Find out what moves China tech with us. We round up what you need to know about the local venture scene every Thursday morning at 8:00 a.m. (GMT +8), covering major investment stories, MNC partnerships, noteworthy startups, industries with the most investments for the week, and more.
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Going Public: IPOs
Youran Dairy (优然牧业)
Youran Dairy debuted on HKEX on June 18, raising USD 643 million. Founded in 1984, it straddles the dairy and animal husbandry industries. The company plans to channel the funds towards building more dairy farms, feed mills, and other farming activity. This includes building eight new farms in the next two years and importing 20,000 cows from Australia and New Zealand.
Youran Dairy leads the development of China’s dairy farming industry with nearly 40 years of operational experience and research on feeding practice. The company was the world’s largest raw milk supplier, in terms of both herd size and raw milk production volume as of June 30, 2020. In its home market, Youran Dairy ranked first in herd size (accounting for a 2.9% market share) and raw milk production volume (4.5%) at the end of 2020.
Startups on Our Watchlist
Infinovo (九诺医疗)
Infinovo, a maker of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) products, raised nine figures in yuan (more than USD 15.6 million) in its Series C round led by GL ventures. Founded in 2016, Infinovo focuses on developing accurate and affordable CGM devices for type 1 and type 2 diabetics.
Infinovo’s CGM solution includes small wearables that do not require blood samples, yet provide around-the-clock real-time glucose monitoring. The solution consists of three major components: a sensor and transmitter set that attaches to a user’s skin (an illustration on its official site suggests a device attached to a patient’s lower left abdomen) to measure blood sugar levels and transmit the data to an app, an app for data readings, and an applicator for attaching the sensor and transmitter set.
KrASIA News Picks
The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 was a boon for edtech, where venture capitalist funds deployed RMB 50 billion (USD 7.8 billion) collectively in the sector. The investment thesis is clear—with only 40–50 million out of China’s 180 million students engaging in online education, the industry still has room for exponential growth, which might lead to a winner-takes-all scenario if players can dominate the edtech space.
However, as valuations soar, so does the pressure on edtech companies to hit their metrics, stoking companies to employ frenzied growth hacking tactics to boost conversions. This ultimately resulted in the authorities stepping in and banning advertisement misrepresentation to protect students and reduce their academic burden, painting a gloomy picture for the sector’s future.