Warm congratulations to Mingming Henmang on its successful IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with Gaorong Ventures co-leading the first round.

On January 28, Mingming Henmang — China's largest leisure food and beverage retail chain — officially listed on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange under the ticker 01768.HK. Priced at HK$236.60 per share, the IPO raised a total of HK$3.67 billion. As of 9:45 a.m. on its debut trading day, Mingming Henmang's shares traded at HK$430.00, up 81.74% from the offering price, giving the company a market capitalization exceeding HK$92 billion.

Gaorong Ventures co-led Mingming Henmang's Series A funding round in 2021 and continued to participate in subsequent rounds with significant follow-on investments.

Yan Zhou, founder, Chairman, and CEO of Mingming Henmang, said: "We started as a single neighborhood store and have grown to over 20,000 locations nationwide, becoming an everyday staple for ordinary people. Even if we someday become China's largest offline retail channel, our original aspiration remains unchanged. We want consumers to be able to access and afford quality snacks, to experience the joy of 'walking out with a big bag for just a few dozen yuan.' We also want our franchise partners to earn a good living through their own hard work and build lives with real promise."

"'Creating joyful living and becoming the people's snack brand' is our corporate vision, and it's the direction that every Mingming Henmang person will steadfastly pursue going forward. We will keep running, reaching further and farther — wherever there are people, there can be Mingming Henmang, bringing that simple happiness to more people."

Rui Han, Partner at Gaorong Ventures, said: "Congratulations to Mingming Henmang on its successful HKEX listing, becoming the first discount snack chain to go public in Hong Kong! We have always believed that the core of retail is 'doing simple things repeatedly,' and Yan Zhou is the most exceptional practitioner of this principle we have ever encountered. He has an outstanding ability to focus on what matters and let go of what doesn't — which allows him to identify the simple actions. At the same time, he is remarkably patient, disciplined, and rule-abiding — which allows him to repeat them. Moreover, in an industry so close to the money, Yan Zhou is a rare founder who genuinely instills a culture of trust in his team and partners. Today, that trust has been rewarded."

From left to right: Yangjiao Yang, Vice President at Gaorong Ventures; Yan Zhou, founder, Chairman, and CEO of Mingming Henmang; Rui Han, Partner at Gaorong Ventures

High-Speed Growth: From 450 to Over 20,000 Stores

Mingming Henmang operates two major brands — "Snack Busy" (Lingshi Henmang) and "Zhao Yiming Snacks" — and is a pioneer of China's food and beverage discount retail model. In the first nine months of 2025, the company achieved gross merchandise value (GMV) of RMB 66.1 billion. Its national store network now covers 28 provinces and cities at all tiers, with 59% of locations reaching into county towns and townships, making it a critical physical retailer connecting mass consumption with China's food industry.

When Gaorong Ventures co-led Mingming Henmang's Series A round in 2021, the company had just 450 stores and was embarking on national expansion. At that time, Gaorong's investment team and Strategy & Research Department conducted extensive field research, visiting nearly 100 stores and producing a 98-page internal report.

In recent years, Mingming Henmang has carved out a distinct path from traditional supermarkets and e-commerce platforms, rooting itself in communities and lower-tier markets. Using high-frequency, staple snack and beverage categories as its entry point, the company restructured supply chains, eliminated intermediary layers, and brought genuine "quality-per-yuan" value to consumers. On this foundation, Mingming Henmang layered in emotional value, creating a relaxed and enjoyable shopping experience.

As of November 30, 2025, Mingming Henmang operated 21,041 stores, with a significant portion located in county towns, townships, and residential neighborhoods — bringing affordable, high-quality, and abundant food options into the daily lives of ordinary families.

In the offline retail sector, Gaorong Ventures identifies quality companies along two major investment theses. First, Gaorong believes that mid-sized supermarkets represent an intermediate form in retail because it's difficult to excel simultaneously on "selection, speed, quality, and savings." Many product categories in mid-sized supermarkets are gradually being "disaggregated" by various new formats. Combined with China's population density, mid-sized supermarkets will fragment into various specialized stores — for example, fresh produce gave rise to Qdama, fruit to Pagoda, and snacks similarly presented an opportunity for dedicated chains.

