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Heytea Responds to Rumors About Acquiring Nayuki - What's the Relationship Between Heytea and Nayuki?

Published: 2026-01-27 Author: FrontStreet Coffee

Last Updated: 2026/01/27, 2021 was an active year for the new-style tea market. First came round after round of financing. According to an article by New Consumer Reference, tea brands completed 15 financing deals in the first half of 2021, with disclosed amounts exceeding 5 billion yuan. The number of financing events and disclosed amounts had already surpassed the entire year of 2020. This was followed by Nayuki's Tea becoming the first tea stock to officially list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on June 30th, with each share priced at...

The year 2021 was an active period for the new-style tea beverage market.

First came round after round of financing. According to an article by "New Consumer Reference," tea beverage brands completed 15 financing rounds in the first half of 2021, with disclosed amounts exceeding 5 billion yuan. The number of financing events and disclosed amounts had already surpassed the full year of 2020.

Then, on June 30th, Nayuki debuted as the "first tea beverage stock" on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, priced at HK$19.8 per share. However, this success was short-lived, as the stock broke its issue price on the first day of trading and continued to decline.

On the evening of July 19th, Guanchao New Consumption exclusively reported that Heytea and Genki Forest were interested in acquiring LELECHA, valuing the company at 4 billion yuan, with both parties emphasizing LELECHA's channel value.

According to the annual report released by Heytea this February, by the end of 2020, Heytea had established 695 stores across 61 cities domestically and internationally.

In response to this news, Heytea founder Nie Yunchen stated on his WeChat Moments: "This news is false. While there was indeed contact through intermediaries for a period, we have thoroughly, completely, and resolutely given up after gaining in-depth understanding of their internal situation, business data, and condition."

On July 20th, the topic "Heytea responds to acquiring LELECHA" trended on Weibo. In response, a relevant LELECHA brand representative stated that the news was false, that they are currently developing independently with good business performance, and have no intention of mergers or acquisitions. A Genki Forest representative also responded to a Beijing News reporter, stating that the matter is not true.

Netizens responded to this trending topic with humor and wit.

According to LELECHA's official website, as of July 20, 2021, the LELECHA brand has opened more than 70 stores nationwide.

LELECHA Brand Background

The LELECHA brand was founded in Shanghai in December 2016. Similar to Nayuki, all stores under this brand are directly operated without any form of franchising or agency, making it a new-style tea beverage brand focusing on "tea + soft buns." In June 2017, with "dirty buns" and tea beverages featuring "dirty" elements, the LELECHA brand successfully went viral, leading industry trends.

According to a July 20th report by the International Financial News, LELECHA's recent recruitment information on their official WeChat account mentioned that as of the end of June this year, they had 73 directly operated stores and were accelerating the development of new stores.

According to Tianyancha website data, LELECHA has completed four financing rounds, with the most recent being a strategic financing on July 26, 2020. Previously, on April 3, 2019, they completed a 200 million yuan Pre-A financing round.

According to the "2020 Top 100 Catering Enterprises and Top 500 Catering Stores Analysis Report" released by the China Cuisine Association on June 8th this year, Shanghai Chatian Catering Management Co., Ltd., which owns LELECHA, ranked 74th.

Industry Competition and Controversies

Notably, LELECHA was previously exposed for plagiarizing ChaYueColor in 2019. When LELECHA released a series of new products on their WeChat Official Account that year, netizens responded that their behavior was "unseemly."

Observant netizens discovered that not only were the names similar, but even the designs and product combinations showed a very high degree of similarity.

Competition in the new-style tea beverage industry is becoming increasingly fierce. Every new tea brand wants to capture a larger market share, and the intensity of competition in the new tea market can be seen just from this incident where Heytea responded to acquiring LELECHA.

Image sources: LELECHA official website, LELECHA official account, and internet

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