Genki Forest Denies Rumors Its Latest Valuation Is Approaching $15 Billion
After a report by media outlet Chinaventure on Wednesday night that Genki Forest “is nearing completion of a new round of financing, with a target valuation of $14-15 billion, which is more than doubled compared with the previous round of $6 billion,” the Chinese beverage brand responded on Thursday: “After verification, there is no such thing.”
In fact, as a representative company of China’s emerging beverage brands, Genki Forest has only been established for five years, during which time it has undergone six rounds of financing.
On April 9 this year, Genki Forest announced the completion of a new round of financing, with a post-investment valuation of $6 billion, among which there are many well-known investment institutions in the industry. It is reported that Sequoia China, its old shareholder, continued to lead the investment in this round of financing. Huaping Investment, as its largest new investor, participated in the investment together with L Catterton, while Gaorong Capital and Longfor Capital followed the investment.
According to public information, Genki Forest was established in 2017, and achieved a breakthrough in the beverage industry with its domestic web celebrity beverage brand, reportedly containing 0 sugar, 0 fat and 0 calories. Since its establishment, Genki Forest has taken advantage of “internet thinking,” which represents connectivity at anytime and anywhere to anyone, so as to create and capture customer value, according to Forbes. The company captured consumers’ demand for sugar-free drinks through market research, and based on scientific R&D, created a hit product of sugar-free soda bubble water to meet users’ demand for delicious, good-looking and good-quality sugar-free drinks.
Tang Binsen, founder of Genki Forest, said when the financing was completed in April that the company will release many new products in 2021. Its investment will reach three times of that of 2020 to improve product R&D efficiency based on the demands of young people.
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