Banyan Capital leads $21m round for China food brand

Hot Life, also known as Relashenghuo in Chinese, was founded by Beijing-based restaurant chain Spice Spirit in 2011. Early operations focused on selling spicy crayfish online but have since expanded into other food items such as cooked mitten crab and mantis shrimp.

The firm claims to have built a complete supply chain covering raw materials, central kitchen, offline stores, logistics system and food delivery services. It uses big data technology to analyze customer demand and manage the supply chain.

N5 Capital led an undisclosed Series A round for the company in September last year. With the new capital, Hot Life plans to scale up its business and improve its data technology. It aims to have 80 shops by the end of 2017, selling more than 100 food items.

According to an industry report cited by Banyan, China's crayfish dish market reached RMB147 billion last year. Last week, another restaurant brand, Duoluo Shrimp, which also sells spicy crayfish, received RMB100 million in a Series A round led by China consumer-focused GP Tiantu Capital.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Consumer
• Technology
• Early-stage
• China
• TMT
• Venture
• Banyan Capital
• Matrix Partners