Five consumer companies have received new funding; Mr. Wildman says there are no plans for an IPO; HEYTEA has opened a store at Apple's headquarters | The Vision of Venture Capital and Investment

Compiled by | Lan Jie

Busy Money

The bubble tea brand "Bieyang Paopao" has completed an angel - round financing of tens of millions of yuan

This round of financing was invested by Kaiyuan Capital. The funds will be mainly used for team building and product refinement.

Bieyang Paopao is a newly - established bubble tea brand in 2022. It uses imported Italian raw materials and provides consumers with bubble drink products in flavors such as blood orange, pink grapefruit, lemon, and citrus. Currently, it has launched two major product series, Bieyang Paopao and Bieyang Qinghuan. During the 618 promotion this year, the Bieyang Paopao series ranked among the top 3 fruit - flavored tea drinks on Tmall and the top 9 best - selling tea drinks on Tmall during the 618 period.

The metaverse game developer MiAO has received another investment of hundreds of millions of yuan

On August 4, XD Inc. (02400.HK) issued an announcement, announcing that it will acquire a 5.3% stake in the innovative game company MiAO for $14 million. This transaction means that MiAO's valuation is nearly 2 billion yuan. Gao Rong Capital co - led MiAO's angel - round financing in 2022 and continued to increase its investment in subsequent rounds.

Previously, in November 2022, MiAO received an angel - round investment of hundreds of millions of yuan from Sequoia Capital, Gao Rong Capital, and Monolith.

Wu Meng, the founder of MiAO, used to be the CEO of Giant Network. The founding team has an average of over 15 years of experience in the game and Internet industries. They have successfully developed multiple games with large DAUs from scratch, including leading the research and development of the long - standing game "Bloons TD Battles" with tens of millions of DAUs and hundreds of millions of MAUs, and incubating "Among Us" with millions of DAUs.

MiAO is a metaverse game developer that values the importance of social interaction in games. It has built a diversified game + social platform and launched an open - world voxel game product featuring multiplayer gameplay, providing first - party content mainly based on multiplayer gameplay, and is committed to providing immersive gaming experiences and services for players.

"Liangliang Vision" disclosed a strategic financing of over 100 million yuan for the first time

On August 5, the AR company "Liangliang Vision" confirmed that it completed a strategic financing of over 100 million yuan in March 2025. Due to the involvement of multiple key confidential projects, the company officially announced it after achieving phased results.

This round of financing was led by Yizhuang Industrial Upgrading Fund, followed by Kunshan State - owned Investment and Shaanxi Jinzi Investment. It is understood that this round of financing will be mainly used in three major areas: accelerating the research and development of the next - generation AR glasses and strengthening core advantages such as AR waveguide display, lightweight design, and long - lasting battery life; continuously deepening the layout of the micro - nano optical industry chain and enhancing the independent control ability of core components; cooperating with global industry customers, actively expanding international markets in North America, Europe, and Southeast Asia, constructing diverse application scenarios, and expanding the channel system.

"Xinglian Future" completed a Pre - A round financing of tens of millions of yuan

36Kr learned that "Xinglian Future" recently completed a Pre - A round financing of tens of millions of yuan. This round was led by Zero One Capital (01VC), and old shareholders Zero Yi Capital and Linhe Capital continued to increase their investment. "Xinglian Future" is an overseas - oriented company headquartered in Shenzhen, and its main business is to develop smart collars for pets.

Zero Six Two Nine Culture and Technology received a seed - round financing of millions of yuan from state - owned enterprises

The investors in this financing are Xianyou County Supply and Marketing Investment Group and a digital city Internet service company. Zero Six Two Nine Culture and Technology focuses on the incubation of children's content IPs, with its main businesses including the development of children's reading content, children's cultural and creative trendy toys, innovation of interactive film and game products, and the construction of an IP matrix. The funds from this round will be used for the development of children's reading content, children's cultural and creative trendy toys, innovation of interactive film and game products, and the construction of an IP matrix, further strengthening the company's comprehensive service capabilities in the fields of cultural and creative IPs, trendy toys, and interactive film and games.

Company Intelligence

The ice cream brand Mr. Wildman responded to the rumors and said that there is no listing plan

Behind the rumors is the increasing popularity of consumer investment and financing and the rapid expansion of Mr. Wildman's stores.

