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.
Chinese eye makeup and fake lash brand Yuetong secured tens of millions of yuan in a Pre-Series-A funding round, led by Magic Capital followed by Fengwu Capital, according to 36Kr. The investment will be used to improve the brand’s supply chain, increase production and expand offline stores.
Founded in 2017, Yuetong was initially sold in the US before returning to the domestic market. Its core products are soft magnetic false eyelashes developed by DuPont and manufactured by its own Chinese factories. In a previous interview, founder Zhao Weisheng said that the GMV (gross merchandise value) of parent company Maigemei surpassed 200 million yuan ($31 million) last October.
Zhao previously cited a conservative estimate for China’s rapidly growing soft magnetic eyelashes market of about 40 billion yuan ($6.2 billion). According to Qianbidao, a financial media data provider, there were more than 800 new Chinese false eyelash enterprises registered in the last two years alone.
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.
Post-Covid spend by US tourists in Europe has surged past 2019 levels. Chinese travellers, by contrast, have largely favoured domestic and regional destinations like Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan.