Cathay Capital announced the launch of the Cathay Consumer Co-creation Fund, established in partnership with global industry leaders Kering, L’Oréal and Pernod Ricard, on 8th December. The joint Fund will invest and incubate early-stage Chinese companies with high-growth potential in the consumer goods and retail sectors.
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The Chinese consumer market has recently undergone radical transformation, becoming a large and attractive landscape for new brands and emerging leaders. Thanks to its supply chain capabilities, multi-level market demands, increasing influence of the Chinese culture and established infrastructure, China is likely to be home to many world-class consumer and retail companies in the next few years.
Focusing on Seed to Series A, the new Fund takes open innovation to a deeper level to better support and scale emerging consumer startups while creating a positive impact on the industry and society. Cathay Capital will work closely with L’Oréal, Pernod Ricard and Kering, bringing unmatched expertise from the beauty, wine and spirits and luxury fields, to identify cornerstone entrepreneurs and business partners for co-creation. In addition, the Fund adds value to ecosystem partners with an expanded sourcing network of early to late-stage investments, R&D and collaborative business development opportunities.
Over the past 15 years, Cathay Capital has built a unique ecosystem, connecting investors, entrepreneurs and leading corporations to help companies scale and fuel sustainable digital transformation across industries. The firm has a strong track record in the global consumer sector, investing in several billion and multi-billion-dollar companies at various growth stages. Notable investments include Chime Bank and Sidecar Health in the US, Glovo and Ledger in Europe, along with Chinese companies such as Pinduoduo, Suofeiya Home Collection, Genki Forest, Deerma and Wonderlab.
“China’s booming consumer sector is breeding massive opportunities for future, global business leaders. Partnering with visionary entrepreneurs who can lead markets and fuel innovation in industry and society for the better has always been core to our investment philosophy. Our global platform has powered the growth of hundreds of companies but with the Consumer Co-Creation Fund, we’ll be able to stand side-by-side with entrepreneurs from the earliest stages and throughout their growth cycle,” said Ma Jun, Partner at Cathay Capital.
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“At Cathay Capital, we pride ourselves on cultivating collaborative partnerships throughout our ecosystem. With Cathay’s Consumer Co-Creation Fund, we believe we can inject new vitality into the investment landscape and bring even greater value to both local entrepreneurs and global industry leaders. By combining deep expertise from a uniquely ‘glocal’ perspective, our goal is to support founders building China’s next generation of world-class consumer companies while activating the global, sustainable transformation of the entire industry, ” said Mingpo Cai, Founder and Chairman of Cathay Capital.