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Top Investment Story
Nayuki (奈雪的茶)
Nayuki, a “new-style tea” drink startup, received a strategic investment of HKD 5.858 billion (over USD 754 million). Investors include GF Fund Management, UBS Asset Management, and Southern Fund Asset Management.
Founded in 2015, Nayuki is the first startup in the Chinese market that uses fresh fruits to make tea beverages on-site. The company has developed proprietary automated equipment to execute various production procedures based on tea types. This includes varying water temperatures and volumes to brew the best possible flavors.
To date, Nayuki has opened 507 stores in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Japan.
Going Public: IPOs
Full Truck Alliance (满帮集团)
Full Truck Alliance was listed on the NYSE on June 22 and raised nearly USD 1.6 billion from the IPO. The funds will be mainly used for logistics infrastructure development and technological innovation, as well as potential acquisitions and investments.
The scale of China’s road transportation market is huge. Typically, truck drivers and cargo owners lack smooth and efficient communication channels. The needs of cargo owners to transport goods are diverse, while individual truck drivers are scattered across the country, making matches difficult. This problem has led to significant inefficiencies in freight transportation.
Full Truck Alliance solved the above-mentioned pain points by using big data technology to match cargo shippers with truck drivers, replacing intermediaries and cutting overall costs by 10% to 15%. As of the end of 2020, Full Truck Alliance covers more than 300 cities across the country and has over 100,000 transportation lines. In all, 20% of medium and heavy truck drivers in China use the platform.
KrASIA News Picks
China’s strengthening grip over data collection may hinder its burgeoning mobility sector
Authorities in China are tightening regulations that cover all types of data. The latest policy draft, released in June, is set to get even tougher on the collection and sharing of data across a whole host of industries, including China’s burgeoning mobility sector.
The vast amount of geographical and personal data needed to power modern automotive solutions has prompted concerns around safeguarding “national security and the public interest.” In fact, just a month earlier, on May 12, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) released a separate policy specifically targeting the automotive industry’s collection and use of location-based and geographical data.
Can regulators and the industry work together to set new, appropriate standards?