At the start of 2026, the espresso trade acquired its first funding.
NOWWA COFFEE introduced yesterday (the twenty sixth) that it has accomplished tons of of thousands and thousands of yuan in Series C financing. This spherical of financing attracted a number of establishments akin to Legend Capital, Shengwang Fund, Huaying Capital, Challenger Venture Capital, Yuanxing Capital, and GSR Ventures.
According to the enterprise info on the Qichacha APP reported by the Science and Technology Innovation Daily, NOWWA COFFEE has accomplished seven rounds of financing since its institution, bringing collectively institutional buyers together with 37 Interactive Entertainment, Yuanxing Capital, Boli Venture Capital, GSR Ventures, SIG Asia Investment, Belle Group’s Consumer Fund, Shengjing Jiacheng Mother Fund, and Yongshan Tianji.
Notably, NOWWA COFFEE introduced final December that the variety of its shops had exceeded 10,000, making it the fourth espresso model in China to enter the “10,000 – store club” after Luckin, Cotti, and Xingyun Kafei.
Enter the espresso market with the “store – in – store” mannequin
On January twenty seventh, when a reporter from the Science and Technology Innovation Daily visited Chongqing, it was discovered that the majority NOWWA COFFEE retailers arrange joint – operation counters in comfort shops akin to Mei Yijia and 24 Ke. Around 6 p.m. that day, the reporter entered a Mei Yijia comfort retailer within the Jiefangbei enterprise district of Yuzhong District, Chongqing, and the NOWWA COFFEE joint – operation counter was subsequent to the cashier.
“Most of the orders are from takeaways, and there are very few in – store orders,” a clerk on responsibility on the retailer advised the reporter from the Science and Technology Innovation Daily. They work in three shifts, and in his shift, they solely promote twenty or thirty cups a day.
This situation is an actual microcosm of NOWWA COFFEE’s “store – in – store” mannequin being built-in into the day by day consumption chain.
During the investigation, the reporter seen that this seemingly peculiar joint – operation retailer is the important thing strategic implementation for NOWWA COFFEE to enter the market with the “coffee + convenience store” mannequin and obtain speedy giant – scale enlargement.
According to the Science and Technology Innovation Daily and the Qichacha APP, the principle physique of the NOWWA COFFEE model is Zhejiang Lixing Technology Co., Ltd., which was established in 2019 with a registered capital of 12.739 million yuan.
At its inception, NOWWA COFFEE selected the asset – gentle “store – in – store” mannequin as its entry level. With its low funding and simple – to – replicate traits, the model was in a position to shortly develop and full its early nationwide market format.
It is known that in 2022, NOWWA COFFEE tried to concentrate on the operation of unbiased shops, aiming to boost the offline model recognition and strengthen the terminal shopper notion. However, restricted by exterior elements such because the rising lease of business actual property and the continual enhance in labor prices in China, the enlargement pace and profitability of unbiased shops didn’t meet expectations.
At the tip of 2024, NOWWA COFFEE re – outlined its enlargement technique, refocused on the “store – in – store” mannequin, and accelerated its scale enlargement with joint – operation franchising because the core. This adjustment additionally turned an necessary turning level for NOWWA COFFEE to change into a model with 10,000 shops.
Notably, in September 2024, when NOWWA COFFEE CEO Guo Xingjun was interviewed by the Science and Technology Innovation Daily, the variety of its shops was lower than 2,000. But in December final 12 months, NOWWA COFFEE formally introduced that the entire variety of its shops had exceeded 10,000, overlaying greater than 300 cities in China and being established in lots of abroad areas akin to Australia and Southeast Asia.
“Currently, the proportion of franchised stores is over 80%. In the future, we will adopt flexible strategies according to different market demands to build a store ecological network including various store types,” a related particular person from NOWWA COFFEE advised the reporter from the Science and Technology Innovation Daily. The model developed quickly final 12 months, with greater than 1,800 new shops opened in a single month.
The reporter from the Science and Technology Innovation Daily discovered that the core companions of the franchised shops embrace Mei Yijia and Youke, forming a joint – operation community overlaying main cities throughout the nation.
