Genki Forest's Financing Journey: Genki Forest Denies New Funding Round Skyrockets Valuation to $4 Billion!

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Genki Forest, the "Dark Horse" of China's Beverage Industry, Reportedly Seeking New Funding Round of $500 Million

On January 25, media reported that Genki Forest is considering a new financing round, seeking to raise $500 million. After completion of this financing round, Genki Forest's valuation could reach at least $4 billion (approximately 25.9 billion RMB).

If the above $500 million financing news is true, this means that Genki Forest's valuation has doubled in less than a year, soaring to $4 billion. This valuation increase may set a new record in the new consumer sector.

In response, a representative from Genki Forest stated: The above information is not true.

According to information from Tianyancha, Genki Forest belongs to Genki Forest (Beijing) Food Technology Group Co., Ltd., established in 2016. It is an innovative internet-based beverage company featuring "0 sugar, 0 fat, 0 calories." Founder Tang Binsen was previously the developer of the game "Happy Farmer." Additionally, before founding Genki Forest, Tang Binsen had established Challenger Capital in 2014.

Genki Forest has secured 4 rounds of financing.

In December 2017, Genki Forest completed an angel financing round led by Challenger Capital;

In August 2018, Genki Forest completed a Series A financing round led by Eagle Point Capital and Gongqingcheng Xingchuang Investment;

In March 2019, Genki Forest completed a Series B financing round led by Fengshang Capital and Qianxian Capital;

On October 31, 2019, a 150 million yuan strategic investment led by Longfor Capital, with participation from Gaorong Capital and Black Ant Capital, was disclosed.

Among these, the amounts for the angel round, Series A, and Series B financing were not disclosed, with only the specific financing amount being revealed in October 2019.

However, after these 4 rounds of financing, in July 2020, media reported that Genki Forest was about to complete a new financing round.

The reports stated that the new financing round was participated in by Sequoia China and Genesis Capital, with some existing shareholders following up. The post-investment valuation was approximately $2 billion (approximately 14 billion RMB), but Genki Forest officials did not respond to financing-related news at that time.

In December 2020, Genki Forest also recruited Ran Hao, former HRD of Luckin Coffee. This news immediately attracted external attention, with industry professionals stating that this was a prelude to Genki Forest's entry into the billion-dollar coffee market. On December 17 of the same year, Liu Zhen, former Senior Vice President of Corporate Development at Toutiao, also joined Genki Forest. After joining Genki Forest across industries, Liu Zhen is mainly responsible for Genki Forest's overseas business.

Looking at Genki Forest's development history, although Genki Forest has not been established for long, its published sales data have already shown that Genki Forest is a dark horse in China's beverage industry. In 2020, Genki Forest's monthly sales once exceeded 400 million yuan. At the distributor conference, Genki Forest revealed its offline channel sales target for 2021, increasing from last year's 2.1 billion to 7.5 billion yuan. Tang Binsen, the head of Genki Forest, also revealed at the distributor conference that Genki Forest still has 95% of its products yet to be launched, and 2021 will be Genki Forest's "big year for products," with R&D expenses and R&D personnel both being 3 times that of 2020.

Undoubtedly, Genki Forest is developing toward multi-category and multi-brand directions. "Not wanting to be just an internet-famous brand" is not just talk. Perhaps the biggest dark horse in the beverage industry is about to emerge?

*Image source: Internet*

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