Bawang Cha Ji to Go Public in the US; Miniso Considers Spinning Off Toy Brand TOP TOY for Listing; ByteDance's Valuation Rises by About 5% | Venture Capital Landscape
Compiled by | Lan Jie
Busy Money
Western food brand "Pizza First" received an investment of 30 million yuan from Xiaoshu Orange Venture Capital
36Kr learned that recently, Qingdao-based Western food brand Pizza First received an investment of 30 million yuan from Xiaoshu Orange Venture Capital. According to the official introduction, the funds will be used for supply chain subsidies for franchise stores to enhance their profitability and high-quality development.
Luxury e-commerce platform Balaan received an investment of $10.3 million
According to IT Juzi, Balaan recently completed a strategic investment of $10.3 million, with the investor being Silicon2. Balaan focuses on the luxury e-commerce field. By signing contracts with local boutiques in Europe, it enables users to obtain the latest luxury goods at a lower price than overseas within 3 days. Previously, it was caught in a financial crisis due to its aggressive expansion policy.
Pet grooming brand Chongya Bubble Hall recently received a Series A+ financing of 30 million yuan
According to IT Juzi, this round of financing was invested by BARBIEGO, and the funds will be used to open stores, accelerating the implementation of the plan to open 1,000 stores in 100 cities. Its main business is to provide grooming services for pets. In addition, it has launched a business model of "self-service + value-added services", allowing pet owners to bathe their pets by themselves, and the store provides value-added services such as beauty and nail trimming for pet owners with limited experience.
Humanoid robot joint enterprise "Yiyou Technology" announced the completion of a Series A financing of 50 million yuan
This round of financing for Yiyou Technology was jointly led by Pudong Angel Fund under Pudong Venture Capital Group and Zhangke Yaokun Fund under Zhangjiang Science and Technology Investment, with follow-on investments from TCL Venture Capital, Daosheng Capital, and Jintou Zhiyuan under Wuxi Venture Capital. The funds from this round of financing will be mainly used for core technology R & D and production capacity expansion. After this round of financing, the company will move its main body to Shanghai Zhangjiang Robot Valley. The company has currently deployed advanced production capacity in Wuxi Xishan and Shanghai Zhangjiang, and it is expected that the total production capacity will reach 180,000 sets in 2025.
Deep Blue Aerospace completed a financing of hundreds of millions of yuan
Recently, Yingke exclusively learned that Jiangsu Deep Blue Aerospace Co., Ltd. (referred to as "Deep Blue Aerospace") completed a new round of financing, with a total scale of nearly 500 million yuan. This round of financing was led by Tai'an Yuanwang New Energy Industry Investment Fund Partnership (Limited Partnership) under Taishan Industrial Development Investment Group. The funds will be mainly invested in the R & D and commercialization of the "Nebula" series of recyclable liquid rockets, cooperating with the Tai'an aerospace industry cluster to form a synergistic effect and further consolidating Deep Blue Aerospace's technological moat in the field of reusable commercial launch vehicles.
PixVerse has a monthly active user base of 15 million, and Aishi Technology received an exclusive investment from Jingya Capital
36Kr learned that Aishi Technology announced the completion of a Series A5 financing. The cumulative financing amount from Series A1 to A5 exceeded 400 million yuan. This round of financing was exclusively invested by Jingya Capital, and the funds will be mainly used to supplement operating funds, accelerate model and product R & D, and recruit high - end talents. As of now, the global user base of PixVerse, an AI video generation product under Aishi Technology, has exceeded 40 million, and the monthly active users (MAU) reached 15 million, showing strong market growth momentum.
AI travel photography platform Xingchen Yingji received a million - yuan angel round financing
According to IT Juzi, Xingchen Yingji completed a 5.5 - million - yuan angel round financing, led by Guanfeng Capital. Its business includes full - process AI imaging services and providing cultural and tourism digital platforms. The investment amount will be used for R & D, upgrading the real - time rendering ability of the AI engine, and ecological construction.
Company Intelligence
Ba Wang Cha Ji's IPO application in the US has been filed with the CSRC
Following Gu Ming and Mi Xue Bing Cheng, Ba Wang Cha Ji is also on the verge of going public.
According to the CSRC, Ba Wang Cha Ji's overseas IPO has been filed with the CSRC. It plans to issue no more than 64.7319 million common shares and list on the NASDAQ Stock Market or the New York Stock Exchange in the United States. In response, Ba Wang Cha Ji said: It shall be subject to the regulatory disclosure.
As of the end of November 2024, Ba Wang Cha Ji had more than 6,000 stores globally. Before this IPO attempt, Ba Wang Cha Ji had gone through multiple rounds of financing, with investors including XVC, Fosun, Fosun RZ Capital, and Congbi Qiushi. Ba Wang Cha Ji specializes in fresh milk tea made from original tea leaves, and its popular product Boya Juexian can sell 230 million cups a year.
Going public is an answer to Ba Wang Cha Ji's rapid expansion in the past few years and also a "global story of the Oriental Starbucks" it wants to tell well. Its founder Zhang Junjie had the ambition to "open stores in 100 countries" when Ba Wang Cha Ji had not yet expanded beyond Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan. Going public in the US is undoubtedly an important step in its globalization process.
