2019 Vape Financing Overview: More Than 30 Brands Raised Over 1 Billion Yuan

Since 2018, e-cigarettes have still become a hot spot in the new consumer electronics industry. While e-cigarette shipments have grown rapidly, they have also driven the development of the industrial chain. As more and more e-cigarette brands are born, the competition between e-cigarette brands has directly entered the general white-hot of the mobile phone industry: a series of issues such as product differentiation and channel diversification will become the core of e-cigarette brand competition!

Recently, according to incomplete statistics from "ec E-Cigarette World", there were more than 35 investment cases in the e-cigarette industry in the first half of 2019. According to statistics on disclosed investment amounts, the total investment exceeded at least 1 billion yuan, of which the largest investment The possibility (some undisclosed) is that Magic Flute MOTI received US$31 million in financing and Ice Shell Bink received US$20 million in financing!
 
In addition, currently among the top e-cigarette brands in the market, relx Yueshi, flow Fulu, TAKI Sike, Lingxi LINX, SSSO SNOWPLUS, Gippro Dragon Dance, Juli E-Cigarette, etc. have all received financing!

RELAX: Monthly sales reach 40 million yuan

RELAX is a consumer-grade electronic atomizer brand company founded in China. Its current main business is the research and development, design, and sales of RELAX brand electronic atomizer cigarettes. The company was established in 2017 and has received investment from Sequoia Capital, IDG, Source Capital and other institutions. Currently, it has offices in Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen in China, with customers in many regions such as Europe, the United States, and Asia. In 2019, branches and offices will be set up in the United States, Europe, Oceania, and Hong Kong.

Founder Wang Ying and her founder team are mainly from Uber China and Huawei. CEO Wang Ying is a former head of Uber's China and graduated from the Business School of Colombia University in the United States;CPO Chen is a former senior designer of Huawei; co-founder Jiang Long graduated from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Tsinghua University and worked for Uber.

At present, there are 108 people in the RELAX team, and the average team is 27 years old. It is a serious youth army born in the 1990s. Du Bing, head of overseas business, was born in 1991. He graduated from Zhejiang University with a major in industrial design and studied in France; Wen Yilong, head of global R & D and supply chain, was born in 1988. He graduated from the University of Michigan with a major in automation and was engaged in engine research and development at Mercedes-Benz in North America.

As early as June 2018, it was announced that the first round of financing of RMB 38 million had been completed. This round of financing was led by Source Capital and followed by IDG. Founder Wang Ying said that the financing will be mainly used to invest in product development and user service experience upgrades.

In March 2019, according to media reports, Yueshi RELX once again received a new round of financing, with a valuation of US$800 million. The specific financing amount was not disclosed. It is reported that Yueshi RELX's monthly sales have reached 40 million yuan!

Magic Flute MOTI:

China's second largest e-cigarette brand received US$31 million in financing

Looking back at the beginning of 2019 to the present, the largest financing for e-cigarette brands is Magic Di moti e-cigarette. Magic Di was mainly engaged in overseas markets and began to enter the domestic market in 2019. It is still the second largest e-cigarette brand manufacturer in China. It has rich experience in e-cigarettes, and the main domestic products are re-ammunition e-cigarettes and disposable small cigarettes MOJO.

As early as the end of 2018, Magic Flute received an investment of US$10 million. At that time, the investor was Zhenge Fund. By mid-July, Magic Flute once again received an investment of US$31 million. This round was led by Heyu Capital!

According to previous media reports, Magic Flute achieved revenue of nearly 140 million yuan in the first quarter of 2019 and a net profit of about 10 million yuan. With the rapid increase in shipments, Magic Flute's current monthly revenue has exceeded 10 million US dollars, becoming the second e-cigarette brand after Yueshi with revenue exceeding 10 million US dollars.

It is reported that Magic Flute's current business is mainly divided into two parts: domestic and overseas. It is expected that domestic sales will achieve 2 billion yuan this year. Currently, more than 70,000 offline stores have been signed. It is expected that GMV will achieve 500 million yuan overseas. It currently covers 12 countries in Europe, America, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

At present, its revenue is mainly supported by overseas, but the domestic market is developing rapidly. The ratio of overseas business revenue to domestic revenue is about 4:1. On the Jingdong 618 e-cigarette hot-selling brand list, Magic Flute MOTI ranks third. At the Z Era New Consumption Summit held in June, Magic Flute MOTI ranked second on the e-cigarette list.