Zhu Danpeng, an analyst within the Chinese meals trade, stated in an interview with the media that the rise of NOWWA COFFEE is progressive and distinctive. “Relying on the small, fast, and flexible ‘store – in – store’ model, NOWWA COFFEE quickly established a scale advantage in the highly competitive coffee market. At the same time, by leveraging the existing traffic and venue resources of convenience stores, the brand further reduced the store investment cost and achieved a win – win and multi – win situation with joint – operation partners such as convenience stores.”
Where will the espresso trade go after reaching the ten,000 – retailer scale?
After Xingyun Kafei introduced that it had exceeded 10,000 shops on the finish of November final 12 months, NOWWA COFFEE additionally introduced that the entire variety of its international shops had exceeded 10,000, overlaying greater than 300 cities in China and abroad markets akin to Southeast Asia and Australia. Since then, manufacturers akin to Luckin, Cotti, Xingyun Kafei, and NOWWA COFFEE have entered the espresso “10,000 – store club”.
According to information from Narrow Door Food Service, a 3rd – celebration information service supplier, as of January twentieth, Luckin has 30,731 shops nationwide, Cotti has 16,485 shops, Xingyun Kafei has 8,420 shops, NOWWA COFFEE has 7,693 shops, and Starbucks has 8,667 shops. Currently, the per – capita consumption of Luckin is 14.28 yuan, Cotti is 10.35 yuan, Xingyun Kafei is 8.23 yuan, NOWWA COFFEE is 16.92 yuan, and Starbucks is 35.89 yuan.
An individual in control of shopper – sector funding in an funding establishment advised the Science and Technology Innovation Daily that the “numbers game” of the variety of shops is a standard technique for espresso chain manufacturers to hurry in the direction of capitalization. Brand house owners typically embrace signed however unopened shops within the statistical scope, utilizing the time distinction to blur the information. This operation shouldn’t be unusual amongst chain manufacturers akin to new tea drinks. As lengthy as a model shouts the slogan of 10,000 shops, it principally meets the essential situations for capitalization.
The above – talked about particular person in control of shopper – sector funding analyzed to the reporter from the Science and Technology Innovation Daily that evaluating the espresso and new tea drink industries, their enterprise fashions are primarily the identical, each counting on the franchise chain mannequin for revenue, and there’s a phenomenon of product crossover between manufacturers – Luckin sells milk tea, and the espresso merchandise of Guming have additionally acquired good evaluations. However, the edge for the espresso trade is increased, and it’s troublesome for small and medium – sized groups to interrupt via. Even Miss Fresh has invested 2 billion yuan within the espresso enterprise.
The particular person additional analyzed that from a revenue perspective, because the uncooked supplies for milk tea are standardized industrial merchandise, giant – scale procurement can scale back prices. However, espresso depends upon espresso beans, an agricultural product, with giant fluctuations in uncooked materials costs. The distribution gross revenue of espresso is decrease than that of milk tea, and it’s tougher to make a revenue. Although there are issues akin to severe homogenization and excessive revenue – making problem within the espresso trade, it’s nonetheless the main focus of capital consideration because of the addictive nature of the product and the repeatedly rising market demand. “In the future, the differentiated competition of brands will focus on dimensions such as price – band positioning and channel location selection. Only players with both scale advantages and profitability can stand firm in the wave of capitalization.”
At the node when espresso manufacturers are successively hitting the ten,000 – retailer scale, Zhu Danpeng, an analyst within the Chinese meals trade, predicted that the Chinese espresso market will enter the model – solidification stage in 2028.
He stated that model impact, scale impact, fan impact, and provide – chain integrity will change into the important thing elements figuring out the sustainable improvement of espresso enterprises.
In his opinion, among the many 4 core elements, the load of provide – chain integrity is especially distinguished. This could be seen from the efficiency of Miss Fresh within the capital market. As a brand new tea – drink big, Miss Fresh has constructed a stable price and operation barrier via its international – overlaying provide – chain system, which not solely helps the speedy enlargement of its espresso model but in addition instantly promotes its inventory worth to stay excessive for a very long time, changing into a typical case to confirm the worth of the provision chain.
This article is from the WeChat public account “Venture Capital Daily”, writer: Xu Cihao, printed by 36Kr with authorization.