Second, Gaorong continuously searches offline for unique experiences that even the most advanced internet cannot replace. Borrowing the AI industry's popular term "Vibe Coding," snack specialty stores are a quintessential example of "Vibe Shopping." Consumers are surrounded by dazzling abundance and vast product selection, while bulk loose goods significantly lower decision-making costs. This "atmosphere shopping" delivers immense satisfaction to consumers. Mingming Henmang undoubtedly fits both of these theses.

Restructuring Supply Chains: Directly Connecting Consumer Demand with Food Industry Supply

As a pioneer of the discount retail model, Mingming Henmang unlocks value through efficiency gains, connecting directly with manufacturers and brand owners. Through scaled procurement, standardized operations, and a national warehousing and distribution network, the company substantially reduces circulation costs. While ensuring food safety and quality, it delivers equally good products at more reasonable prices to consumers.

As of September 30, 2025, Mingming Henmang had established partnerships with over 2,500 quality manufacturers, including 50% of companies on the Hurun China Food Industry Top 100 list. Average prices for comparable products are approximately 25% lower than offline supermarket channels.

Today, Mingming Henmang has gradually become a critical hub connecting real consumer demand with China's food manufacturing capabilities. The company curates and customizes products around consumer preferences, establishing a standardized process of "initial selection — sampling — trial sales — rollout," launching hundreds of new products monthly to form a rich, frequently refreshed, and structurally diverse product portfolio. As of September 30, 2025, Mingming Henmang carried approximately 3,997 SKUs across 7 major categories and over 750 brands.

On this foundation, Mingming Henmang goes deep into product origins, working with manufacturers to jointly optimize specifications and formats. As of September 30, 2025, approximately 34% of SKUs came from co-developed custom products, and 38% of products were sold in bulk loose-weight form. Leveraging point-of-sale data close to the end consumer, Mingming Henmang also participates deeply in upstream R&D. For example, based on insights into flavor preferences, its co-developed "sesame paste flavor vegetarian tripe" with Yanjin Shop achieved sales of 960 million units in the first nine months of 2025.

Deepening Presence in China's Domestic Market, Serving the Real Economy

Mingming Henmang's rapid development rests on the solid foundation of China's unified domestic market, improved logistics infrastructure, and enhanced digital capabilities. Through its national warehousing and logistics network and standardized management systems, the company has achieved stable operations and high-quality development at a scale of tens of thousands of stores.

As of September 30, 2025, Mingming Henmang operated 48 intelligent modern warehousing and distribution centers, with a single-warehouse delivery radius of up to 300 kilometers, enabling 24-hour delivery to stores nationwide. In the first nine months of 2025, warehousing and logistics costs accounted for 1.7% of total revenue. In 2024, the company's inventory turnover was 11.6 days — both figures representing industry-leading performance.

While serving consumers, Mingming Henmang continues to generate positive spillover effects for the real economy. The company has built an integrated industry chain spanning agricultural production, food processing, and terminal retail. Through its national store network, it helps local food enterprises and agricultural raw materials reach broader markets, driving overall upgrades in China's domestic snack supply chain. It supports 9,552 franchisees in entrepreneurship, creating substantial employment. And through its standardized, replicable model, it contributes to the continuous improvement of county-level commercial systems.

Bringing the Benefits of Food Industry Upgrades to Millions of Households

China's leisure food and beverage retail industry has grown significantly in recent years. According to reports from the National Bureau of Statistics and Frost & Sullivan, the market expanded from RMB 2.9 trillion in 2019 to RMB 3.7 trillion in 2024, representing a compound annual growth rate of 5.5%, and is projected to reach RMB 4.9 trillion by 2029.

This listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange marks Mingming Henmang's entry into a more transparent and stable phase of development. Going forward, Mingming Henmang will adhere to long-termism, operating stores with steadiness and serving consumers with care, making high-quality, affordable snacks an everyday option within reach for more families. By achieving inclusive consumption through efficiency and connecting joyful living through snacks, the company will continue writing a new chapter in China's snack retail story.

Rui Han said: "Mingming Henmang has become the leader in this industry today, and going forward it will increasingly bear the responsibilities of leadership, bringing more consumers peace of mind and happiness. We look forward to the day when more and more children, after finishing their homework or doing something well, hear their parents say, 'Let's go — as a reward, I'm taking you to Mingming Henmang.' We wish Mingming Henmang all the best, and look forward to the company accompanying our lives for the long term with even better and healthier products, bringing the benefits of food industry upgrades to millions of households."