Trustar backs China beauty industry online services provider

The investment, of undisclosed size, comes from the private equity firm’s third renminbi-denominated China buyout fund, which has a corpus of RMB3 billion ($439 million). This vehicle was launched in 2016 in tandem with the $1.57 billion CITIC Capital China Partners III, a US dollar vehicle.

Earlier this year, the same local currency fund acquired Shanghai Xiangmiao Trade, owner of Reclassified, a leading Chinese perfume and home fragrance brand.

There are seven other beauty and lifestyle businesses in the wider portfolio: e-commerce services provider UCO Cosmetics, skincare brands Erno Laszlo and Trilogy, scent specialist ScentAir, cosmetics packaging provider Axilone, and intimate lifestyle brands Lifestyles and Lelo. All apart from Shanghai Xiangmiao and UCO are international businesses with a China angle.

Founded in 2010, Yifei helps beauty and personal care brands, as well as small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with brand incubation, marketing and promotion, online store operation, and channel and fulfillment management. It covers all major e-commerce and social media platforms.

In addition, the company operates Taomeizhuang, a national retailer alliance for beauty and personal care brands and the e-commerce platforms and physical stores that distribute their products. It has over 1,200 members representing around 1,000 brands and 20,000 stores.

“The vigorous growth and complexity of the online beauty space in China make it critical for brands to find trustworthy and capable channel partners. Yifei has established itself as a preferred partner that connects the brands and the seller network, and eventually consumers. The service it provides is an integral part of the ecosystem,” said Hanxi Zhao, a managing partner at Trustar, in a statement.

Yifei’s offering is not unlike that of UCO, which has turned an e-commerce enablement platform for beauty brands into a full suite of services encompassing market entry, execution, fulfillment and after-sales services. Revenue and net profit reached RMB1.66 billion and RMB324.8 million in 2020. UCO filed for a Hong Kong IPO – as eBeauty Holdings – in March.

Trustar is currently deploying its fourth flagship US dollar fund, which closed at $2.8 billion in 2019. There was no accompanying renminbi vehicle because the pace of deployment of Fund III was much faster than that of its local currency equivalent. Trustar is looking to raise a dedicated growth fund of $500 million. This will also be US dollar-denominated.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Expansion
• Technology
• Consumer
• Support services
• China
• Trustar Capital
• e-commerce