Who Owns Insta360?

Liu Jingkang, a computer science graduate of Nanjing University, started the company in Shenzhen in 2015 with a small team, targeting 360-degree cameras just as the category was forming around early VR hype. Liu had earned national attention as a student for a technical prank involving a tech CEO's phone number, and made the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia list in 2017.

The first consumer product attached a 360 camera to a smartphone, but the breakthrough was recognizing that 360 capture was really about reframing: shoot everything, choose the angle later. That software-led insight produced the ONE series and, crucially, the invisible selfie stick effect where the camera erases the stick from footage, which became the brand's signature viral demonstration.

Product lines matured into clear families. The X series (now at X5) became the flagship 360 camera. The GO series of thumb-sized wearable cameras created its own subcategory. The Ace Pro line, co-engineered with Leica starting in 2023, took on GoPro's core action camera market directly. The company also extended into adjacent creator hardware: Link webcams and the Flow smartphone gimbal.

Revenue scaled steeply: RMB 1.33 billion in 2021, 2.04 billion in 2022, 3.64 billion in 2023, and 5.57 billion yuan (about $780 million) in 2024, a roughly 65 percent compound rate. Net income reached 946 million yuan in 2024. More than 70 percent of sales come from outside China, and products are distributed through more than 10,000 retail doors across 60-plus countries.

On June 11, 2025, Arashi Vision listed on the STAR Market, raising 1.94 billion yuan in the board's largest IPO in 17 months. Liu rang the opening bell holding an Insta360 camera. Through 2025 and into 2026 the company kept spending heavily on R&D, roughly 13 percent of revenue, with about 58 percent of employees in research roles, and continued expanding its action camera line against GoPro and DJI.