Xueji is accelerating expansion with the fresh funding
Chinese roasted seeds and nuts firm Xueji (Chinese:薛记炒货) has completed over CNY 600 million (USD 86.1 million) Series A round of funding from LONG-Z (Chinese:美团龙珠) and GenBridge Capital (Chinese:启承资本) today.
The money will be mainly used for store expansion, factory construction and digital investment. After this round of financing, Zhu Yonghua, founding partner of LONG-Z, and Chang Bin, founding partner of GenBridge Capital, will serve as directors.
Founded in 2002, Xue Ji is deeply engaged in the research and development, production and store sales of roasted seeds and nuts. Its main products include freshly roasted nuts, melon seeds and peanuts, dried fruits and vegetables, preserved fruits and puffed foods, etc.
In 2019, Xue Ji carried out brand iteration of product standardization and experience upgrading, opened the "partnership system" in some Chinese markets, and began to accelerate its expansion. At present, Xue Ji has 700 stores, which are usually located next to the convenience stores in middle and high-end communities.
Roasted seeds and nuts is the second largest category of casual food. Compared with other categories, it has maintained rapid growth in recent years. According to the statistics of Zheshang Securities, the market size of roasted seeds and nuts was CNY 141.5 billion in 2020, with a five-year CAGR of 8.2%. However, its market concentration is low, and the industry CR5 is only 9.31%.