ClearVue raises $362m for China consumer fund

The private equity firm was founded in 2012 by Harry Hui, previously head of marketing for Pepsico International in China, and William Chen, formerly of DT Capital Partners. They invest along the themes of modernization, consumer lifestyle, health and wellness, and digitally-enabled consumption.

Fund I closed at $262 million in February 2014, with backing from LPs such as Fidelity, HarbourVest Partners, J.P. Morgan Asset Management, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and Verlinvest. No information was given on the investor base for Fund III, although Verlinvest – which represents the families behind AB InBev – continues to list ClearVue as one of its three investment partners in Asia.

The new fund will follow the remit of its predecessor, targeting early growth and growth stage investments in Chinese companies with potential to develop top-tier brands and enabling China market entry for leading international companies. Retail sales in China reached RMB33.2 trillion ($4.84 billion) in 2016, the highest of any market globally, as consumers gravitate towards higher-quality products.

"The Chinese consumption story is the most exciting investment thesis globally for the next 10 years. ClearVue specializes in building brands and accelerating growth of our portfolio companies," said Hui. He added that domestic consumption accounted for more than 72% of GDP in the first three quarters of 2016, which is approaching the levels of mature Western markets.

ClearVue currently has 22 companies in its portfolio, including 111.com.cn, an online pharmacy; Fruitday, an e-commerce site dedicated to selling imported fruit; CHIC Juice, which produces coconut water using high pressure processing (HPP) technology; Lumi, a nutritional beauty products manufacturer; and Yummy Express, which provides delivery services to online-to-offline food-ordering platforms.

Most recently, the GP led a RMB200 million ($30 million) Series B round of funding for I Believe, a convenience store operator known as Aibianli in Chinese. The company has opened more than 1,500 self-operated and franchised convenience stores in China, operates an online retail business, and runs a bulk-buying service for third-party convenience stores.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Consumer
• Fundraising
• GPs
• Growth
• China
• ClearVue Partners