As of the close of trading on June 13, Insta360’s stock reached RMB 171.8 (USD 24.1) per share, more than tripling its IPO price of RMB 47.27 (USD 6.6). Its market capitalization briefly topped RMB 70 billion (USD 9.8 billion).
At a media roundtable on June 12, founder and chairman Liu Jingkang offered a measured take on the surge. “One reason is that the amount of our shares currently in circulation is relatively small compared to other companies at the same stage,” Liu said. “Another factor is the broader market sentiment. Investors are optimistic about companies involved in globalization, consumer electronics, and advanced technologies. We happen to intersect with some of those themes, and that expectation gets priced in.”
Regardless of market sentiment, Insta360’s public debut is one of the most notable in China’s capital markets this year. As one of the few hardware startups to scale and go public, Insta360 now stands on firmer ground.
The company’s origin dates back a decade, during China’s wave of support for entrepreneurship and innovation. At the time, Beijing’s Zhongguancun district, particularly Z-Innoway, was a hotspot for young founders and investors. Liu, then 25, won second place in a national innovation competition for college students. Dai Wei, who later founded Ofo, placed third. The winner of that contest has since faded from public view.
Today, Liu is among the youngest chairpersons on Shanghai’s STAR Market. Insta360 is the world’s top seller of both consumer-grade action cameras and panoramic cameras. Its revenue rose from RMB 1.33 billion (USD 186.2 million) in 2021 to RMB 5.6 billion (USD 784 million) in 2024, increasing more than fivefold over three years.
Focused portfolio, rising competition
Insta360’s product portfolio is relatively narrow, focused on smart imaging devices such as panoramic cameras, action cams, handheld recorders, webcams, professional 360-degree systems, and all-in-one video conferencing solutions.
For years, consumer-grade smart imaging devices have contributed about 80% of Insta360’s revenue. In 2023, that segment generated RMB 4.79 billion (USD 670.6 million).
According to Frost & Sullivan, Insta360 captured 67.2% of global sales in consumer-grade panoramic cameras and 61.4% in the professional segment. It’s also among the top two global action camera brands.
The company’s leadership in panoramic imaging has been anchored by One X, a product line that dramatically lowered the cost and complexity of immersive shooting. Its standout feature of “shoot first, frame later” enabled users to capture 360-degree views using a selfie stick or helmet mount, then edit the footage afterward.
The first One X model debuted in October 2018. As of April this year, the fifth-generation X5 had been released. According to the company’s prospectus, the One X series has consistently contributed about half of Insta360’s annual revenue. By 2024, cumulative revenue from the line totaled RMB 2.92 billion (USD 408.8 million), solidifying its status as a mainstay.
Until recently, there was little competition in the panoramic action camera segment. But that’s changing as DJI plans to release its first consumer-grade panoramic camera, the Osmo 360, in July.
In recent years, the two companies have already clashed in the broader action camera market. DJI’s Pocket and Action lines compete with Insta360’s Go and One R series. Insta360 countered in 2023 with the Ace line, its first non-wearable action camera.
According to its filings, revenue from the Ace series climbed from RMB 96.6 million (USD 13.5 million) in 2023 to RMB 580 million (USD 81.2 million) in 2024. Its share of total sales rose from 2.69% to 10.44%.
The Go series of wearable cameras also gained traction, contributing RMB 900 million (USD 126 million) in 2024, accounting for 16.3% of revenue.
A report by Huaan Securities noted that Insta360 has one of the fastest product cycles in the handheld imaging space, typically launching three to five new models per year. DJI, by contrast, maintains three product lines and updates them two to three times annually.
Since 2022, Insta360’s development cadence has picked up. DJI has followed suit. Beyond the Osmo 360, international reports suggest DJI is also working on a compact camera called the Osmo Nano, which would rival Insta360’s Go series.
