Luckin Coffee

Luckin Coffee is a Chinese coffee chain that operates a high-volume, digitally driven, low-price model. As of late 2025, it runs over 29,000 stores and is the largest coffee chain in China by outlet count, having overtaken Starbucks . The company was founded by a team including Charles Lu Zhengyao, and initially grew through aggressive subsidization and rapid store expansion before a 2020 accounting fraud scandal led to its delisting from Nasdaq and near-collapse .

The turnaround began in 2022 when private equity firm Centurium Capital (大钲资本) acquired founder-controlled shares and took operational control, with IDG Capital joining as a co-investor in the buyer group—a bet that IDG partner Niu Kuiguang later described as staking the firm's reputation on a "can only succeed, cannot fail" basis . Under CEO Guo Jinyi, Luckin narrowed its losses by cutting subsidies, shifting toward beverage-style coffee products, and expanding into lower-tier cities with smaller-format stores optimized for takeout and delivery . By Q3 2025, the company reported revenue of RMB 15.3 billion and net profit of RMB 1.28 billion, and is actively pursuing a relisting on a major U.S. exchange . It has also begun international expansion into Singapore, Malaysia, and the United States .