Winona’s Parent Company--BOTANEE GROUP Invested Sequoia Fund
- Chaileedo Press
- Jul 2, 2022
- 3 min read
Chinese sensitive skin care brand-- Winona’s parent company Botanee proposes $15 million investment to Sequoia Fund. It is managed by Sequoia Capital, focusing on investment opportunities in sectors such as technology, health care and consumer services.
On June 30 of Beijing time (all times in this article are Beijing time), CHAILEEDO observed that Chinese sensitive skin care brand-- Winona’s parent company Botanee announced a plan. It intends to invest in the Sequoia Capital Equity Investment Management (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. as the manager, and in the Hangzhou Sequoia Kunpeng Management Consulting Partnership (limited partnership) as the Hangzhou Sequoia Shengheng Equity Investment Partnership (limited partnership) that was set by the general partner (hereinafter referred to as sequoia Fund). And also it intends to sign Hangzhou Sequoia Shengheng Equity Investment Partnership (limited partnership) Limited partnership Agreement.
Among them, as one of the limited partners of Sequoia Fund, Botanee subscribed $15 million with its own capital. The share that Botanee’s investment accounts for in Sequoia Fund would be finally confirmed based on actual fund-raising.
Botanee announced that the purpose of this investment mainly is to further promote the company’s comprehensive competitiveness and profitability, grasping the opportunities of strategic cooperation. And also this action will improve the efficiency of the use of its capital, and explore cooperation opportunities with other excellent enterprises, further promoting the development of the company, thus improving the comprehensive competitiveness and profitability. It is helpful to improve the company's overall strategic layout.
Introduced by Botanee’s official website, Botanee, set up in 2010, is a grand health industry group mixing of research and development, production and marketing, and positioning in the skin health Internet+. Brands like Winona, DOU DOU KANG, Winona Baby are its core brands.
According to Botanee’s financial report in 2021, its operating revenue reached $600 million, with a year-on-year growth of 52.57%. Its net profit was $129 million, a 58.77% increase over last year. In light of Euromonitor’s statistics, Winona, its core brand, ranks No.1 in the dermatological skin care market in China. The market share in 2021 increased by about 2% over that in 2020. Compared with 2020, Winona’s leading-edge over the second and third place continued to expand, and its market share in China is close to the sum of the second and third, with a significant “80-20 rule”(It means that being number one in a field tends to get more attention and have more resources).
According to the above announcement, the Sequoia Fund mainly focuses on investment opportunities in sectors such as technology, health care and consumer services. The objective of Sequoia Fund mainly is equity investment for enterprises, while taking into account the investment opportunities of mergers and acquisitions, so as to obtain good returns for partners from capital gains.
Actually, Sequoia China has a deep relationship with Botanee. Sequoia China, the supporter of Botanee’s first-round financing, contacted Botanee in 2014. In March 2021, Botanee was successfully listed on the Gem of Shenzhen Stock Exchange. Prospectus showed that a 25.39% share of Botanee was held by Sequoia China before the issuance, making it the second largest shareholder within the company and the largest external institutional shareholder.
Besides investing in Sequoia Fund, recently, Chinese beauty brand FUNNY ELVES completed A round financing of tens of millions yuan, led by Botanee, with the investment of Qingrui venture capital. The public data indicates that FUNNY ELVES mainly focuses on cosmetics, mainly yielding professional foundation make-up, which is the first cosmetic brand that Botanee invested.
In fact, relying on a single brand is the main challenge in Botanee’s operation. According to its annual report, the revenue of the core brand Winona accounted for more than 98% of the company’s overall revenue in 2021. For this situation, Botanee has mentioned repeatedly the principle of “connotative cultivation and extensional acquisition.” As for the investment in FUNNY ELVES, it is a part of a multi-brand initiative.
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