Lingxi LINX: Internet celebrity e-cigarettes, media e-commerce brand

As a representative of Internet celebrity e-cigarettes, Lingxi LINX was founded in January 2019. It was co-founded by new media people such as Zhang Jinyuan, CEO of Tongdao Uncle, and Li Yan, CEO of Micromedia Holding Group. It received an investment of 10 million yuan from Angel Round at the beginning of its launch. Later, two rounds of 10 million yuan financing were completed one after another.# p#pagination title #e#

In July 2019, Lingxi LINX announced that it had completed the fourth round of financing of tens of millions of yuan, led by Benyi Capital and Ningbo Side, and all old shareholders such as CICC Huicai Capital followed suit. Lingxi LINX was founded by new media people such as Zhang Jinyuan, former CEO of Tongdao Uncle, and Li Yan, CEO of Micromedia Holding Group. Zhang Jinyuan introduced that this round of financing will be used for product upgrades, talent recruitment, channel laying and marketing.

It is understood that Lingxi LINX has released an iterative electronic atomizer product, and disposable small cigarette products have also been released before. They have entered Tmall, Jingdong and other e-commerce channels, ranking No. 6th in the Jingdong 618 e-cigarette hot brand list. It can be said that the rapid rise of Lingxi LINX relies largely on media traffic, and for media celebrities, it is also a monetization channel!

According to Lingxi CEO Zhang Jinyuan, in an interview with the media, in 2017, he found that the traditional advertising revenue of many self-media companies began to decline, and e-commerce began to become a mainstream business." ldquo; Several of our founders started out as channels, but they had no products or brands in e-cigarettes, so they later started to make our own e-cigarettes. In December 2018, Micro Media Holdings tried to promote a disposable small cigarette, and as a result, it sold 5000 sets, with a repurchase rate of 40%.‘’ rdquo;

It is reported that in terms of marketing, Lingxi's team will not invest too much marketing costs in the early stage, and will adopt a strategy of simultaneous online and offline development; in terms of product technology and supply chain management, Lingxi's products use the same level of production lines as Apple and Xiaomi, and this part is under the responsibility of co-founder Ren Yi.

Zhang Jinyuan believes that the core source of income for e-cigarettes lies in the repurchase of cigarette bombs, so Lingxi will pay more attention to user feedback in the early stage of product launch and optimize products in a timely manner based on feedback. After supply chain costs are controlled within a certain range, if the brand can control more than 100,000 core users, the annual profit will reach hundreds of millions of yuan. rdquo;

Ice shell Bink:

Raised US$20 million, the founder was the general manager of Sino-US Tobacco

In the financing of e-cigarette brands in the first half of 2019, Ice Shell Technology's financing can be said to be relatively large. In April 2019, it received US$20 million in financing from Hong Kong Zhongmei Tobacco Group Co., Ltd. Its founder and CEO Zhong Yunzhao, former general manager of Sino-US Tobacco in Hong Kong, joined the e-cigarette industry in 2015 and introduced ePen disposable e-cigarettes and the Z G Zunge brand. It was the first well-known brand to open the small cigarette market in China.

According to reports, Shenzhen Ice Shell Technology Co., Ltd. was established on December 16, 2014 and is headquartered in Shenzhen. Its main business products are mouth-smoking e-cigarettes and various peripheral products. It is a company that combines fashion and technology. Founder and CEO Zhong Yunzhao Zen, since 2016, has taken advantage of the development advantages of traditional tobacco and invested a lot of time and energy to start the research and development of e-smoke products, striving to make e-cigarettes replace traditional cigarettes.

It is reported that the Ice Shell Technology Team brings together members and partners with R & D, branding, operation, and management experience from many industries such as tobacco, Internet, digital technology (4.830, 0.00, 0.00%), and FMCG. Adhering to the development concept of improving the health of smokers, we develop and provide customers with more environmentally friendly and healthier smoking methods.

