Gaocang has established a new round of consumer funds, what are we planning to invest in?#
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Highlights#
The driving force of social consumption is always led by young women, and the consumption habits of young women will definitely spread to older women. ⤴️ ^5baf7aa3
It is clear that this is transmitted from my wife to my mother.
Far River Research Institute 2023-12-04 13:15 Published in Shanghai
The following article is from Lao Fan's Entrepreneurship Talk, author Fan Weifeng.
Recently, Gaocang Capital officially announced: Gaocang (Phase III) Future Angel Investment Fund has successfully completed fundraising, and has now invested in 4 companies. Next, it will invest in 20 to 30 early-stage seed and angel round startups in the broad consumer sector.
In this year's capital market, the financing environment for the broad consumer sector has been relatively sluggish. The establishment of this fund by Gaocang has brought a breath of fresh air to the financing market of this sector.
The investors in this fund include local guiding funds, investment institutions, entrepreneurs, and family offices from Shanghai and Hangzhou.
Gaocang Capital founder Fan Weifeng stated: The Future Angel Fund of Gaocang will invest in entrepreneurs who drive changes in the consumer industry through technological innovation, including opportunities for supply chain innovation and channel innovation driven by technological innovation. Gaocang will invest in angel projects in the consumer sector against the trend, becoming the first investor for young entrepreneurs. We are good at leveraging the asymmetric advantages of angel investment, buying into the life options of future entrepreneurs, and creating returns for investors.
Founded in 2015, Gaocang Capital currently manages three phases of RMB funds, focusing on angel stage investments, and has invested in over 60 projects, dedicated to finding and accompanying entrepreneurs who can navigate through cycles.
Currently, Gaocang Capital's investment team is mainly based in Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Hangzhou, deeply covering and serving entrepreneurs.
The "Lao Fan's Entrepreneurship Talk" program launched by Gaocang Capital founder Fan Weifeng this year, with the slogan "Find angel investment, first talk to Lao Fan," is rapidly gaining influence among young entrepreneurs.
You can directly add "Lao Fan himself" to chat (it really is Lao Fan himself);
Below is the full text of Gaocang Capital founder Fan Weifeng's speech at the Hangzhou Cultural Expo, announcing the establishment of the Gaocang (Phase III) Future Angel Fund:
What are we going to invest in during this turbulent era?
I want to start today by saying, "The strategy of entrepreneurs in a turbulent era." At first, some people said it might sound a bit alarmist, but it is not.
The turbulent era is a very important warning put forward by senior leaders, stating that "we must be prepared to endure the severe tests of high winds and waves, even turbulent waves."
When this statement was made, I thought about it for a long time.
In the past two years, the environment and market have already fluctuated quite a bit, but it seems that even greater changes are ahead, and entrepreneurs must be mentally prepared to face the turbulence.
For state-owned enterprises, you can understand them as a continent or an island, while each unicorn is an aircraft carrier. However, the vast majority of entrepreneurs may only be a fishing boat, drifting in the waves of the Pacific Ocean, not knowing where the other side's port is or how long it will take to reach it.
Moreover, senior leaders have also provided solutions. There is a saying, "Do not forget your original intention, and keep your mission in mind." I used to think this was just a slogan, but after these years of entrepreneurship, I increasingly feel that this is not just a slogan; it is a solution in itself.
As entrepreneurs, especially in the cultural and consumer industries, what is your original intention? To help others live a good life. This itself is a mission and a way to navigate through today's cycles and cross the turbulent waves.
Today, many changes are happening in the consumer industry, but I believe the changes in the consumer industry are actually outside of it. The fundamental driving force, the biggest change, is the change in the real estate market.
Many people in China still seriously underestimate the huge negative wealth effect brought by the decline in real estate prices. In Shenzhen, the decline in housing prices may exceed 30%, and I have heard that the fluctuations in housing prices in Hangzhou are also severe.
Most of the wealth of Chinese people is in real estate. This is the first time in our lives that we have encountered such a long period of decline in household wealth, and we do not know when it will recover or if it can return. When your wealth declines by 30% in such a short time, your psychology will definitely undergo a huge change, affecting all consumption behaviors.
