BlueRun Ventures co-invests as "Yi Kuai Xiao Yuzhou" closes consecutive angel and angel+ rounds totaling tens of millions of RMB | BlueRun Ventures

Chinese coffee food tech startup One Piece Universe announced the completion of a tens of millions of RMB angel and angel+ funding round. The round was led by BlueRun Ventures and Redpoint China Ventures, with proceeds earmarked for accelerating R&D and innovation of its "coffee cubes" as well as supply chain buildout. Concurrently, One Piece Universe announced that China's first self-built 3D freeze-dry factory has been established in Tianjin.

Terry Zhu, Managing Partner of BlueRun Ventures, stated: "One Piece Universe is one of the few new consumer brands with strong food tech R&D capabilities. They planned and assembled a full coffee industry chain team early on. Their 3D freeze-dried coffee represents a 'new species' in the coffee world — innovating on raw materials and processing, with strong visual appeal and organic shareability, satisfying users' demand for 'anytime, anywhere' access to a pour-over quality cup. This investment aligns well with BlueRun's consumer tech thesis of 'product-driven super new species,' and we look forward to One Piece Universe bringing consumers more interesting, delicious, and healthy coffee 'black tech' products."

Founded in 2021 as the pioneer of the freeze-dried coffee cube category, One Piece Universe's founding team includes CEO Lin Yang, founder of boutique coffee chain CUP ONE; Chief Brand Officer Guang Yu, founder of top Chinese design studio ABCD; and Chief Research Officer Ma Chao, professor at Beijing Forestry University's College of Biological Sciences and Technology.

With the original vision of creating a new coffee species, the founding team used food technology to transform freeze-dried coffee production processes, substantially improving quality while revolutionizing the supply chain through self-developed 3D freeze-drying production lines and a self-built factory. The resulting coffee cubes have elevated freeze-dried coffee to new heights.

To date, One Piece Universe products are available across Tmall, Douyin, Poizon, Xiaohongshu, and other online platforms; stocked at premium offline retailers including Ole' and 7-Eleven; and the company has opened a concept store in Beijing's Dongsi neighborhood. Within three months of launching on Douyin, One Piece Universe became a top 3 brand in the platform's coffee category.

01

A New Species in Coffee: The Coffee Cube

What is a coffee cube? How is it fundamentally different from instant coffee powder? These were the most frequently asked questions when One Piece Universe was first established.

Coffee cubes are not compressed coffee powder. Rather, they are solid freeze-dried coffee produced through a 3D freeze-drying process applied to coffee extract. Compared to traditional instant coffee, coffee cubes represent an upgrade across the entire coffee supply chain.

As any coffee aficionado knows, the soul of café-quality coffee lies in the espresso extracted by professional machines. The central challenge facing industry practitioners has been how to transform this pressurized hot-extracted coffee — whose flavor freshness lasts no more than one minute — into something that can be preserved long-term and carried conveniently.

To preserve coffee's original flavor without additives, the founding team applied aerospace-grade freeze-drying technology to transform their supply chain, developing an entire proprietary 3D freeze-drying production line for coffee and thereby creating a technologically defensible new species: the coffee cube.

One Piece Universe has jointly established an R&D laboratory with Beijing Forestry University and has already applied for and received multiple invention patents covering 3D freeze-dried coffee shaping technology, coffee extraction and concentration technology, targeted caffeine removal technology, and functional coffee formulation composition.

Currently, One Piece Universe has mastered the key technical system for plant extract 3D freeze-drying + shaping + instant dissolution + flavor locking. Going forward, the company may launch plant-based functional coffees such as raw cacao coffee, red yeast rice coffee, and guarana coffee, as well as plant-based flavored coffees like natural osmanthus coffee and rose coffee — continuously expanding its product portfolio to meet increasingly diverse market demands.

02

Self-Built Factory to Strengthen Brand's Technical Moat

The founding team had studied domestic and international freeze-drying literature and visited multiple freeze-dry factories, finding none capable of producing "3D freeze-dried" coffee cubes. After nearly two years of experimental R&D, Chief Research Officer Ma Chao transformed the "3D freeze-dried" coffee cube from concept to reality.

With R&D success achieved, scaling to mass production became the urgent next step. Currently, domestic freeze-drying equipment is primarily designed for fruits and vegetables; no suitable 3D freeze-drying equipment existed. The founding team independently developed a pilot production line, proving mass production feasibility and making coffee cube popularization possible.

After product launch, the R&D team continued upgrading and optimizing the supply chain. The new production technology imposed stricter requirements on factory capabilities and worker expertise. To ensure consistently high product quality, One Piece Universe chose to build its own factory and progressively elevate quality control and raw material standards. In 2022, One Piece Universe's first factory was established in Tianjin and has recently commenced operations — China's first 3D freeze-dry factory.

03

Dual-Wheel Drive of Creativity and Technology to Advance Product Iteration

As a food tech enterprise pioneering an entirely new category, One Piece Universe will continuously upgrade its product supply chain, broaden its product lines, and iterate and innovate. In the second half of the year, One Piece Universe will partner with Daily Black to launch a new generation of raw cacao blended freeze-dried coffee cubes, and a co-branded product with NetEase CloudMusic's major album IP "Shelf Life Artists" will go live across all channels in July.

"It's not that we don't need bread — we need different bread," says founder & CEO Lin Yang. Chinese consumers are developing coffee consumption habits, yet no product has emerged that satisfies both the "anytime, anywhere" and "café-quality cup" demands. In a coffee track crowded with new brands, innovation in technology and category is the path that "a real brand" must take.

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Further Reading

BlueRun Ventures Quarterly Investment Overview | 2022 Q2

BlueRun Ventures Leads 30 Million RMB Pre-A Round for "Reload" | BlueRun Family

What We Discussed with Silicon Valley Founders: BlueRun Hosts "Web3 & SaaS Explorer Day"

BlueRun Ventures was established in Silicon Valley in 1998. BlueRun Ventures China was founded in 2005 and is a venture capital firm focused on early-stage startups.

Currently, BlueRun Ventures manages multiple USD and RMB dual-currency funds in China, with assets under management exceeding 15 billion RMB, making it one of the largest early-stage funds domestically. The firm invests primarily at Pre-A and Series A stages across hard tech and innovative interaction, enterprise technology, new consumer, and healthcare sectors, with over 150 portfolio companies including Li Auto, Waterdrop, QingCloud, Guazi Used Car, Qudian, Songguo Mobility, Ganji.com, Energy Monster, Yuntou Semiconductor, Machenike, Cloud Saint Intelligence, Anxin Network Shield, and BioMap.

BlueRun Ventures has been ranked #1 on Zero2IPO's "China Early-Stage Investment Firms Top 30" and ChinaVenture's "China Best Early-Stage Venture Capital Firms TOP30," and was named among Preqin's Top 10 global VC fund managers for sustained high-return performance.

Additionally, BlueRun Ventures has received consecutive annual recognition from Forbes China, 36Kr, Cyzone, Caixin Media, CBNweekly, Jiemian, and other media organizations as "China's Best Early-Stage Firm," "China Top Venture Capital Firm," "Most Founder-Friendly Early-Stage Firm," and "Most Influential Early-Stage Firm."