Adopt A Cow, a direct-to-consumer dairy firm based in China, has received investment from private-equity major KKR.
Set up in 2014, Adopt A Cow is a vertically-integrated business with a farm in eastern China through to the sales of branded milk, cheese and yogurt products.
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Financial terms were not disclosed. KKR said Adopt A Cow had “become one of the fastest-growing direct-to-consumer brands in China” over the “past five years”, without providing further details. It added the firm had “accumulated more than 10m loyal customers”.
Chris Sun, a managing director on KKR’s investment team in China, said Adopt A Cow had a “disruptive strategy to change the way dairy is produced, marketed and sold to customers”.
He added: "Consumption upgrades and food safety are among the key focused themes for our investments in China. As a traditional industry, the dairy sector in China is going through an exciting period of technological innovation, driven by the fast development of IoT, increasing penetration of e-commerce and digital marketing, and higher demand for naturally healthy and nutritious products."
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By GlobalDataIn a statement, Adopt A Cow said it plans to use KKR's investment to speed up its building of dairy farms and factories, including "bringing in high-quality Australian dairy cows" and spending on its operations "to enhance efficiency, improve product quality and brand competitiveness".
Xu Xiaobo, the founder of Adopt A Cow, described the investment as an "exciting new chapter" for the business, adding: "KKR has a proven track record of investing in the dairy sector and providing value-added operational support to homegrown technology champions, and we look forward to working with them to take Adopt A Cow to its next level of success."