Wei Whale Light Smoke:

Focus on offline channels and create OPPO/vivo in the field of e-cigarettes”

Like OPPO and vivo in the mobile phone industry, Wei Whale Tobacco has been so focused on offline from the beginning. In January 2019, Whale Tobacco Network acquired Hangzhou Light Tobacco Technology, invested tens of millions of dollars and raised tens of millions to launch the Weale Whale Light Cigarette, so it began to rapidly sink the channel. Hangzhou Qingyan Technology was formerly a FMCG company making drinks and tea, and has about 100,000 sales outlets.

From the beginning, Wei Whale has targeted Light Tobacco Technology's FMCG channel resources and resolutely transformed smokers from offline. In order to assist offline omnichannel operations, Whale Tobacco has been developing its own IT system since the beginning of the brand's establishment. In June this year, Whale Light Tobacco used its new retail system to systematically promote new online and offline retail of e-cigarettes nationwide.

It is reported that Whale Tobacco has built a super cloud store system. The product matrix includes super cloud stores, super cloud store stewards, super warehouses, super back-office, on-line rescue, on-line maintenance, on-line services, etc. One of the key products, Super Cloud Store Butler, can support both online cloud stores and offline whale cigarette vending machine management, and involve others in the form of distribution, leasing, etc.

Hangzhou Light Tobacco Technology Co., Ltd., established in November 2015, was previously mainly committed to the construction of offline consumer goods channels and has offline network channels in many provinces and cities across the country. According to official information from Weld Whale Light Cigarette, the brand is about to launch two new products. One is a returnable light cigarette. The tobacco rod can be charged and reused (similar to the recently released "FLOW Fulu" product). Nicotine salt is added to the tobacco oil. Instead of the nicotine of traditional cigarettes and does not contain unhealthy wastes such as tar; the other is a disposable light cigarette. This product is similar to a returnable light cigarette and can be discarded after smoking. The tobacco oil part is similar to the returnable light cigarette. Both products have multiple flavors.# p#pagination title #e#

Wei Whale Light Cigarette believes that cigarette oil and small cigarettes can eliminate the generation of second-hand smoke and, as a cigarette replacement product, can solve some of the health anxieties of smokers; for people who quit smoking, gradually reducing nicotine content is an important step in the process of quitting smoking. Whale Light Cigarette has launched products with different nicotine content for this purpose. Smokers can replace them on demand according to different periods to complement the cigarette replacement process.

Co-founder Qiu Yiwu said that Wel Whale Light Tobacco is positioned in the light tobacco category and is healthier than IQOS flue-cured tobacco. In addition, the team has many years of experience in industrial design, R & D and supply chain, and will focus on brand and channel construction. In the next two years, the products are expected to cover 100,000 offline sales points. At present, the supplier system of Weld Whale Light Cigarette is also a supplier of high-end electronic products such as Apple and Xiaomi. It has certain competitive advantages in terms of large-scale production, automation and quality consistency. rdquo;

Wei Whale Light Tobacco hopes to adopt its self-developed new online and offline retail IT platform and combine C2M's personalized operations to create a new light and healthy retail system. In the future, companies will open up online and offline sales channels for e-cigarettes, conduct accurate analysis and fine operations of users, and use data to assist in building new retail channels. It is worth mentioning that whale light smoke will also create a light health community and create a community ecosystem based on health products such as light smoke and corresponding healthy people.

Regarding the company's development plan, the other party said that in the next year, targeted product lines and sub-brands will be launched for different demand groups, and the value of data will be leveraged to provide services to different consumer groups. At the same time, the company is also jointly developing next-generation atomization technology and new tobacco oil formulas with famous domestic universities to expand atomization applications in the pharmaceutical and food fields.

VPO Weipo: The founder has 10 years of online retail and brand operation experience

VPO Micro Po was founded in 2018. The founder Hao Xiaomeng is a continuous entrepreneur with 10 years of online retail and brand operation experience. He believes that with the increasing health awareness of consumers in China, the real market opportunity in the e-cigarette consumer market is not to quit smoking and replace cigarettes, but to integrate with new consumption upgrades and become a scenario consumer market for atomized products., so electronic atomization technology is a new blue ocean of consumption.

The VPO team said that in the early stage of the company's development, it invested tens of millions of dollars in product research and development, and built a complete atomization technology product system by introducing Apple's supply chain companies and cooperating with top domestic technology companies and expert perfumers.

