The Sci-Tech Innovation Board Daily reported on September 28th (by Xu Cihao) that the chain coffee brand NOWWA has announced the completion of a multi-billion B++ round of financing. The investors include Yongshan Tianji, Shengjing Jiacheng Fund, and Yuansheng Capital.

Tianyancha business data shows that NOWWA coffee has completed 5 rounds of financing before. Investors include Jinsha River Venture Capital, SIG Haina Asia, 37 Interactive Entertainment Network Technology Group, Jue Capital Investments, Belle Group Consumer Fund, Yuansheng Capital, GurryShark Capital, Bo Li Venture Capital, and many angel investors.

"In the next one or two years, our focus will still be on focusing on the concept of healthy, low-calorie products and penetrating the markets of some provinces." Recently, NOWWA Coffee CEO Guo Xingjun accepted an exclusive interview with the Sci-Tech Innovation Board Daily. According to him, NOWWA will soon open franchise stores in Thailand and Australia, currently in the site selection stage.

Competing with differentiation in "low-calorie".

NOWWA Coffee, a subsidiary brand of Zhejiang Lixing Technology Co., Ltd., began in June 2019, founded by Guo Xingjun. He joined Ele.me in 2014, working for five years in various roles, including head of several business units such as dining, retail, and platform commercialization.

At the end of 2017, Ele.me started incubating the unmanned shelf project "Ele.me Now", with Guo Xingjun as the COO of this new retail shelf business, until he resigned in May 2019. In the same year, NOWWA Coffee's first store opened in Shanghai. As of now, NOWWA has covered over 160 cities.

In the increasingly fierce market environment of the "9.9 yuan coffee" price war, NOWWA Coffee has chosen a differentiated development path - focusing on "low-calorie coffee".

In recent years, due to the continuous improvement of consumer health awareness, the health attributes of beverages have also become a key concern for consumers. Guo Xingjun, CEO of NOWWA Coffee, stated that the team noticed that consumers not only pursue the taste of coffee but also pay attention to its health benefits. "Therefore, we decided to enhance the health attributes of the products while keeping the prices affordable, making NOWWA the epitome of 'healthy coffee' in the minds of consumers."

To achieve this goal, NOWWA Coffee has comprehensively upgraded its product line, significantly reducing the calorie content of dairy products, resulting in a 40%-64% reduction in the calorie content of coffee products, successfully creating a variety of low-calorie star products. Among them, the Multifunctional Fruit Coffee series is particularly outstanding, not only meeting consumers' diverse demands for taste but also gaining wide market recognition for its low-calorie characteristics.

The 'Star Market Daily' reporter also learned from NOWWA Coffee that its GMV in 2023 achieved nearly 100% growth. Guo Xingjun told the reporter that the main driving force behind the performance growth comes from the sales of the Multifunctional Fruit Coffees in stores. So far, this product series has contributed to over 50% of the revenue.

In addition, NOWWA Coffee has also launched low-calorie products such as the 'Fat-Reducing Coconut' series and Green Acid Burn Light Coffee, further enriching its product line. Under the 'low-calorie coffee' strategy, NOWWA Coffee has successively launched over 20 Zero-Fat Fruit Coffee Americanos in 2024, which have also received positive feedback from consumers. For example, during the May Day holiday this year, NOWWA Coffee Mini Program orders increased by over 50% year-on-year, sales doubled in 21 cities, and ton sales increased by 483% year-on-year.

In Guo Xingjun's view, the first round of 'depleting' price wars has ended, and the product positioning of each brand will determine the market trends in the future.

Will expand to Southeast Asia and Australia.

Against the backdrop of the increasingly saturated domestic coffee market, going overseas to find new growth points has become the consensus of many coffee brands.

In April 2023, Luckin Coffee opened its first store in Singapore, followed by Koodee Coffee's debut in Seoul, South Korea in August last year.

In the past year, Luckin Coffee has opened 38 stores in Singapore and plans to expand to the entire Southeast Asia region and the USA. Meanwhile, KFC's footsteps have gradually expanded from South Korea to Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the USA, and 28 countries and regions globally.

Following the lead of Luckin Coffee, KFC, and other leading players stepping up their internationalization efforts, Nova Coffee is also unwilling to fall behind.

From the current cases of several brands going global, their expansion in overseas markets is still in the early stages, facing challenges such as complex supply chains, small and fragmented markets, and diverse demands. Clearly, the domestic approach of pursuing economies of scale cannot be directly applied to overseas markets.

According to Nova Coffee, the financing recently obtained will mainly be used for upgrading the supply chain, building new factories, product research and development, with plans to establish the China Coffee Innovation Industrial Park in Ningbo. In addition, Nova Coffee has recently signed contracts for overseas stores in Thailand, Singapore, and Australia.

Guo Xingjun revealed to the "STAR Market Daily" reporter that the business performance in Macau, China far exceeded expectations, "which made us realize the importance of differentiated products and capabilities."

Facing the diversity and complexity of overseas markets, Nova Coffee deeply understands the importance of localization strategy. Guo Xingjun told reporters that the main approach to overseas expansion will lean towards channel expansion or partnership cooperation, while his personal focus will be more on localized product research and development. "By deeply understanding the taste preferences and consumption habits of local consumers, creating differentiated products will be the key for Nova Coffee to establish a foothold in overseas markets."

Regarding the competitive situation in overseas markets, Guo Xingjun demonstrated a cautious yet optimistic attitude. He admitted that although the coffee market is vast, the significant regional market differences pose both challenges and opportunities for brands. "The coffee market is huge, if a brand does not have a clear differentiation positioning, it will not have an advantage but instead be squeezed."