BA Capital has led Chinese snack producer Kaida’s maiden funding round, while Goldstone Investment has backed Raintree Scientific Instruments and Vanteque.
Snack producer Kaida raises first external funding
Chinese snack producer Kaida Hengye (KDHY), whose key products include vacuum-fried potato, fruit, and vegetable chips, has raised almost 400 million yuan ($55.2 million) in its first-ever funding round after over two decades since inception.
Consumer-focused investment firm BA Capital led the round, with participation from Xiamen C&D Emerging Industry Equity Investment, the asset management subsidiary of China’s state-owned Xiamen C&D Inc, BA Capital announced on Tuesday.
Beijing-based KDHY, or Kaida, plans to invest the new funding in the expansion of its production lines, high-quality seed breeding, as well as branding and marketing. The firm looks to integrate and optimise its resources across the entire potato chip production chain, according to BA Capital.
Founded in 2000, the Chinese snack supplier offers a variety of snacks, including vacuum-fried potato chips, fruit and vegetable chips, frozen French fries, fresh bean skins, and frozen vegetables. Besides self-owned brand products, KDHY also operates as an OEM (original equipment manufacturer) business to supply potato chips and other snacks to names like Lay’s and the Japanese-owned 7-Eleven, as well as Chinese local snack brands including Bestore and Nayuki.
With about 900 employees, the firm has built two industrial parks in Ulan Chab and Taibus Banner, two of China’s famed potato production areas in Inner Mongolia, China. Its products are sold in China and over 60 countries worldwide, according to its website.
Raintree Scientific Instruments snaps almost $69m
Raintree Scientific Instruments Corporation has secured 500 million yuan ($68.8 million) in a strategic funding round led by Goldstone Investment (affiliated with CITIC Securities), and China Merchants Securities Capital.
The round saw the participation of Henan Asset Management, SinoKing Capital, and Dingqing Investment, according to a release.
Founded in 2005, the Shanghai-based firm engages in the production of testing equipment dedicated to the integrated circuit and manufacturing process. China’s top chip equipment maker Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment Inc. China (AMEC) injected a total of 200 million yuan in 2020 and 2021 into the firm in exchange for a 36% stake, per the release.
Vanteque ropes in Goldstone Investment as a new investor
Vanteque Speciality Engineering Plastics, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Shanghai-listed Kingfa Sci & Tech Co, plans to rope in Goldstone Investment, the private fund management arm of CITIC Securities, as a new external investor.
Goldstone Manufacturing Transformation and Upgrade New Materials Fund, a fund managed by Goldstone Investment, will acquire a 13.9% stake in Vanteque for 500 million yuan ($68.7 million), according to an exchange filing.
Set up in 2015, the Zhuhai-registered Vanteque is the special engineering plastics arm of Kingfa. Engineering plastics come with better mechanical and thermal properties that are widely adopted as mechanical, electronic, and electrical parts, among others.