On August 6, Cui Jianwei, the founder of Mr. Wildman, responded to the listing rumors: "Mr. Wildman is still very small and has no IPO plan or specific schedule at all. In addition, Mr. Wildman never sets a goal for the number of stores to open. It just wants to run each store steadily and pursue natural and sustainable development."

Previously, some media reported that Mr. Wildman was recruiting financial auditors (for Hong Kong IPO) on the BOSS Zhipin platform. Currently, the relevant recruitment information cannot be found on the BOSS Zhipin platform.

Since this year, under the franchise model, Mr. Wildman's stores have expanded rapidly, and the opening speed far exceeds that of 2024. According to Hongcan Big Data, Mr. Wildman opened more than 160 stores in 2024, but from January to May 2025, the brand has already opened more than 280 stores. According to Mr. Wildman's official WeChat account, as of July 4 this year, the number of Mr. Wildman's stores has exceeded 900, ranking third in the ice cream segment, only after DQ and Bobbi & Stella.

The ice cream market is an industry with low entry barriers but high gross margins, and Mr. Wildman is no exception. According to relevant reports from Blue Whale News, Mr. Wildman's gross margin is over 60%.

Looking back at the development history of Mr. Wildman, which was founded in 2011, its current expansion is, to some extent, due to the popularity of "Gelato".

Compared with a number of Gelato brands, Mr. Wildman's single - product price of about 30 yuan seems affordable. After all, the price of a classic Gelato brand like Venchi's ice cream cone can easily reach over 80 yuan. Compared with ice cream brands with lower unit prices such as DQ, Mr. Wildman has established the consumer perception of Gelato and freshly - made products on the same day, with a reasonable reason for price increases. Coupled with Mr. Wildman's "buy one get one free" promotion after 9 p.m., its price advantage is further highlighted, and the scene of long queues in front of the stores is becoming more and more common.

However, it is not difficult to replicate Mr. Wildman's current successful path, so the need to build a moat through scale advantages has become more urgent.

The cumulative sales of Fat Donglai this year reached 13.585 billion yuan, approaching 80% of last year's total

Fat Donglai, which has not expanded outside Henan, has seen a steady increase in performance.

According to the official website data, as of August 3, the cumulative sales of Fat Donglai this year reached 13.585 billion yuan. Among them, the sales on August 3 reached 67.54 million yuan. In 2024, Fat Donglai's sales were 16.964 billion yuan.

According to Fat Donglai's latest announced performance, among the ten major business formats such as supermarkets, jewelry, department stores, electrical appliances, and clothing, the supermarket still accounts for the largest proportion. As of August 3, the supermarket has achieved sales of 7.411 billion yuan, accounting for about 55%.

At the 2025 China Supermarket Week held at the end of March, China Fund News reported that Yu Donglai, the founder of Fat Donglai, said that Fat Donglai will control its sales target in 2025 within 20 billion yuan, with an expected profit of 1 billion yuan. Calculated based on this, Fat Donglai has currently achieved about 68% of its sales target.

Fat Donglai, which has become well - known for its quality control, service, and the attitude of "treating employees as human beings", is still moving forward steadily along the established path.

Heytea's store in Cupertino, California, USA officially opened

Going overseas has become an inevitable topic for a number of new tea - drinking brands.

Heytea's new store in California, USA, is located near the Apple headquarters. On the opening day, it successfully attracted long queues of customers. Before this, Heytea's store locations were mostly in iconic cities, landmarks, and business districts in developed countries.

Currently, the total number of Heytea's overseas stores has exceeded 100, covering 8 overseas countries including Singapore, the UK, Canada, Australia, Malaysia, the USA, South Korea, and Japan, as well as Hong Kong and Macau of China, spanning 28 overseas cities. In the past year, the number of Heytea's overseas stores has increased by more than 6 times, and in the US market, it has increased from 2 to more than 30.

Heytea targets the European and American markets with strong purchasing power and relatively mature tea - drinking markets as its main overseas expansion areas. The average price of its drinks is generally higher than that in the domestic market, thus implementing the path of brand - oriented overseas expansion. In the past few months, Heytea has also collaborated with international trendy brands such as alexanderwang and Sandy Liang, as well as IPs such as "Identity V" and Yayoi Kusama, further enhancing its international influence.

In addition, Heytea is one of the few new tea - drinking brands that has built its own supply chain locally and cooperated with local suppliers, which reflects its determination and in - depth approach to overseas expansion.

