BlueRun Ventures Leads ¥30 Million Pre-A Round in Reload · BlueRun Ventures

Emerging footwear and apparel brand "Reloading" recently closed a RMB 30 million Pre-A round led by BlueRun Ventures. The proceeds will go toward supply chain development, content creation, and talent acquisition. Reloading is a portfolio brand of "Be My Friend," the live commerce company founded by Yonghao Luo.

Terry Zhu, Managing Partner at BlueRun Ventures, said: "We're pleased to see domestic sportswear brands like Li-Ning and ANTA Group gradually breaking the monopoly that foreign brands once held in footwear and apparel. Their design and quality have won consumer recognition. On the other hand, footwear supply chains are complex, creating high barriers to entry for new brands — which also means there's real potential to build defensible moats and brand differentiation. The Reloading team brings strong design capabilities, supply chain integration expertise, and a sharp read on trends. With the powerful traffic and unique IP of 'Be My Friend,' they have a real shot at incubating a new generation of original Chinese footwear and apparel brands."

In August 2021, "Be My Friend" incubated and invested in Reloading as an independent entity. Unlike most top-tier streamer brands, Reloading was structured with its own corporate entity and dedicated operations team from day one.

Beyond Reloading, the company also owns multiple brands including "What Horse," "Joshua Tree," "Ozone," and "Different Paths, Same Destination," covering home goods, watches and accessories, streetwear, and original sneakers — all high-growth categories. Reloading has been the standout performer: within just six months, monthly GMV surpassed RMB 14 million, with month-over-month growth averaging above 40%. The brand turned profitable in May.

01

Building a Homegrown Sneaker and Apparel Brand

Industry data shows that in 2021, fashion and bags ranked as the largest category on Douyin's e-commerce platform, with roughly RMB 480 billion in GMV. In 2022, that figure was expected to double, with the overall GMV target exceeding RMB 1 trillion. Under the platform's macro planning, this category offers both high growth potential and massive scale.

From a market perspective, domestic sportswear brands have earned consumer recognition for quality and design, breaking foreign brands' dominance. Operationally, the Reloading team follows a data-driven approach, prioritizing sectors that are large, fast-growing, and high-margin — which led them to focus on footwear and apparel.

On product development, Reloading's footwear strategy centers on recreating classic silhouettes whose design patents have expired. For apparel, the team captures trending data across the web, analyzes user demand, and combines it with test data and user profiles from the "Be My Friend" livestream studio to rapidly launch new styles for distribution across all channels.

02

The Resource Integration Behind Rapid Growth

In January this year, Reloading products began rolling out on the "Be My Friend" livestream channel, where they performed well. Yonghao Luo, the company's "chief streamer," has promoted the brand multiple times and publicly stated his involvement in designing and overseeing several products.

After using the "Be My Friend" studio to complete its cold start and build brand awareness, the Reloading team began establishing its own livestream channels and short-video sales pipelines. To date, GMV generated through the "Be My Friend" studio has dropped from 95% of total sales to roughly 15%.

The company's rapid growth stems from three main factors: traffic and data support, an independent brand mindset, and disciplined control of livestream sales rhythms.

On traffic, leveraging the data and audience of "Be My Friend" — one of China's top live commerce companies — allows the team to quickly test styles and validate demand, then strategically build hit products and rapidly distribute them across sales channels.

As an independent brand, Reloading maintains strong design management capabilities and trend judgment. It has developed its own methodology for building brand and product identity. The marketing team comes from top internet companies including Alibaba and ByteDance; the product and supply chain team draws from established players like Adidas, FILA, and UNIQLO. From the outset, the team prioritized control over both product design and supply chain capabilities.

To match the pace of livestream sales, Reloading upgraded and restructured its traditional supply chain. The footwear production cycle, from design to market, was compressed from three months to 15 days. For apparel, the team adopted a small-batch, fast-turnaround flexible supply chain model: production and reorders are initially based on test data from the "Be My Friend" studio, then scaled quickly once orders flow through owned channels. The advantage is lower inventory pressure and better cash flow compared to peers, plus higher margins.

On building a sustainable independent brand, head of operations Yan Le says the supply chain approach is now fairly mature. On marketing and sales, the team continues expanding into new channels and tactics, developing additional matrix accounts. "A livestream room doing RMB 500,000 in daily GMV can become a replicable playbook," he notes. "We have an edge over competitors in traffic acquisition. Our biggest hit product has gotten over 200 million impressions across the web, with reach extending beyond Douyin to platforms like Taobao and Kuaishou."

Beyond Douyin, the team is actively expanding into Taobao Live, short-video storefronts, and Kuaishou — channels that are still in high-growth mode or offer deeper market penetration.

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Further Reading

BlueRun Ventures Leads PreA+ Series of Millions of USD in Wanxun Technology | BlueRun Family

BlueRun Ventures Leads Pre-A Round of Over RMB 100 Million in YunChu New Energy | BlueRun Family

BlueRun Ventures Leads Pre-A Round of Tens of Millions of RMB in ZhongKe RuiYi | BlueRun Family

BlueRun Ventures was founded in 1998 in Silicon Valley. BlueRun Ventures China was established in 2005 and focuses on early-stage venture investments.

Currently, BlueRun Ventures China manages multiple USD and RMB dual-currency funds with over RMB 15 billion in assets under management, making it one of the largest early-stage funds in the country. It invests primarily at Pre-A and Series A stages across hard tech and innovative interaction, enterprise technology, new consumer brands, and healthcare. The firm has backed more than 150 startups, including Li Auto, Waterdrop, QingCloud, Guazi, Qudian, Songguo Mobility, Ganji.com, Energy Monster, Yuntu Semiconductor, Machenike, Cloud Saint Intelligence, AnchNet, and BioMap.

BlueRun Ventures has been ranked #1 on Zero2IPO's "China Top 30 Early-Stage Investment Institutions" and ChinaVenture's "China Best Early-Stage Venture Capital Firms TOP30," and named among Preqin's top 10 venture capital managers globally for sustained high returns.

The firm has also received consecutive honors from Forbes China, 36Kr, Cyzone, Caixin Media, CBNweekly, Jiemian, and other media, including "China's Best Early-Stage Firm of the Year," "China's Top Venture Capital Firm," "Most Entrepreneur-Friendly Early-Stage Firm," and "Most Influential Early-Stage Firm."