36Kr Exclusive | "Pengbei Station" Completes 50 Million Yuan in Financing, Aims to Let More People Enjoy "Affordable Starbucks"

Text by | Li Xiaoxia

36Kr learned that the intelligent beverage retail brand "Cheers Station" (operated by Hangzhou Huading Acoustics Technology Co., Ltd.) recently completed a financing of 50 million yuan. The investor is Nantian Digital Finance, a subsidiary controlled by Nantian Information. This round of financing will be mainly used to accelerate the market deployment of machinery and equipment, expand channels, and optimize operations.

"Cheers Station" was launched in 2022 and is a project operated by Hangzhou Huading Acoustics Technology Co., Ltd. As an intelligent retail infrastructure service provider, the latter focuses on the R & D and large - scale operation of AIOT solutions in the unmanned retail field, aiming to make "Cheers Station" the No. 1 brand in the intelligent beverage machine field.

In recent years, Chinese coffee brands led by Luckin have completely ignited the "coffee addiction" of the younger generation with tens of thousands of stores and an extreme cost - effectiveness strategy, driving the Chinese coffee market to expand at a high - speed compound annual growth rate of over 25%.

Data shows that the per capita annual coffee consumption in China reached 22.24 cups in 2024. However, there is a significant structural gap behind this figure, as the per capita consumption in Japan and South Korea is as high as 281 and 353 cups respectively. After local coffee brands have completed market education, this huge market with vast growth potential is calling for more convenient and cost - effective solutions, especially in high - traffic scenarios that are difficult to cover by traditional coffee shops.

The birth of "Cheers Station" coincides with the golden period of the rapid growth of coffee consumption in China.

Not long ago, Starbucks China announced a major move: it will collectively reduce the prices of dozens of products in its three flagship categories - Frappuccino, Iced Shaken Tea, and Tea Latte. Taking the grande size as an example, the average price reduction is about 5 yuan. The price of coffee products remains around 30 yuan.

It is reported that the shared intelligent beverage machine of "Cheers Station" is equipped with capsule coffee from the same source as Starbucks, reducing the price of a cup of coffee that starts at over 20 yuan in stores to 9.9 yuan.

Founder Li Shaoqing told 36Kr that most shared coffee machines on the market have problems such as coffee beans getting damp and being contaminated by pests. "Cheers Station" uses a patented nitrogen - filling and oxygen - removing technology. It carefully selects Arabica coffee beans, grinds them immediately after picking, seals them in capsules, and injects nitrogen, locking in the flavor for up to 18 months.

This not only solves the problems of coffee beans getting damp easily and losing their aroma but also eliminates the food safety hazards that traditional self - service coffee machines are criticized for.

In addition, traditional coffee machines produce a large amount of coffee bean residue, which is prone to mold, and the pipes need to be cleaned frequently. "Cheers Station" can achieve automatic cleaning with just one cleaning capsule. "Our closed - capsule system combined with the automatic cleaning function for each cup ensures the safety of every beverage."

Unstable taste is another major pain point of traditional self - service machines. "Cheers Station"'s solution is a standardized master - level recipe. It has also made great efforts in equipment intelligence. Its beverage machine is embedded with five precision robotic arms, highly simulating the manual production process to ensure the stability and consistency of beverage production. It can also flexibly produce hot and cold drinks, "providing warmth in winter and coolness in summer to meet the needs of different seasons."

"It may not be 100% comparable to the on - site hand - brewed coffee by top baristas, but it can stably reach 90% of the standard of high - quality stores, and every cup is consistent," said Li Shaoqing. This means that consumers can conveniently get a cup of coffee with stable quality and a flavor similar to that of Starbucks stores anytime and anywhere.

However, the ambition of "Cheers Station" is not limited to coffee. It is reported that its single - machine equipment can accommodate up to 20 different SKUs (such as coffee, milk tea, and fruit juice), which means that in addition to a rich selection of coffee, it can also flexibly configure various beverages such as milk tea and fruit juice to meet diverse needs.

The equipment covers an area of less than 1 square meter, but it is a "mini - beverage station" with intelligent functions such as real - time data monitoring and remote operation and maintenance, enabling it to be efficiently deployed in high - traffic scenarios such as airports, high - speed railway stations, office buildings, hospitals, scenic spots, and hotels.

The background of the investor Nantian Digital Finance is quite meaningful. Looking through its shareholder structure, we can see the figure of Yunnan Green Food Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Yunnan Industrial Investment. This company has been deeply involved in Yunnan's coffee fields and is an important partner of Nestle. This connection not only injects 50 million yuan of capital into "Cheers Station" but also opens up huge imagination space in terms of coffee bean supply at the source and industrial chain ecological cooperation, indicating the possibility of a shorter supply chain from high - quality Yunnan coffee beans to a cup of fragrant coffee in consumers' hands.

According to Li Shaoqing, "Cheers Station" has invested nearly 200 million yuan in equipment R & D. After more than a year of market verification and over 60 product iterations, the equipment failure rate has dropped to an extremely low 1‰, and the operation model and location evaluation mechanism are becoming increasingly mature, laying a solid foundation for large - scale replication.

Based on this, "Cheers Station" is fully promoting the "Thousand Cities, Ten Thousand Stores" plan. The company has launched a recruitment campaign for city partners, aiming to cover about 1,000 districts and counties across the country and deploy over 20,000 pieces of equipment.

Luckin has proven the huge market for affordable coffee, and "Cheers Station" wants to replicate this "coffee equality" in a more extensive range of scenarios through intelligent means. As the equipment is deployed, a new coffee experience that combines the quality of Starbucks, extreme cost - effectiveness, and intelligent technology is about to spread across airports, office buildings, hospitals, and communities across the country.