China’s Whale Capital achieves first close on food fund

Taiwan-founded food manufacturer Want-Want Holdings came in as an anchor LP, which led to the fund being called Want-Whale Technology Fund.

Separately, Whale confirmed that another renminbi fund, with a focus on clothing and textiles, would achieve a first close by the end of the third quarter.

Founded in 2015, Whale claims a significant mobile internet track record. Investments include podcasting platform Ximalaya, reading app Fandeng Dushu, lifestyle video channel Yit, children’s English learning platform Palfish, and Meione, the e-commerce service company behind China’s top live-streaming sales influencer Jiaqi Li.

The strategy has shifted away from audience traffic-driven models, however, towards a more thematic, industry-focused approach. Whale wants to help industry leaders innovate while supporting start-ups looking to scale. The idea is to invest in consumer industry suppliers and leverage the know-how of industrial partners such as Want-Want, which could also become clients.

"When it comes to consumption investments, everyone thinks it is about new brands, but in fact, consumption is about the whole industry chain, from the raw materials, production, and distribution of the ToB [to business] side, to the ToC [to consumer] side of the brand, channels, traffic,” said Zhongyan Huo, founding partner of Whale.

“All contain a lot of innovation opportunities such as new biological materials, intelligent manufacturing, and industrial internet.

Huo added that the pace of private equity investment in China has undergone tremendous change, which would result in a period of low and slow returns.

"In today's market environment, profound changes have taken place, and the underlying logic and development rhythm of China's equity investment industry will also change accordingly,” he said. “Renminbi funds can no longer resort to the classical US-dollar fund strategies. An era of low and slow returns requires patient capital, endurance institutions, and patient work.”

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Consumer
• Renminbi fund
• Industrials
• Fundraising
• China
• GPs
• Consumer
• e-commerce