The era of "lying down to win" with real estate is over, and confidence has begun to waver. Our generation, having experienced urbanization, generally has a stronger earning ability than our parents; we used to habitually believe that our children would definitely earn more than us.
But many LPs and investors present here, do you still have confidence that your children will definitely earn more than you?
Many parents of overseas students today calculate that their children spend an average of over 10 years from middle school to graduate school, with a total investment of 5 to 10 million in them. How confident are you that your child can earn back this investment in the next ten years? After this expectation wavers, the entire family planning and consumption habits are changing.
Additionally, there are some consumption behaviors we call "sudden wealth after prolonged poverty, hard to resist flaunting," which were consumption habits of many people back then.
Let me tell a little story. A few years ago, I had dinner with a post-90s individual. He held back all night and finally couldn't help but ask me, "Lao Fan, did you notice that I changed my shoes?" I said I didn't have the habit of looking at others' shoes. He then asked me to guess how much his new shoes cost. I said five thousand, he said higher. I said ten thousand, he said fifty thousand.
I completely understood his feelings because during that time, he had just become richer, and at a relatively fast pace. This is a snapshot of an era, where a group of young people were showcasing their class leap through such consumption.
Consumers have demystified brands.
Indeed, today Ferrari and Hermès are still true brands, with only 15,000 Ferraris sold worldwide each year. However, the "brands" in the middle price range, positioned above affordable luxury, are under tremendous downward pressure.
Why? From a sociological perspective, these items were once seen as symbols of self-reward or tools for crossing into a higher class. But today, the meaning of these tools and symbols is gone. Who are you showing off to? What’s the point? Today's consumers have changed their mindset and have seen the world. They will not regard you as a successful person just because you ate three particularly expensive brands of ice cream.
There are always two sides to everything. Laozi said, "The reverse is the movement of the Dao." Behind these changes, we can look back and possibly find a new perspective.
For so many years, we have been looking forward to the transformation of the economic structure from investment-driven to consumption-driven. Today, this change that we have been calling for over the past 20 years may be happening. In the face of this change, we cannot be "Lord Ye who loves dragons."
Since we are facing a new era of consumption channels, what are the dividends and new themes of the consumption era ahead?
We observe that one is the new era of cost-performance consumption.
What is new cost-performance? First, let’s look at what old cost-performance is.
Old cost-performance refers to absolute low prices. This item may not be very good, but it is indeed cheap. What we used to say about "knowing it's fake but buying it, knowing it's inferior but buying it" is all old cost-performance.
What is new cost-performance? It refers to "relative low prices." The item may be a little expensive, but I think it’s good. Good things are worth the money, and you get a better product experience for less money. If I have money, I would still buy from you; that’s the feeling.
For example, in the field of transportation electronics, Li Auto allows you to buy a car that a joint venture brand sells for one million for 400,000; Yadi Electric provides the best alternative for buying groceries and picking up kids within 3 kilometers; DJI, besides drones, provides the microphone and gimbal I use for the "Lao Fan's Entrepreneurship Talk" program, which are super convenient and easy to use; Leifeng offers quasi-Dyson products at a fraction of the price of Dyson.
In terms of food and drink, there’s Luckin Coffee, which offers a cup for 10 yuan that you think is acceptable; there’s the ubiquitous Gu Ming milk tea; and there’s the Chinese burger, Tastin... Our understanding of "good products" has begun to break away from the influence of foreign media and foreigners, becoming more confident. Everyone is starting to trust their own judgment more and more.
Today, the gift everyone brings is "a whole ginseng water," which may be a bit more expensive than regular drinks, but if you understand its ingredients and effects, you will definitely feel it’s worth the price. I have seen many hosts in various live streams drinking this water all night because it really has a good refreshing effect.
In family life, there are also many examples. For instance, today’s women have a new aesthetic concept of life; they no longer try their best to squeeze out a certain figure for you to see, combined with supply chain innovations, leading to brands like Ubras. There are also products like Jiao Xia and Pineapple Zebra, which are the result of new aesthetics combined with breakthroughs in supply chains. Shein allows European and American consumers to enjoy high cost-performance products from China under inflationary pressure.