As the competition in the domestic tea - drinking market becomes more intense and the profit margin is continuously compressed, the overseas market has become a must - compete area for a number of brands. The question lies in where to go overseas and in what way, and Heytea has already provided a brand - oriented answer.

TikTok in the US market is testing local - life - related services

According to foreign media Business Insider, TikTok in the US market has reached a cooperation with the online hotel reservation platform Booking.com. Now, platform users can directly book hotels on TikTok.

To promote this service, TikTok has launched a promotion plan called TikTok Go, allowing local merchants such as hotels to pay commissions or provide coupons to creators to promote their businesses.

Previously, 36Kr exclusively reported that TikTok tested local - life services overseas in the middle of last year, with Southeast Asia as the first stop. Currently, the service has been launched in Indonesia and Thailand, mainly targeting food and beverage merchants.

The achievement of this cooperation and the launch of the hotel reservation product seem to be the platform's response to users' demand to travel after seeing a lot of scenery sharing. Through this, the platform can also attract a group of new merchants to place advertisements, thereby promoting the platform's advertising revenue.

For TikTok, it is still too early to expect local - life services to be the "next growth curve", but this is still an opportunity to cultivate user awareness and discover more possibilities for TikTok.

Future Ideas

The world's first embodied intelligent robot 4S store - Robot Mall officially opened on August 8

Similar to a car 4S store, this robot 4S store integrates functions such as robot "sales (Sale), spare - part supply (Sparepart), after - sales service (Service), and information feedback (Survey)".

In addition, this 4S store, located in the Beijing Robot Industrial Park (Yizhuang), will also focus on the full - cycle service needs of products from R & D testing to market application.

After the robot of Unitree Technology that twirled a handkerchief during the Spring Festival Gala became popular, the embodied intelligent robot has become another popular niche track. As a result, relevant competitions, exhibitions, and supporting facilities have also emerged.

Heytea collaborated with the super - popular IP Chiikawa

In this collaboration, Heytea launched three limited - edition drinks and a number of peripheral products. Among them, the limited - edition drinks include "Baked Custard Oolong Ice", "Baked Custard Matcha Ice", and the returning "Matcha Boba Ice", and exclusive cups were designed based on the Chiikawa character images.

On the first day of Heytea's collaboration with "Chiikawa", it topped the hot - search list. The order volume of some stores exceeded 800 cups, and in many places, the products were sold out instantly, and long queues formed.

Collaboration has become a common marketing method among new tea - drinking brands. Chiikawa has a large fan base and has a wide influence in Japan, Hong Kong of China, and the Chinese mainland. The view count of relevant topics on Xiaohongshu has reached 1.4 billion, which coincides with Heytea's current pursuit of growth and internationalization.

This collaboration also took place during the marketing period of the "first cup of milk tea in autumn", adding more popularity to the already bustling tea - drinking track.

Data - Driven Consumption

The summer movie market may see a blockbuster

Data from Maoyan Professional Edition shows that the total box office (including pre - sales) of movies in August 2025 has exceeded 1.5 billion yuan. Among them, "Nanjing Photo Studio" leads the August box - office list and is expected to become a blockbuster movie in the summer season. Currently, "Nanjing Photo Studio" has been released for 16 days, and its total box office has exceeded 2 billion yuan.

Dongguan introduced new policies to promote the trendy - toy industry

At the Dongguan Animation and Trendy - Toy Industry Investment Promotion Conference on August 8, the "Several Measures for Dongguan to Accelerate the Development of the Trendy - Toy and Animation Industries" were officially released. Dongguan will allocate 120 million yuan to support the high - quality development of the trendy - toy and animation industries from four major directions: industrial ecosystem, market expansion, content creation, and cluster development.

The US import volume in June dropped significantly, far exceeding expectations

According to CCTV News, the National Retail Federation (NRF) of the United States said on August 8 local time that affected by the tariff increase of the Trump administration, the US import volume in June decreased by 8.4% year - on - year, far exceeding expectations. Starting from August 7, a number of tariffs officially took effect, and the tax rate on some countries' goods reached as high as 50%. The NRF expects that the total import volume in 2025 will decrease by 5.6% compared with last year. NRF Vice - President Gold warned that tariffs are driving up prices, and the variety of goods will decrease in the future. He called for a trade agreement to reduce tariffs.