop, Dreame's business scope has expanded, and the company has become more burdened.

Even with the successful examples of Elon Musk and Lei Jun, we still have to ask Dreame: Where is the real growth mainline in such a grand narrative?

01

The 2.2 - billion - yuan Shell

Yu Hao has made another move.

Recently, Suzhou Zhuyue Hongzhi Technology, under his control, acquired control of Jiami Packaging for 2.282 billion yuan.

This transaction follows a classic "two - step approach": First, it spent 1.243 billion yuan to buy 29.90% of the shares from Zhongbao Hong Kong, the former major shareholder. Then, it made a partial tender offer to all other shareholders, planning to acquire an additional 25%. The more crucial move came later, as the former controlling shareholder promised to waive the voting rights of the remaining shares. In total, Yu Hao will spend 2.282 billion yuan and effectively control more than 54.9% of the voting rights.

What's most counter - intuitive about this acquisition is why the founder of a technology company that makes vacuum cleaners and hair dryers would buy a traditional manufacturing enterprise that produces aluminum cans?

Jiami Packaging is one of the largest metal can manufacturers in China, with well - known beverage companies such as Yangyuan Drinks, Wanglaoji, and Chengde Lulu on its client list.

But what does this have to do with Dreame?

This matter can be viewed from two aspects: resource synergy and capital operation.

In terms of resource synergy, if we summarize Dreame's technological foundation, such as high - speed digital motors, precise algorithms, and motion control, we will find that these capabilities share similar genes with the requirements of the metal packaging industry for precision manufacturing, automated production lines, and quality control.

Jiami Packaging has accumulated years of experience in processes such as can body welding and flanging and necking. Dreame is good at applying its technological capabilities to different scenarios. Meanwhile, Jiami's production bases and supply chain networks across more than a dozen provinces in China provide Dreame with ready - made manufacturing resources.

Industrial synergy may be just one dimension of this transaction. More importantly, it's about capital operation.

Dreame's IPO journey has not been smooth. In March this year, Bloomberg reported that Dreame planned to go public, but the company quickly denied it as "false information." Meanwhile, its peers such as Ecovacs and Roborock have already gone public, and Yunjing received a $100 - million investment led by Tencent in May this year. Public disclosures show that Dreame completed a 3.6 - billion - yuan Series C financing in 2021.

A core reason for Dreame's difficulty in going public is its complex business, which increases the difficulty of valuation.

From high - end consumer goods to car manufacturing and the establishment of an astronomy business unit, each of Dreame's businesses needs to be valued separately. This is why Yu Hao said in his WeChat Moments that starting from the end of next year, multiple businesses under the Dreame ecosystem will go public in batches on various global exchanges like "dumplings being dropped into boiling water." Without spin - off and independent listing, it will be difficult to proceed with the valuation.

However, it's easier said than done to go public in batches. Spin - off and listing takes a long time and has high uncertainty. And not going public doesn't mean not being short of money. The industries of cars, mobile phones, drones, and astronomical telescopes are labor - intensive, capital - intensive, and resource - intensive. Without significant investment, they can't survive. Considering that Xiaomi invested more than 10 billion yuan in its car - manufacturing project initially, Dreame's financial pressure is imaginable.

At this time, an existing A - share listed company shell takes on a completely different meaning. Business injection, mergers and acquisitions, and refinancing can all be carried out through this listed entity, opening up a lot of room for imagination. More importantly, with a listed company, the capital market can better keep up with Dreame's ever - emerging new business stories.

However, this deal is not without drawbacks. In the first three quarters of this year, Jiami Packaging's net profit decreased by 47% year - on - year. As a traditional packaging industry, Jiami Packaging faces three major problems: peak seasons concentrated during holidays, dependence on large customers, and low - price competition. After being acquired by Yu Hao, how Jiami Packaging will solve these problems is the real challenge.

To ensure the smooth transition of the traditional business and the bottom - line performance after the acquisition, the former actual controller made a five - year (2026 - 2030) performance commitment, guaranteeing that the annual net profit attributable to the parent company of Jiami Packaging's original business will be no less than 120 million yuan. If the target is not met, cash compensation will be provided. Once the news was released, Jiami Packaging's stock price soared, closing at 5.52 yuan per share on December 18th.

02

Creating a Lei Jun + Elon Musk

When Dreame keeps talking about car manufacturing, mobile phone manufacturing, space exploration, and robot manufacturing, does anyone still remember that it became well - known for its wireless vacuum cleaners?

To be precise, Dreame started with its self - developed high - speed motor technology. Similar to the rise of many domestic brands, it targeted an expensive foreign brand and then lowered the price to half or even less. That's how Dreame became popular.

In 2018, Dreame launched the V9 wireless vacuum cleaner, and 15 million units were sold. By 2024, Dreame's revenue reached 15 billion yuan. According to the data on the global smart home cleaning robot market in 2025 released by IDC, in the first three quarters of this year, Dreame ranked third in the global robotic vacuum cleaner shipments, with a market share of about 12.3%.

However, this third - place ranking is not comfortable.

The smart home appliance market is extremely competitive. Ecovacs launches seven or eight new products a year; Roborock builds a product matrix from entry - level models priced at more than 3,000 yuan to flagship models priced at more than 6,000 yuan; Yunjing has even pushed the price below 2,000 yuan. Although the sales of smart home appliances rebounded during the Double 11 shopping festival this year due to trade - in and other subsidy policies, the intensity of competition in the entire market has not eased at all.