On March 5th, Ba Wang Cha Ji also officially announced the news of opening stores in the United States.
MINISO is considering spinning off its toy brand TOP TOY for a Hong Kong listing
The fruits of the trendy toy market are alluring, especially after Pop Mart verified the potential of this market with its performance.
36Kr learned that according to Bloomberg, people familiar with the matter revealed that MINISO is considering spinning off its toy brand TOP TOY and listing it in Hong Kong, which may raise about $300 million in funds.
Earlier, when MINISO was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange for the second time in July 2022, Ye Guofu said, "I hope TOP TOY can be listed independently within 3 years."
In addition, in 2024, MINISO stated that it had clarified its brand strategy for the next decade - shifting from cost - effective consumption to interest - based consumption, positioning itself as a "global IP co - branded collection store", with the vision of becoming the world's number one IP design retail group. The spin - off and listing of TOP TOY is undoubtedly an important step in its strategic transformation.
ByteDance's valuation increased by about 5% to $315 billion
According to Reuters on March 5th local time, people familiar with the matter revealed that ByteDance launched a new round of stock repurchase plan for its US employees this week. The repurchase price per share of ByteDance is $189.9, an 11% increase from the $171 per share in the stock repurchase plan a year ago, and also higher than the $181 per share in the repurchase plan six months ago. Correspondingly, ByteDance's valuation reached $315 billion, while the market value corresponding to the previous round of option repurchase was about $300 billion.
Under the ban crisis in the United States, ByteDance still has confidence in its overseas business, setting aggressive goals and also increasing its expansion plans in other regions outside the United States.
Previously, according to "LatePost" on February 13th, the TikTok e - commerce team set a growth target of nearly 100% in 2025. Among them, the US market is given the most expectations, with a growth target of nearly 200% - if TikTok can still operate in the United States more than a month later.
Future Ideas
North American sportswear brand Vuori enters JD.com
36Kr learned that the official JD.com flagship store of North American sportswear brand Vuori will open in early March, presenting multiple products including the new BlissBlend Form™ series. This marks an important milestone in the brand's expansion in the Chinese market.
Entering JD.com is an important step for Vuori to explore the Chinese market. Before this, the brand had opened two stores in Shanghai's core commercial areas - Jing'an Kerry Centre and Grand Gateway 66.
According to the industry report "Sports and Fitness Apparel - Global Market Trajectory and Analysis" released by the Global Industry Analysts (GIA), the scale of the Chinese sports and fitness apparel market will reach $27 billion in 2026, with a compound annual growth rate of 7.3%, indicating a vast market. In addition, Vuori entered the market through niche categories such as "water sports" and "tennis - specific", forming a differentiated competition with lululemon, a sportswear brand that dominates the yoga field.
However, whether it can expand its consumer audience and enhance brand awareness through the JD.com e - commerce platform remains to be tested by time.
Xiaohongshu recently officially launched its first independent development competition
36Kr learned that recently, Xiaohongshu officially announced the launch of its first independent development competition.
The competition has two tracks: "Treasure App" and "Best AI Project", with a maximum prize of 500,000 yuan. At the same time, 100 "Xiaohongshu 2025 Shining Developers" will be selected from all applicants. In addition to a million - yuan prize pool and traffic support, winning developers also have the opportunity to receive guidance from developer experts. It is reported that the number of technology - related content posts on Xiaohongshu has increased by nearly 150% in half a year, and the reading volume of related content has increased by more than 200% in half a year.
In terms of user audience, Xiaohongshu has always hoped to diversify its mainly female - oriented user profile. In terms of community content supply, it is no secret that Xiaohongshu has increased the supply of general entertainment - related vertical content such as games, digital products, and technology within the app.
The launch of the first independent development competition is another step in Xiaohongshu's past efforts to break into new markets.
The Douyin app is trying to access the AI capabilities of the Doubao app
After major Internet apps have successively accessed DeepSeek, ByteDance did not follow the trend but chose to face the competition head - on.
It is reported that the Douyin app recently tested accessing the AI capabilities of the Doubao app and opened two super entrances for the Doubao app within the Douyin app. One is located on the short - video interface, in the same vertical column as functions such as like, comment, and share; the other entrance is located in the message list of the Douyin app.
In response, a relevant person in charge of Douyin said that the relevant capabilities are under testing, mainly aiming to provide users with more diverse AI services.
Before the emergence of DeepSeek, Doubao was once the AI dialogue app with the highest monthly active users in China. Of course, this was also boosted by large - scale advertising investment.
Data - Driven Consumption
There is a travel boom among middle - aged and elderly women
36Kr learned that Qunar's big data shows that since 2024, on the Qunar platform, the reservation growth rate of itineraries for women over 50 is the highest, more than doubling. In addition, the growth rate of international air ticket reservations for women reached 1.3 times, 30% higher than that of men; the proportion of women reserving niche travel projects such as glacier hiking, aurora viewing, and whale watching reached nearly 70%. During the off - season of tourism, the number of women reserving business class seats on airplanes increased by 30% year - on - year, and the number of women reserving high - star hotels also increased by 40% compared with 2023.