Yuanqi Forest apologized for being on the hot search list! A detailed explanation of the six-round financing process of Yuanqi Forest

Yuanqi Forest topped the list of hot searches on Weibo for promoting 0 sugar problems.

Yuanqi Forest issued an apology entitled "a belated upgrade" on its official Wechat account on April 10.

Screenshot of Yuanqi Forest statement

In the apology statement, Yuanqi Forest said: we did not make clear the difference between 0 sugar and 0 sugar in the product logo and promotion of Yuanqi forest milk tea, which can easily lead to misunderstanding. Through recent efforts, we have made the following modifications and upgrades to milk tea: most Yuanqi forest milk tea produced since February 4 and all Yuanqi forest milk tea produced since March 18, the packaging has changed from "0 sucrose and low fat" to "low sugar and low fat".

In addition, Yuanqi Forest also said that all Yuanqi Forest Milk Tea produced from March 20 no longer contains crystalline fructose.

The topic has since sparked a heated debate, which has attracted 210 million readers.

However, after this statement was issued, it also caused an uproar, and some netizens questioned whether modifying the packaging and changing the formula showed that there was something wrong with the original propaganda. The propaganda of "0 sucrose" is misleading.

In response to this matter, Yuanqi Forest said on April 11 that many consumers misunderstand the concept of "sugar" in drinks, confusing the concepts of "sugar" and "sugar". This is the reason why Yuanqi Forest revised the packaging logo, and Yuanqi Forest will continue to strengthen the popularization of this knowledge in the future.

Yuanqi Forest, a new beverage brand, was founded in 2016. Although it has been established for a short time, it has won the hearts of many consumers because of its focus on "0 sugar, 0 fat, 0 calories" drinks, and has become one of the brightest and hottest online celebrity products in recent years.

Yuanqi Forest launched bubble aquatic products featuring "no sugar and gas" in April 2018, and milk tea with "0 sugar and 0 fat" in 2019. At present, Yuanqi Forest's product lines include: sugar-free sparkling water, sugar-free milk tea, sugar-free tea, fruit juice sparkling water, bodybuilding light tea and sugar-free functional drinks, etc., compared with many beverage industry brands, Yuanqi Forest obviously has no advantage. However, under the concept of health, the selling point of "0 sugar, 0 fat, 0 card" has attracted the attention of the majority of consumers.

Under the concept of health, "0 sugar, 0 fat, 0 card" has become the core selling point of Yuanqi Forest. According to statistics, Yuanqi Forest surpassed Coca-Cola to win the first place in Tmall's water drink sales during the Singles Day holiday in 2019. In 2020, the 37-minute sales of double 11 Yuan Qi Forest exceeded 10 million. At the same time, it became the first place in the ranking of Tmall's double 11 water drink sales and JD.com 's food and beverage double 11 water drink sales. In March 2020, Li Jiaqi sold milk tea from Yuanqi Forest in the studio, and 150000 bottles of new milk tea were snapped up in an instant. Yuanqi Forest's monthly sales exceeded 400 million yuan in 2020. In addition, Yuanqi Forest achieved sales of nearly 2.9 billion yuan in 2020. Soda soda water series products account for about 70% of the contribution.

From the above data, it is not difficult to see the impact of the establishment of Yuanqi Forest on the market, so far, Yuanqi Forest has obtained six times of financing.

In December 2017, Yuanqi Forest completed the angel round financing invested by Challenger Capital.

In August 2018, Yuanqi Forest completed round A financing by Light-controlled Zhongying Capital and Gongqingcheng Xingchuang Investment.

In March 2019, Yuanqi Forest completed round B financing invested by Fengshang Capital and Qianxian Capital.

In October 2019, the strategic investment of 150 million yuan led by Longhu Capital and followed by Banyan Capital and Black Ant Capital was disclosed.

In March 2020, Yuanqi Forest completed the strategic financing by Sequoia Capital China Yuansheng Capital.

In March 2020, Yuanqi Forest completed the investment led by new shareholders Warbug Pincus, L catterton and old shareholder Sequoia Capital China, followed by Temasek. In addition, many old shareholders such as Gao Rong and Longhu continued to follow.

Among them, Angel Wheel, A Round, B Round and two rounds of strategic financing did not disclose the transaction amount, and only disclosed the specific financing amount in October 2019.

Yuanqi Forest is valued at $6 billion after the latest round of investment, and such rapid progress in financing also means that the valuation of Yuanqi Forest has risen about threefold in less than a year.

* Photo Source: Yuanqi Forest official Wechat official account network