Cathay Capital launches Chinese consumer co-creation fund with Kering, L’Oréal and Pernod Ricard

CHINA. Cathay Capital this week announced the launch of the Cathay Consumer Co-creation Fund, established in partnership with global industry leaders Kering, L’Oréal and Pernod Ricard.

The joint fund will invest and incubate early-stage Chinese companies with high-growth potential in the consumer goods and retail sectors.

The Chinese consumer market has recently undergone radical transformation, becoming a large and attractive landscape for new brands and emerging leaders, Cathay Capital said. Thanks to its supply chain capabilities, multi-level market demands, increasing influence of the Chinese culture and established infrastructure, China is likely to be home to many world-class consumer and retail companies in the next few years, the company added.

Focusing on Seed to Series A, the new Fund plans to take open innovation to a deeper level to better support and scale emerging consumer start-ups while creating a positive impact on industry and society. Cathay Capital will work closely with L’Oréal, Pernod Ricard and Kering, bringing what it called unmatched expertise from the beauty, wine and spirits and luxury fields, to identify cornerstone entrepreneurs and business partners for co-creation.

In addition, the Fund aims to add value to ecosystem partners through an expanded sourcing network of early to late-stage investments, R&D and collaborative business development opportunities.

Over the past 15 years, Cathay Capital claims to have built a unique ecosystem, connecting investors, entrepreneurs and leading corporations to help companies scale and fuel sustainable digital transformation across industries. The firm has a strong track record in the global consumer sector, investing in several billion and multi-billion-dollar companies at various growth stages.

Notable investments include Chime Bank and Sidecar Health in the US, Glovo and Ledger in Europe, along with well-known Chinese companies such as Pinduoduo (NASDAQ: PDD), Suofeiya Home Collection (SHE: 002572), Genki Forest (YuanQiSenLin), Deerma and Wonderlab.

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Cathay Capital Partner Ma Jun said: “China’s booming consumer sector is breeding massive opportunities for future, global business leaders.  Partnering with visionary entrepreneurs who can lead markets and fuel innovation in industry and society for the better has always been core to our investment philosophy.

“Our global platform has powered the growth of hundreds of companies but with the Consumer Co-Creation Fund, we’ll be able to stand side-by-side with entrepreneurs from the earliest stages and throughout their growth cycle.”

Cathay Capital Founder and Chairman Ming-po Cai said: “At Cathay Capital, we pride ourselves on cultivating collaborative partnerships throughout our ecosystem. With Cathay’s Consumer Co-Creation Fund, we believe we can inject new vitality into the investment landscape and bring even greater value to both local entrepreneurs and global industry leaders.

“By combining deep expertise from a uniquely ‘glocal’ perspective, our goal is to support founders building China’s next generation of world-class consumer companies while activating the global, sustainable transformation of the entire industry.”

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