New consumer investment and financing in January: 1.8 billion RMB. The money is back, and the direction is more "realistic".

According to an incomplete statistics by iBrandi, in January 2026, a total of 16 new consumer projects announced the completion of financing or mergers and acquisitions, with the total amount exceeding 1.8 billion yuan. Among them, only the acquisition of Yogurt Jar by Mo Yogurt did not disclose the specific amount.

It is worth noting that the financing amounts of several projects reached hundreds of millions or even billions of yuan, and there were also several angel - round and Pre - A - round projects emerging in concentration.

In January 2026, there was an obvious change in the investment and financing of new consumer sectors: the excitement remained, but the "imaginative narrative" was giving way to more definite business paths. Also, food and beverage still took the lead, but "consumer + AI" was rapidly moving forward.

Looking at the segmented tracks, food and beverage remained the most active sector in January. This included the beef rice noodle chain brand "Fen Chuanqi" completing a 100 - million - yuan Series A financing, the chain coffee brand NOWWA COFFEE completing a Series C financing of hundreds of millions of yuan, as well as the lemon tea chain brand "LINLEE" and the vegetarian buffet brand "Sumanxiang". These projects were all concentrated in the stage of "having run through the model and starting to expand the scale".

Meanwhile, the number of AI - related consumer projects increased significantly in January, and the financing amounts were considerable. From AI companion applications, AI toys to home service robots, many projects were at the stage of "having formed the technical capabilities and starting to find consumer - level applications".

Different from the financing of "talking about AI concepts" in 2024 - 2025, the AI - related consumer projects emerging in January were mostly those with "products on the way".

In terms of financing amount, January was not a month of "full bloom", but the concentration of large - scale projects was higher.

NOWWA COFFEE completed a Series C financing of hundreds of millions of yuan, jointly invested by several leading investment institutions; the trendy toy brand Heyone completed a Series A financing of over 100 million yuan; the AI hardware project Natural Selection completed a Series A financing of over 30 million US dollars; the home service robot company Futuring completed an angel - round financing of 200 million yuan; the entertainment content and IP operation company Jason Entertainment completed a strategic financing of hundreds of millions of yuan...

It can be seen that the projects that can really get large - scale financing almost all have two common features: either they have formed a large - scale revenue model, or they have clear industrial - level implementation scenarios.

Of course, one of the most noteworthy projects in January was still NOWWA COFFEE.

As one of the most stably growing brands in the chain coffee track in the past two years, it was not surprising that NOWWA completed its Series C financing. What really deserves attention is that capital is still willing to bet on coffee brands with "clear efficiency models". Different from the coffee business models that emphasize space, experience or brand premium, NOWWA has long bet on parasitic store - opening, the sinking market and a healthy product structure. This model has withstood the dual tests of price wars and expansion speed in the past two years.

To some extent, NOWWA is no longer regarded as a "new consumer coffee brand", but is closer to a standardized catering infrastructure business.

Secondly, what is perhaps worthy of attention is that the pet track continues to "become more practical": from brand stories to technology and services.

SATELLAI completed a tens - of - millions - yuan Series A financing, focusing on global pet intelligent technology; Chongle Go completed a 40 - million - yuan angel - round financing, emphasizing comprehensive pet industry services and introducing the AI convenience store cooperation model.

It can be seen that the pet track is shifting from the "blockbuster brand" narrative to "system capabilities" and "service efficiency". It is no longer just about selling pet food and cat litter, but about building a more comprehensive technology and service network around the entire life cycle of pets.

Then there is AI consumption. It's no longer about talking about the future, but about selling products.

Whether it is an AI companion application, an AI toy or a dual - arm service robot capable of performing household tasks, these projects no longer try to convince the market that "AI will change everything", but directly tell users what they can do for them now.

The change in the attitude of capital is also very direct: it is no longer willing to pay for pure concepts, but for "deliverable product capabilities".

If we summarize the investment and financing of new consumer sectors in January 2026 in one sentence, it may be: New consumer sectors have not withdrawn from the stage, but the window of "telling stories" has truly closed, and the stage of "running the model" is coming.

Whether it is coffee, pets or AI consumption, the projects that can get financing are almost all answering the same question: How can this business still work without emotional dividends?

This may be the real signal that a new year has begun.

1. The financing data is an incomplete statistics by "iBrandi". The disclosure time is used as the standard. Since the new consumer sector covers a wide range, there may be omissions in the statistics.

2. The financing time is calculated based on the media disclosure time.

3. Data sources: Internet information from 36Kr, IT Juzi, etc., and brand submissions. The data is compiled and charted by iBrandi. The source should be indicated when using the pictures and data.

4. For the financing with publicly disclosed amounts, the actual figures are used in the calculation. For the financing with undisclosed amounts, some financing data are estimated values. The calculation method is as follows: For vague amounts, "tens of thousands" = 500,000; "hundreds of thousands" = 3,000,000; "tens of millions" = 30,000,000; "hundreds of millions and above" = 100,000,000; "tens of millions level" = 10,000,000; "hundreds of thousands level" = 1,000,000. 1 US dollar ≈ 7 RMB.

This article is from the WeChat official account "New Consumer Daily" (ID: ibrandi), written by Bale and released by 36Kr with permission.