Scent fragrance brand "Scentooze" announced the completion of a multimillion-yuan Pre-A funding round, with Source Code Capital as the sole investor.

源码资本·August 7, 2020·2·2

With nothing more than a single render image, they hit 150,000 yuan in sales, and a presale planned for one month sold out in five days.

Fragrance brand "Scentooze" announced the completion of a multi-million-yuan Pre-A funding round, with Source Code Capital as the sole investor. Previously, Scentooze had received angel funding from Jiaye Enterprise Management Partnership, an affiliate of Jala Group.

As a young perfume brand, Scentooze positions itself as the signature scent for Gen Z "vibrant girls," aiming to design fragrance products that young consumers love while incorporating China's native scent culture. Its first batch of products, including unconventional scents like "Bubble Tea" and "Grandpa's Attic," have already launched and gained traction among young consumers.

Perfume Culture for Gen Z

Chinese consumers still need some degree of market education when it comes to perfume usage and consumption. Scentooze founder and CEO Rachel believes that "perfume will go through market phases similar to color cosmetics — from people having stereotypes about makeup, to gradually accepting others wearing it, to eventually choosing cosmetics themselves. In the future, fragrance products will have their own moment too. When the market matures, perfume will be like makeup, with different personalities and occasion-based pairing options."

China has a long history of incense culture, yet the current perfume market is dominated by Western brands that mostly offer strong, intense scents. Many consumers mistakenly assume perfume is purely an imported product. Chinese preferences tend toward subtle, understated aromas, and the limited selection of scent products on the market creates an opportunity for local fragrance brands to differentiate themselves and stand out.

From a generational perspective, post-95s consumers show markedly different preferences — young users are more willing to live for themselves and more easily develop consumption habits in new categories. Scentooze hopes to capture this demographic, expand fragrance-wearing habits, and ultimately influence broader consumer groups.

Connecting with Gen Z Through "Scenarios"

Perfume falls under the broader beauty and skincare category, but unlike color cosmetics and skincare, Chinese consumers don't have functional needs around fragrance. So in communicating with users, local brands need to build more emotional connections through culture and content.

Traditional perfume marketing emphasizes top, middle, and base notes. But Rachel believes that for novice users, this note-based communication is relatively inefficient. The association between scent and memory, however, is strong. So Scentooze chose "scenarios" as its communication medium — each fragrance corresponds to a specific scenario, giving consumers a rough outline to imagine and extend from, with attached emotional associations.

For young post-95s consumers, Scentooze positions itself as the signature scent for vibrant girls. This means all products share common standards: sweet but not cloying, non-aggressive, lightly scented, yet long-lasting. For packaging, Scentooze created an original "Easter egg" shape, symbolizing surprises in life. And for personalization-seeking young people, Scentooze also offers an 8-piece, 2ml scent set.

Scentooze currently has 13 different SKUs. During its recent testing phase, a presale on Modian generated 150,000 yuan in sales from a single render image alone. A co-branded designer toy Qixi festival gift box, originally planned for a one-month presale, sold out in five days.