Homogenization is the biggest problem in the smart home appliance market. Functions such as self - cleaning base stations, AI obstacle avoidance, and laser navigation have become standard features, and the time for technological catch - up is getting shorter. One company launches the X40, featuring an "all - around base station," and another can launch a similar product within two months; one company's dual - brush design is just on the market, and another can follow up immediately.

This is not good news for Dreame, which is seeking continuous financing and listing. Because companies aiming for IPO are most afraid of having no growth stories.

Thus, Dreame's crazy expansion began. In January this year, a company called "Star Project" was registered in Shanghai with a registered capital of 1 billion yuan. After equity penetration, the actual controller is Yu Hao himself, indirectly holding 80% of the shares. Then in August, Dreame officially announced its entry into the car - manufacturing industry, with its first car targeting the Bugatti Veyron and planned to be launched in 2027.

At the beginning of September, Yu Hao led his team to Germany to choose a factory site in Berlin, which is next to Tesla's factory and has a planned area 1.2 times that of Tesla's. The team size has nearly reached a thousand people. It is reported that Dreame has poached many people from NIO and XPeng. Yu Hao said in his WeChat Moments that Dreame wants to build "the fastest car in the world." The internal plan includes two brands, Dreame Automobile and Star Automobile, with the former targeting Bugatti and the latter targeting the Rolls - Royce Cullinan and Bentley.

The robot project started earlier. Dreame began researching humanoid robots in 2023 and established a robot research institute in Shenzhen in May this year. Yu Hao has a unique understanding of robots. He said that robots don't have to look like humans; the key is to have a "heart and a brain."

A person familiar with the matter told "Bao Bian" that Dreame is incubating robots in two categories: humanoid and non - humanoid. The humanoid part is mainly handled by Magic Atom, while the non - humanoid part is currently being developed by Dreame's internal team and may operate independently next year.

What's most surprising is the space sector. Elon Musk, a technology madman, has built rockets, launched satellites, and aims to colonize Mars. In September this year, Dreame suddenly announced the establishment of an astronomy business unit to produce consumer - grade astronomical telescopes, also setting its ambitions in the universe.

Combining the words of consumer goods, electric cars, robots, and space, what Dreame wants to do can be summarized as a combination of Lei Jun and Elon Musk.

Dreame's expansion seems extremely crazy. Although it can be understood as the cross - scenario application of its core capabilities, such as high - speed motors, sensors, and intelligent algorithms. Robotic vacuum cleaners need visual recognition and path planning, and so do cars; vacuum cleaners need high - speed motors, and so do robot joints; even the precision control systems of astronomical telescopes are based on the same underlying technology.

However, the resources and capabilities required to support such a vast ecosystem of "people - cars - homes - space" far exceed the level of capital investment.

03

Why the Problem with Similar "Pie - in - the - Sky" Plans?

So, the question arises.

The market buys into Elon Musk's "pie - in - the - sky" plans because there is a clear mainline in his business landscape: to change the way humans live. Electric cars solve the problem of ground transportation, robots solve the problem of production methods, and commercial rockets solve the problem of space exploration. These seemingly unrelated projects are all connected by this grand vision.

More importantly, Tesla and SpaceX are both engaged in "from 0 to 1" innovation. Elon Musk himself said in a conference call that there was no mature robot industry chain in the United States before Tesla. Building this industry chain is also a huge challenge for mass production. On the other hand, building this industry chain also provides a huge expectation to support Tesla's valuation.

The power of this narrative is that it can always answer the question: Why is the market "non - me - no - go"?

Does Dreame have such a narrative gene? Looking back, Dreame's original business logic was "using aircraft - making technology to serve thousands of households." In essence, it is a path of high - end technology being applied to high - end consumer products.

Therefore, to tell a good new growth story, Dreame needs to think about several more questions:

First, how to allocate resources? The industries of car manufacturing, robotics, and space all have similar characteristics: a long investment period and huge upfront capital expenditure. Tesla didn't achieve annual profit for the first time until 2020 since its establishment in 2003, burning money for 17 years. SpaceX is even more extreme, still continuously raising funds since its establishment in 2002. With so many labor - and capital - intensive projects underway simultaneously, how should Dreame concentrate its limited resources to achieve the highest return?

Second, how to achieve technological synergy? Just saying "they are all high - tech" doesn't mean they can be synergistic. The core of the three - electric system in car manufacturing is energy density and thermal management, the core of humanoid robots is motion control and force feedback, and the core of small home appliances is the miniaturization of high - speed motors. Although these three technological directions all involve motors and control, the specific technological routes, material systems, and testing standards are different. Dreame needs to find a more precise "technological overlap" among these businesses.

Third, how to build the management system? Car manufacturing requires automotive engineers, robotics requires robot algorithm experts, and food packaging requires supply - chain and production management talents.

The salary systems, incentive mechanisms, and career development paths of these three types of talents are completely different. A car - manufacturing project may take 5 years to show results, while a small home appliance product needs to be on the market in 6 months; robot R & D can tolerate trial - and - error, but the quality standards of food packaging cannot tolerate any mistakes. Facing different standards and systems, how should Dreame design its management system to make the whole "big ship" move forward more quickly?

Dreame, which is not short of technology and ambition, needs more than just stories to convince the capital market. It needs a clear growth focus.

This article is from the WeChat public account "Bao Bian" (ID: baobiannews). Author: Nana, Editor: Xing Yun. Republished by 36Kr with permission.