An EZVIZ visit in Hangzhou takes a delegation to one of the largest smart home camera businesses in the world. EZVIZ Network was founded in 2015, is headquartered in Hangzhou's Binjiang district, and listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange's STAR Market under 688475 in 2022 as a spin-off from Hikvision, the world's largest video surveillance equipment maker. In 2025 it reported revenue of about 5.90 billion yuan and net profit attributable to shareholders of about 567 million yuan.
The commercial reason to go is the shift in the revenue mix. Overseas revenue was about 2.338 billion yuan in 2025, up 22.27 per cent and 39.61 per cent of the total, and reached 42.89 per cent in the first half of 2026. A Chinese consumer camera brand now sells nearly half its output outside China, at a higher gross margin than at home. That is worth seeing.
The second thing to look at is the platform. About a fifth of revenue comes from an IoT cloud service with more than 360 million connected devices, which changes the economics and the retention profile of the customer base compared with hardware-only peers.
China Innovation Visits coordinates the Hangzhou programme, including the company reception, scheduling, local transport and English interpretation.
Key takeaways
- See the smart home camera, smart entry and cloud platform businesses that make up the company.
- Understand why overseas revenue matters: about 43 per cent of the business in the first half of 2026, at a higher margin than domestic.
- Walk the whole-home demonstration: cameras, locks, doorbells and sensors working as one system.
- Examine the platform numbers: more than 360 million connected IoT devices, over 300 million of them video devices.
- Look at the privacy features built into the products: on-device processing, encrypted transmission and privacy masking.
- Compare with a Hikvision overview on the parent group, or a Dahua AIoT visit on the other large Chinese video company.
Why visit EZVIZ in Hangzhou?
Smart home cameras are a category where Chinese companies lead on both manufacturing and software, and EZVIZ is one of the two or three names that shaped it. The business is instructive because it is not purely hardware: about a fifth of revenue comes from an IoT cloud platform, which changes the economics and the retention profile of the customer base.
It is also a clean example of a spin-off that has built its own brand, channels and overseas business on top of a manufacturing heritage — the part of the story most relevant to delegations studying how Chinese hardware groups separate consumer brands from their parents.
Hangzhou is the right setting. The city is the home of China's video and IoT cluster, and the visit pairs naturally with other programmes there, including an Ecovacs home robotics visit on the robot side of Chinese home hardware.
Company background
A 2015 spin-off that listed in 2022
EZVIZ was founded in 2015 within the Hikvision group and listed on the STAR Market in 2022. It designs and sells smart home cameras, smart entry products including locks and video doorbells, and related cloud services.
Its indirect controlling shareholder is China Hikvision Group — the heritage of the group behind the world's largest video surveillance equipment maker, with the manufacturing depth and supply chain that implies. Since listing, the company has been building its own brand, retail channels and overseas business on that base.
What it sells
By business line in the first half of 2026: smart home cameras about 1.578 billion yuan, or 52.48 per cent; IoT cloud platform about 643 million yuan, or 21.39 per cent; smart entry about 559 million yuan, or 18.59 per cent; and other business about 226 million yuan, or 7.54 per cent.
By channel, dealers were about 54.20 per cent, e-commerce platforms about 21.73 per cent, and the cloud platform about 21.39 per cent.
The platform is the part worth understanding. The company reports more than 360 million IoT devices connected to it, of which more than 300 million are video devices. Device counts are not revenue, but they indicate what kind of company this is becoming.
The 2025 results
Revenue and profit
Revenue was about 5.901 billion yuan in 2025, up 8.44 per cent. Net profit attributable to shareholders was about 567 million yuan, up 12.43 per cent, and profit excluding non-recurring items was about 524 million yuan.
Gross margin was 44.18 per cent and net margin 9.60 per cent. Three-year revenue compound growth was 11.07 per cent and three-year net profit compound growth 19.32 per cent — which, unlike many of the companies in this series, means this one has actually compounded.
Cash
Operating cash flow was about 1.120 billion yuan in 2025, up 104.30 per cent, with net profit cash content of about 198 per cent. Cash roughly double profit is a good sign for a hardware business, and it is worth asking how much comes from the platform's deferred revenue.
Financial structure is conservative: debt-to-asset ratio 36.09 per cent, weighted average return on equity 10.09 per cent, earnings per share 0.72 yuan, and a dividend of 0.4 yuan per share.
Overseas: the growth engine
The number
Domestic revenue was about 3.53 billion yuan in 2025, up 1.25 per cent, with gross margin up 2.07 percentage points to 43.09 per cent. Overseas revenue was about 2.338 billion yuan, up 22.27 per cent, reaching 39.61 per cent of the total against 35.13 per cent a year earlier, with gross margin of 46.18 per cent, up 1.73 percentage points and higher than domestic.
The pattern is clear: the export market is growing faster and more profitably than the home market, and in the first half of 2026 overseas reached 42.89 per cent. Local teams in North America, Europe and Southeast Asia adapt products and marketing for each market.
Privacy by design
The products build privacy in as a feature rather than an afterthought: AI processing on the device itself, encrypted transmission, and privacy masking that lets a camera ignore designated areas. For a delegation from Europe or another regulated market, this is the part of the product worth examining directly — it is what determines what can be sold where, and it is a genuine engineering capability rather than a compliance checkbox.
