Genki Forest Completes New Strategic Funding Round, Charts Four Paths to Build "Genki Forest of the World"
Build out the full value chain to integrate R&D, manufacturing, and sales, and capture the opportunities created by the rise of China's new generation of young consumers.
Recently, Genki Forest, a domestic blockbuster beverage brand, announced the completion of a new strategic funding round. The round was co-led by HSG, Warburg Pincus, and L Catterton, with follow-on investments from Temasek, Gaorong Ventures, Longfor Capital, and others. The post-money valuation reached $6 billion. Gaorong Ventures had previously participated in Genki Forest's funding rounds in 2019 and 2020, and continued its investment in this round.
It is reported that the proceeds from this round will be deployed across four main areas: conducting overseas acquisitions to bring in more high-quality international products, building higher-quality and more environmentally friendly "beautiful factories" in China, increasing R&D investment in technology, and accelerating Genki Forest's global expansion. These efforts aim to complete an integrated R&D, production, and sales chain, continuously strengthen its competitive moat, and capture opportunities arising from the rise of China's new generation of young consumers.
Data-Driven Consumer Insights, Heavy Bet on Product R&D
Founded in 2017, Genki Forest broke through in the beverage industry with the differentiated innovation of "sugar control." From day one, the company leveraged internet-native thinking and a "customer first" value system. Through market research, it identified consumer demand for sugar-free drinks, then developed its star product — sugar-free sparkling water — through technology-driven R&D, meeting user needs for drinks that taste good, look good, and are high-quality without sugar. Building on this quality-first philosophy, Genki Forest subsequently launched a series of products including Ran Tea (RTD tea), Milk Tea, Jianmei Light Tea, "Alien" energy drinks, and "Full Marks" fruit sparkling water, gradually expanding its coverage of major beverage categories.
Rui Han, partner at Gaorong Ventures, said, "When Gaorong first invested in Genki Forest, I made the investment decision in person during our very first meeting with the team. First, Genki Forest has a team with tremendous vision and determination. Grounded in 'customer first' values, they have deep insight into consumer demand. Second, from its founding day, the company has embedded data-driven thinking deeply into its product development process, using A/B testing for rapid product testing and iteration — letting consumer choices emerge naturally. This is the key to building a portfolio of flagship products amid fierce competition. A top-tier team, combined with the company's innovative organizational and R&D mechanisms, gives us conviction in their potential to reach the summit of this category. That's why we've chosen to double down and stay with them."
During the 2019 and 2020 618 shopping festivals, Genki Forest ranked first in Tmall's beverage category for two consecutive years. During 2020's Singles' Day, it surpassed traditional international giants on both Tmall and JD.com to become the top-selling water and beverage brand across all e-commerce platforms. In 2020, it achieved nearly RMB 3 billion in sales, setting a new record for China's beverage industry.
Genki Forest founder Binsen Tang said that 2021 will be a "big year for products" — 95% of Genki Forest's products have yet to be launched, and R&D spending and headcount will triple compared to 2020. Going forward, Genki Forest will deepen its investment in product development and improve R&D efficiency by combining product innovation with current consumption trends and demand, grounded in deep understanding of young consumers.
Building Self-Owned Factories to Boost Capacity and Quality
On the factory front, following the completion of its first self-built factory in Chuzhou Phase I last year, Genki Forest's production bases in Xiqing, Tianjin and Zhaoqing, Guangdong, as well as Chuzhou Phase II, will come online this year — forming a comprehensive "north, central, south" layout covering the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Notably, the Zhaoqing factory will be China's first "transparent factory" without walls, integrating with the surrounding community and welcoming all consumers to witness the production of every Genki Forest bottle. Once self-built factories are operational, the time from order placement to retail terminals will be cut from two weeks to one week, doubling delivery efficiency.
Genki Forest will also begin construction on production bases in Southwest and Central China this year. Once all factories are operational, total capacity is expected to exceed 10 billion units. Beyond increasing capacity, self-owned factories are designed to meet the production demands of high-quality products and enhance product innovation capabilities and efficiency.
Driving Chinese Beverages Overseas, "Global Serves Global"
Since its founding, Genki Forest has adhered to a "global serves global" philosophy, advancing both "bringing in" and "going out." On one hand, it continues overseas acquisitions to introduce high-quality products, broadly exploring opportunities for consumer upgrades or demand gaps in the China market across raw materials, origins, and technology. For example, it previously introduced yerba mate from South America to launch its "Alien" energy drink. Meanwhile, on the export front, Genki Forest has already entered over 40 countries including the US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and South Korea. It has officially received certification from Singapore's Health Promotion Board (HPB), earning the HCS Healthier Choice Symbol, with its health value gradually gaining recognition overseas. On Tmall's cross-border platform, Genki Forest's export sales volume grew 69% year-over-year in the past three months.
Genki Forest has identified the US, Europe, and Southeast Asia as key markets for current expansion, focusing on exporting existing products while capturing from-scratch opportunities in new markets. For channel development, it will concentrate on emerging channels and direct-to-consumer (DTC) channels.
Advancing Toward the Vision of "Genki Forest of the World"
Rui Han noted, "Today's Genki Forest, after rapid iteration, is undergoing a process 'from quantitative change to qualitative change.' Having initially broken through on the strength of a 'super long board' — its distinctive product advantage — it is now advancing toward becoming a leading company 'without short boards.' Whether in user insight, data analytics, product R&D and innovation, or building its own supply chain, the company has constructed an 'end-to-end' system, enabling it to more solidly advance toward the vision of 'Genki Forest of the World.'"
Looking at the development of China's beverage industry, domestic brands faced intense impact when international brands entered the China market in the 1980s and 1990s. Today, as a leader among Chinese beverage brands, Genki Forest is continuously gaining recognition from global consumers, driven by new users, new demands, new technologies, and new philosophies — striving to become an outstanding brand truly oriented toward the future and practicing "Chinese excellence."
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