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Liu likens the smart imaging market to the video game industry: highly creative and less prone to commoditized, winner-takes-all battles. He believes the key lies in detecting and solving unmet user needs faster than the competition.
“This is an industry that prizes both creativity and engineering. You have to constantly find new user pain points and solve them, whether through software or through deep integration of chips, materials, and hardware,” Liu said.
That mindset has driven product innovation and higher marketing spend, even at the expense of short-term profit.
From January to March 2025, Insta360 recorded revenue of RMB 1.36 billion (USD 190.4 million), up 40.7% year-on-year. But net income attributable to shareholders fell 2.5%, and net income excluding non-recurring items dropped 4.79%.
The company cited rising investment in R&D and sales as the main reasons. R&D expenses rose by 3.21 percentage points of revenue, while marketing spend increased by 3.18 percentage points.
For Insta360, staying competitive means staying relentless.
Defending the moat
Going public often brings attention as well as capital. For Insta360, it also means facing deeper scrutiny.
With DJI stepping up, capital markets expect not just resilience but a forward-looking strategy.
“Insta360 has a deep foundation in panoramic imaging, and it’s not something that can be replicated overnight. Most companies start with action cameras. DJI is no exception,” said an industry insider.
The camera module is the costliest part of a smart imaging device, making up nearly 58.5% of total costs. Of those components, only the optical lenses are sourced domestically in China. Most chips and sensors are still imported.
This leaves software as the clearest space for differentiation.
From 2022–2024, Insta360 invested RMB 1.48 billion (USD 207.2 million) in R&D, consistently allocating roughly 13.16% of revenue to product development. In 2024 alone, R&D spending rose 73.5%. By year’s end, 57.68% of its workforce was in R&D roles, among the highest on the STAR Market.
Insta360 holds over 900 patents, including 189 for inventions. Its core stack spans panoramic stitching, FlowState stabilization, and artificial intelligence-driven image processing.
According to Huaan Securities, Insta360 is positioning AI at the core of its next phase of technology development. Its proprietary features include keyframe tagging, deep tracking, motion lapse, and “bullet time.” The company has also begun investing in high-performance chips and AI infrastructure.
Many of these features serve one goal: helping users generate cinematic, shareable content more easily. That has been key to moving panoramic cameras from niche to mainstream.
Compared to standard action cameras, panoramic lenses are harder to use. But Insta360 recognized that most users don’t just want a camera. They want great content, and fast.
One standout feature is the invisible selfie stick, which takes advantage of 360-degree video to erase the stick from the final image, making the footage look like it was captured by a drone or another person. The same applies to visual effects like bullet time or “tiny planet perspective.”
Insta360’s innovation lay in turning a new viewing angle into new creative possibilities. This helped flatten the learning curve for users, and broaden the market.
But in recent years, product innovation at the feature level began to stall.
Liu explained why: “For a long time, we focused on creative features. But we realized many users were getting stuck on basic functionality even before they could explore the cool stuff. So for the past two years, we invested in solving foundational pain points in specific usage scenarios.”
These included better sound capture at high speeds and underwater reliability. “Now that those issues are mostly resolved, we’re shifting resources back to creative features, and hiring more designers,” Liu told 36Kr.
In the past, Insta360 avoided direct confrontation with DJI and GoPro by leaning into panoramic tech. It then leapfrogged them by building AI-powered tools like FlashCut to make video editing easier.
That head start and technical foresight have kept it ahead—until now.
With DJI and newcomers like Dreame entering the space, competition is heating up, and users now have more options. The field is no longer dominated by a single brand.
Liu sees GoPro’s early success as proof that demand for action cameras is real and lasting. But looking ahead, he believes the toughest competition won’t come from overseas rivals, but from domestic challengers.
The real test? Competing in a category as nuanced and creative as imaging, without resorting to price wars.
“I think that’s what makes this worth doing,” Liu said. “It’s a challenge that matters.”
KrASIA Connection features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This article was written by Leslie Zhang for 36Kr.