Chinese pet e-commerce player gets $30m Series B

Unity Ventures, Seek Ventures, FJ Labs, Tekton Ventures, and Long Capital also participated. It follows a $3.8 million Series A last year that included DCM, Unity, and Atom Ventures. Previous investors also include Hexi Capital, which contributed to a RMB4.2 million ($626,000) pre-A round in 2017. 

The fresh capital will support an expansion of the company’s “surprise box” product, a monthly home-delivery of cat food, cat litter, snacks, toys, and related items. The idea is to leverage parallel trends of urbanization and pet ownership in China with an emphasis on youth demographics, affordability, convenience, and exploring new pet-related services.  

"Young people are flocking to cities, and when they do so they leave friends and family behind,” Ju Yi, founder and CEO of Mollybox, said in a statement. “They become lonelier, and more and more of these young people are starting to keep pets. This is a good environment in which a subscription-based service can expand its business."

Mollybox claims to have increased its customer base from fewer than 2,000 subscribers in 2017 to 30,000 currently after implementing an automated payments service. It aims to achieve a subscription base of 200,000 within the year and total sales income of RMB330 million. Monthly revenue peaked at RMB1.8 million in 2017. Last year, the high point was RMB20 million.

Average expenditure among Chinese dog and cat owners was about RMB5,000 per pet in 2018, up 15% year on year, according to category researcher Goumin. Recent activity in this space includes a $50 million VC round for Epet and an investment of undisclosed size by KKR in Gambol Pet Group. Last month, smart devices manufacturer Petkit raised a $20 million Series C.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Consumer
• Early-stage
• Technology
• China
• TMT
• DCM-Doll Capital Management