From the demand side, we can still see many dividends. We mentioned earlier that we may face turbulence, but we will ultimately get through it. To get through it, we must seize the dividends. The dividends come from changes on both the demand and supply sides.
First, the demand-side dividends come from demographic changes.
One is that post-95 young women are starting to dominate. ==The driving force of social consumption is always led by young women, and the consumption habits of young women will definitely spread to older women.==
By the way, although we focus on the elderly sector, I am not optimistic about the future of square dancing, because when the generation born in the 1950s started dancing, they thought it was fashionable. However, today’s people in their 60s worry about being defined as part of the same generation as those born in the 1950s.
In short, the consumption behavior of post-95 young women will sweep across all age groups. Therefore, paying attention to the changes in the consumption behavior of post-95 young women is a barometer for observing trends in consumption changes. Gaocang Capital's investment direction will focus on this clue.
The new elderly consumers, born during the peak birth period starting in 1962, have fully entered retirement since last year. Subsequently, every year, 15 to 20 million people enter this "new elderly" stage.
Today’s new elderly people born in the 1960s are wealthier than the "old elderly." Many have retirement pensions, have experienced urbanization dividends to some extent, and do not have mortgage pressure. Additionally, their mindset differs from that of the "old elderly"; they are willing to make their lives a little better and no longer serve their children wholeheartedly.
They have more free time and are more adept at using smartphones and watching short videos. Therefore, they have money, leisure, and awareness to treat themselves better, which presents huge demand. This is also a key investment direction for Gaocang Capital going forward.
Another huge dividend that is still overlooked by the media today is that China will have a cumulative two hundred million consumers with higher education by 2025.
A person who has attended university may not necessarily become an excellent producer, but they will definitely become an excellent consumer. The university experience itself teaches you how to consume. The consumption behaviors and habits of those who have attended university are fundamentally different from those who have not, and this change is ongoing and significant.
Are we prepared to meet the demands of two hundred million university-educated consumers? This is a huge opportunity, with both entrepreneurial and investment opportunities.
In recent years, many peers in the primary equity fund sector have transformed into so-called "hard technology" sector funds. We neither have such a gene nor such plans. We believe that to create returns for investors, funds must invest within their strong capabilities and resource radii.
Currently, the consumer and 2C sectors are in a cyclical trough, making it a good opportunity for Gaocang to enter at the angel investment stage.
We are not a so-called "hard technology fund," but we invest in changes and opportunities brought by technological innovation. Specifically, there are two dimensions:
1. Technological innovation brings new supply chain innovations. For example, in the brand cases I just mentioned, behind them are not only changes in brand positioning and aesthetic trends but also changes in the supply chain brought by technology;
2. Technological innovation brings channel innovations, such as from Taobao to Pinduoduo, from Weibo, WeChat, Douyin, Kuaishou, Xiaohongshu, to today’s TikTok, Temu, and many new models in offline channels. The underlying driving force for these changes is also technological innovation.
We will invest in angel projects in the consumer and 2C sectors driven by technological innovation along these two main lines.
Today, I would also like to officially announce that our Gaocang (Phase III) Future Angel Fund has been established! When we were fundraising for the fund, some friends expressed confusion, saying that if you don't attach a hard technology label today, how can you have the audacity to go out and raise funds? I told him: "This idea seriously underestimates the courage and level of Chinese entrepreneurs and Chinese LP investors!"
Visionary investors who have experienced major cycles know that historically, very good investment returns often come from contrarian investments made during industry troughs and thematic lows. We are fortunate to have encountered a group of capable and visionary long-term investors.
Our strategy for the new Gaocang (Phase III) Future Angel Fund remains to be the first investor for young entrepreneurs. Many of our investors present here, thank you very much for your investment insight and courage.
Finally, today we are looking for projects in a more direct way. I believe that today’s investment institutions do not need to leave emails; what they need to leave is WeChat.
Our slogan is "Find angel investment, first talk to Lao Fan." If you have entrepreneurial ideas or leads, feel free to add me on WeChat!
Thank you, everyone!
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Text editor: Yang Qinyan
Editor: Xiang Yuxuan
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