Research and development
R&D expense was about 862 million yuan in 2025, up 5.99 per cent, equal to 14.61 per cent of revenue — a high figure for consumer hardware. R&D staff numbered 1,446, or 31.99 per cent of headcount, with total R&D compensation of about 669 million yuan and average R&D compensation of about 463,000 yuan, up 8.69 per cent.
Selling expense was about 994 million yuan, up 15.8 per cent, reflecting continued domestic and overseas market expansion. Note that selling expense now exceeds R&D expense, which is normal for a consumer brand in an expansion phase and worth noting for anyone modelling the business.
The company has applied AI and large model work to camera functions including human detection, face recognition and pet detection, and describes on-device processing, encrypted transmission and privacy masking features.
The headline output is the EZVIZ Blue Ocean large model, which the company presents as the first embodied AI model for the home industry, running on its HomePlay OS across cameras, locks and other devices in the home.
The same work reaches the product line: a full range of 4G battery cameras — outdoor PTZ units, indoor pan-tilt models and cube-form cameras — with AOV low-power recording modes, built-in SIM connectivity and battery life of up to 40 days per charge, for installations where mains power is not an option.
What a visit covers
The standard programme
| Time | What happens |
|---|---|
| 09:30–10:00 | Registration and exhibition hall: the company and its product range |
| 10:00–11:00 | Technical briefing on AI vision: detection, recognition and how false alerts are reduced |
| 11:00–12:00 | Whole-home smart scenario demonstration: cameras, locks, doorbells and sensors working as one system |
| 14:00–15:30 | Introduction to the EZVIZ open platform |
| 15:30–17:00 | Discussion with management on building a smart home ecosystem |
Timings are confirmed with the host when the booking is approved, and the final scope is confirmed in writing during planning, before you commit.
The whole-home demonstration is the part that makes the product strategy legible: cameras, locks, doorbells and sensors working as one system rather than as separate devices. Most stations are hands-on, and delegates can try the locks, cameras and recognition features directly with staff guiding each stop.
Who it suits
The visit suits consumer electronics, retail, smart home and IoT delegations, property and hospitality groups evaluating systems, and investors studying how a Chinese hardware group runs both a device business and a platform business.
Practical notes
- The visit is a business programme. Delegations are received as professional visitors and follow the host's rules.
- Booking requires approval in advance. Foreign participants normally need to be registered with the host ahead of time, and that process is longer than for domestic visitors; allow additional working days for the paperwork.
- Provide the participant list, nationalities and industry focus early; the technical depth of the briefing is adjusted to suit.
- Photography rules are confirmed in advance; some areas carry confidentiality requirements. Tell us during planning if you need images for internal reporting.
- Smart casual is appropriate. The programme involves walking through exhibition and technical areas.
- English interpretation can be arranged, including specialist preparation on IoT and smart home terminology. Bilingual materials and an English summary can be prepared on request.
Questions before an EZVIZ visit in Hangzhou
Is the visit open to international business delegations? Yes, subject to advance arrangements and confirmation by the host. Registration of foreign participants takes extra time, so we recommend planning at least 30 days ahead.
What is the group size? Visits are normally arranged for groups of 10 or more. We confirm the practical maximum with the host for your date.
How long does the visit take? The standard programme runs about two hours, covering the exhibition hall, a technical briefing, product demonstrations and a discussion.
What are the main product lines? Smart home cameras at about 52 per cent of revenue, the IoT cloud platform at about 21 per cent, smart entry products including locks and video doorbells at about 19 per cent, and other smart home devices.
How much of the business is overseas? About 39.6 per cent in 2025 and about 42.9 per cent in the first half of 2026, at a gross margin higher than the domestic business.
What is the relationship with Hikvision? EZVIZ was spun out of Hikvision and listed on the STAR Market in 2022, carrying the manufacturing and supply chain heritage of the group behind the world's largest video surveillance equipment maker.
How large is the company? Revenue was about 5.90 billion yuan in 2025, up 8.44 per cent, with net profit of about 567 million yuan and 1,446 R&D staff.
Do participants need a technical background? No. The visit can be approached through consumer electronics, retail, IoT, property, procurement or investment, and terminology is handled through interpretation.
Is English interpretation provided? Yes, including preparation on IoT and smart home terminology, and bilingual handouts can be arranged.
What documentation is needed in advance? A participant list with passport details for foreign visitors, submitted to the host for registration, plus the delegation's industry focus. We tell you the lead time for your specific group.
Does the programme always run as described? It is built around the elements above. Facilities and areas opened on the day are subject to what the site opens, and we confirm the final scope in writing during planning, before you commit.
Arrange your EZVIZ visit
Tell us your dates, group size and what your team wants to understand: smart home camera hardware, the cloud platform and what a fifth of revenue from software means, smart entry and whole-home systems, privacy by design, or overseas expansion. We confirm the final programme scope with the host in writing during planning.
China Innovation Visits will coordinate the company reception, discussion priorities, transport and English interpretation.
Contact China Innovation Visits to arrange your EZVIZ visit in Hangzhou.