The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
The Cathay Consumer Co-creation Fund, established in partnership with Kering, L’Oréal and Pernod Ricard plans to invest and incubate early-stage Chinese companies with high-growth potential in the consumer goods and retail sectors.
Focussing on seed to series A funding means, according to Cathay Capital partner, Ma Jun, the fund will “be able to stand side-by-side with entrepreneurs from the earliest stages and throughout their growth cycle.”
Cathay Capital said it would work closely with L’Oréal, Pernod Ricard and Kering, bringing their expertise from the beauty, wine and spirits and luxury fields, to “identify cornerstone entrepreneurs and business partners for co-creation.”
The last two years has seen a huge number of venture capital deals taking place in China, with sectors such as fashion and beauty a recent area of attention for investors, driven by the increasing appetite for Chinese brands in the world’s largest fashion and luxury market.
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Earlier this week, female-focused sportswear brand Maia Active announced it has raised 100 million yuan ($15.7 million) in a series C round led by domestic footwear giant, Belle International.
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Catching the Next Wave of Beauty M&A Targets
If international conglomerates want a piece of China’s domestic beauty brand pie they better move fast. Local rivals are primed for an acquisition spree.
Chinese e-commerce giants Alibaba and JD.com have faced increasing competition in recent years from low-cost platforms, such as PDD Holding’s Pinduoduo and ByteDance-owned Douyin.
With consumers tightening their belts in China, the battle between global fast fashion brands and local high street giants has intensified.
Investors are bracing for a steep slowdown in luxury sales when luxury companies report their first quarter results, reflecting lacklustre Chinese demand.
The French beauty giant’s two latest deals are part of a wider M&A push by global players to capture a larger slice of the China market, targeting buzzy high-end brands that offer products with distinctive Chinese elements.