喜茶，中国最大的茶饮品连锁店之一，据说即将达成新一轮融资，这将使喜茶的估价从去年7月的90亿人民币攀升至到160亿人民币(23亿美元)。据报道，喜茶的对手奈雪的茶正准备在美以4亿美元的市值进行首次公开募股。

Heytea, one of China’s largest tea beverage¹ chains, is reportedly closing a new round of financing which will valuate the business north of RMB 16 billion ($2.3 billion), up from its last valuation of RMB 9 billion in July.

 

Why it matters: Beverage categories are blurring² in China with bubble tea chains Heytea and Naixue’s Tea competing head-on with coffee giants like Starbucks and Luckin Coffee.

 

Heytea rival Naixue’s Tea is reportedly gearing up for a $400 million initial public offering in the US.

 

Heytea pioneered the digitization of Chinese beverage chains by leveraging³ social apps like WeChat.

 

Beverage chains are feeling the pinch as a result of a significant drop in business due to the Covid-19 outbreak, and venture capitalists are assessing top players better positioned to weather the epidemic⁴ thanks to business scale.

 

Heytea’s new funding round was led by global Asia-focused private equity⁵ firm Hillhouse Capital and Coatue Management, the US fund behind mobility⁶ titans including Didi, Lyft, and Grab, local media reported. The size of the investment was not disclosed.

 

Heytea is now operating 450 stores in upwards⁷ of 35 cities in China and four stores in Singapore. The company has amassed⁸ 21.5 million users on its WeChat mini-app as of 2019. Of the total, 15.8 million were newly added during the year.

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