In March 2019, VPO Weipo completed a 10 million yuan Pre-A round of financing, which was led by strategic investors; Hao Xiaomeng, founder and product leader of VPO, said that the funds will be used for the continuous research and development of new products and the current stage. Construction of an all-channel system and e-commerce system.

Hao Xiaomeng, founder of VPO, believes that the threshold for e-cigarette entrepreneurship is rapidly increasing, not only funds, but also product and user understanding and the scenario marketing capabilities of branded products. At present, it is difficult for products and brands that use existing products of e-cigarette factories to obtain market opportunities. A good product requires a large number of user testing. This development cycle takes 3 - 6 months, and it takes 3 months to obtain channel partners and consumers. Recognition.

“In the second half of 2019, e-cigarette products will enter an era of low-cost competition, and the product price of e-cigarettes will be reduced from 299 yuan to 159 yuan; according to industry forecasts, the cost of a single product will soon exceed 99 yuan. It is conceivable that e-cigarettes at a price of 99 yuan will also become a popular product in traditional retail channels such as convenience stores, which means that subsequent entrepreneurs will face huge product development and cost management pressure. rdquo;

Xike e-cigarette: The founder is Xiaomi's No. 21 employee

It is reported that TAKI Xike brand is affiliated with Beijing Konjac Technology Co., Ltd. The company was established in March 2019 with a registered capital of 50 million yuan. The founder is Zhong Yufei, a former employee of Xiaomi No. 21.

In May this year, TAKI Sike held its first new product launch conference in Shenzhen and released new products of electronic nebulizer, including a replaceable electronic nebulizer for only 1 yuan, and completely open source the structural design of the nebulizer. Other manufacturers can design correspondingly adapted cigarette bombs for consumers to choose freely.

In addition, the company has also cooperated with senior tobacco perfumers of Burton Group to develop No. 8 and No. 22 cigarette bombs. The price is 35 yuan per piece. It claims that they can highly restore the flavor of Chinese classic flue-cured tobacco and reduce the nicotine salt content to 24mg/ml, far lower than the industry's popular 50mg/ml.

Ono Electronic Cigarette: Luo Yonghao's Second Entrepreneurship?

Ono e-cigarettes were founded by Peng Jianzhou, former president of Hammer Technology, but the main mastermind behind the scenes was Luo Yonghao. As early as after the Spring Festival this year, Luo Yonghao visited several major e-cigarette suppliers in Shenzhen many times and consulted Zhu Xiaomu, former product director of Hammer Technology, about the e-cigarette industry. The latter announced in January this year that he would leave Hammer Technology and founded his own e-cigarette brand, Fluor Flow.# p#pagination title #e#

On July 22, according to media reports, the Ono e-cigarette operated by Luo Yonghao behind the scenes had completed financing of about 30 million yuan. The investors in this financing were Junsheng Capital and Hongta Group. Ono e-cigarette released its first product in April this year, and entered the top ten hot-selling e-cigarette brands together with Fulu in 618 this year.

At present, Ono's shipments of e-cigarettes are about 60,000, mainly sold online. Ono's new product will be officially released in about August. This product may bear the level of Lao Luo Chuike's design studio and is worth looking forward to. The price may exceed most products currently on the market, and the price may be between 500 yuan and 600 yuan.

FLOW Fulu: Founded by Zhu Xiaomu, former vice president of Hammer

FLOW E-cigarette was founded by Zhu Xiaomu, former vice president of hammer technology products, and has received strong platforms and strong recommendations from Luo Yonghao many times. FLOW E-cigarettes have always been favored by consumers since their inception. They stand out from many e-cigarette brands, relying on product excellence and in-depth exploration of user experience.

Data shows that its founding team members come from well-known domestic and foreign companies such as Hammer Technology, Motorola, Huawei, Ogilvy and Mather, and have mature software and hardware development experience, as well as complete hardware supply chain and sales channel resources.

FLOW E-Cigarette announced that it has completed two rounds of financing for Angel and PreA, with a cumulative amount of US$10.89 million. This financing was led by Jingwei China, followed by 13 Capital and Jager Capital. FLOW E-cigarette said the funds will be used for continued product iteration and user experience upgrades.