Milk tea is the favorite of many people, and now the market has added a "drinking" unicorn. Recently, Shuyi Burned Immortal Grass has received more than 600 million yuan of investment, with a valuation of 10 billion yuan. According to Tianyan' investigation, this investment is equity financing, and the investors are three funds, Nameless Inuyasha, Chengdu, Sichuan, Hunan Shudaicao, and Qingdao Nuowei.
As new tea drinks continue to heat up in recent years, this track not only gave birth to the first stock of new tea drinks such as Nesher's tea, but also became the leader in the industry with a valuation of 60 billion yuan. However, recently, the head brands have frequently reported "bad news", Naixue's tea continues to lose money, and Xicha is caught in a layoff storm. At this time, shuyi xiancao, who was in the waist, obtained financing and became a new unicorn.
From the head to the waist, what changes has the logic of the capital market for new tea drinks? What changes will the future market structure of new tea drinks usher in?
Ten billion new unicorns are born
According to the data, Shuyi Xiancao belongs to Sichuan Shuyi Catering Management Co., Ltd., headquartered in Chengdu, the southwest economic center, and the founder is Wang Bin. In 2007, Wang Bin founded the tea brand 85 °Ctea, and after the business situation was opened, he was sued by the baking brand 85 °C for trademark infringement. In 2017, 85°Ctea changed its name to Shuyi Yakisen grass, and then took the best-selling single yakit herb as the main product to open up the market.
The upstream news reporter noted that compared with the high-end route of Xi tea and Nai Xue's tea, the positioning of shuyi roasted immortal grass is more close to the people, and about ten yuan can take away a cup of "half a cup is material" roasted immortal grass milk tea. Therefore, the brand is also widely popular with student parties and white-collar workers, and is widely present in places such as schools, office buildings, and core business districts.
At present, the number of shuyi roasted immortal herbs in domestic stores has reached more than 7,000, which is the second largest tea brand in China after The Honey Snow Ice City with more than 10,000 stores.
This round of financing involves three funds in Chengdu, Sichuan, Xinjin, Hunan Shudaicao, and Qingdao Nuowei, and there are many well-known investors behind them. Among them, Xinjin Yiwu was established by Absolute Taste Food, Qiaqia Food, Tencent, Keming Food, etc.; Hunan Shudaicao was jointly funded by Qiaqia, Everbright Holdings and Absolute Taste Food; and the investors of Nuowei Qidingkai include Trout, the strategic positioning company, and Jinpai, the parent company of Jinjiu.
After the completion of this round of financing, the valuation of Shuyi Burning Immortal Grass will reach 10 billion yuan, and it has also become a new unicorn in this field.
However, Shuyi Xiancao is not the first mid-waist brand to receive the attention of capital. At the beginning of 2021, Mi Xue Bingcheng completed the first round of financing, jointly led by Dragon Ball Capital and Hillhouse Capital, with a valuation of more than 20 billion yuan. In October 2021, Michelle Ice City announced that it has accepted listing counseling and plans to land on the domestic A-share market. As a brand second only to Mi xue bingcheng in terms of domestic scale, Shuyi Burnt Immortal Grass will undoubtedly continue to accelerate its layout and gain a greater sense of "presence" in the field of new-style tea.
The mid-rise is getting more and more attention
At the end of June 2021, Nesher's tea successfully landed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, becoming the first new tea drink in China. Immediately after July 2021, Heytea completed a new round of financing of US$500 million, with a valuation of 60 billion yuan. In October of the same year, Michelle Ice City announced that it had entered the listing counseling period and was about to land on the A-share market.
Not only the giants move frequently, but also mid-waist brands such as Ancient Tea, Shanghai Auntie, Ten Tea Nine Wood, and 7 Points Sweet have also received frequent attention. Statistics show that in the first half of 2021 alone, there were 15 financing incidents for tea brands, with a disclosure amount of more than 5 billion yuan, and the financing events and disclosure amounts were higher than in the whole of 2020, most of which were concentrated in the middle waist brand.
However, the growing enthusiasm of capital for new tea drinks has intensified the competition in the industry. Especially from the performance of the head enterprises, the situation is not optimistic. On February 8, Nesher's Tea disclosed its performance forecast, and the company expects a net loss of 135 million yuan to 165 million yuan in 2021. Soon after, Xicha spread a wave of layoffs, and the proportion of layoffs reached 30%. Subsequently, The Response of Xicha was adjusted and optimized by normal personnel, and the news was untrue.
With the high unit price of customers, the tea of Xicha and Naixue has a higher gross profit, but it is still under pressure. Mid-waist brands with low unit prices and high store density will obviously bear greater competition and survival pressure.
In this context, why does capital still insist on increasing the mid-waist brand?
In this regard, Chinese food industry analyst Zhu Danpeng told the upstream news reporter: "Only by relying on first- and second-tier cities, high-valued enterprises such as Hey Tea and Naixue's Tea can emerge." There is also a broader low-tier market in China, and there are many consumers who have demand for affordable tea, and the value of the latter market has not yet been fully tapped. Then, the waist brand represented by the book and the burning fairy grass has its value. ”
He said that although the current competition for new tea drinks has intensified, overall, the capital side is still full of confidence in this field. "If you are not optimistic about this area, there is no possibility of increasing the size."
Xu Xiongjun, a strategic positioning expert and founder of Jiude Positioning Consulting Company, said: "Compared with the main direct sales model of Xicha and Naixue's tea, brands with evaluation positioning such as Mixue Ice City and Shuyi Burning Immortal Grass generally open up the market with the mode of direct operation combined with joining, with faster layout and more consumers. With the blessing of the scale effect, it is difficult for capital not to pay attention to these brands. With the help of the power of capital, enterprises that take this model can be more standardized, while accelerating its layout and obtaining greater market space. ”
More listed companies will emerge
According to the "2021 China New Tea Industry Analysis Report" released by Ai Media Consulting, the size of China's new tea market in 2020 is 184.03 billion yuan, and it is expected that the size of China's new tea market will reach 279.59 billion yuan in 2021 and will exceed 300 billion yuan by 2022. From the perspective of market size, although the growth rate of new tea drinks has slowed down in the past few years, it still has great potential as a 100-billion-level market.
Some insiders have analyzed that the capital side of the new tea drink is the increase in the hope of cultivating more listed companies. In addition to the tea of Nai Xue, which has been listed, Xi Tea and Michelle Ice City have repeatedly reported listing plans. It is worth mentioning that since Mi Xue Ice City has been publicly listed, Shuyi Xiancao, as a new-style tea beverage company with positioning and similar scale, does not rule out the possibility of future listing.
Nowadays, when walking to the milk tea consumption gathering area, consumers see most of the national chain brands such as Xicha, Naixue's tea, Michelle Ice City, Shuyi Roasted Immortal Grass, Ancient Tea, Tea Hundred Ways, etc., some of which are regional chain brands, and the figure of independent tea brands can be described as few and few. This shows that market differentiation is intensifying, and head brands will occupy more market share.
Zhu Danpeng said that with the help of capital, more listed companies will emerge in the new tea market, and if they fail to develop and grow in this wave of competition, the future development space will not be optimistic. From the current market competition, the market pattern of new tea drinks has not yet been established, at least until 2025, the industry will still have a certain room for growth.
Xu Xiongjun further pointed out that since the new tea market is concentrating on the head, this trend not only exists in high-end positioning brands, but also in affordable brands. As competition in the industry tends to be fierce, brands should continue to improve service and quality around consumer demand, especially on food safety issues, and still need to do basic skills.
Upstream journalist Tang Xiaowei