Beijing coffee shop brews a unique business model

Equity crowdfunding promises to be the next big thing for Chinese startups, reports Lan Lan

Does spending 300,000 yuan ($48,716) to become a share-holder in a coffee shop without any guarantee of earnings sound like a good idea? Perhaps not. But that's the deal that a group of China's shrewdest financiers recently made.

The crowdfunded store in a traditional siheyuan (Chinese court-yard house), complete with gray tiles and painted rafters, will soon open in Beijing's "Wall Street" district, the Jinrongjie area comprised mainly of sky-scrapers housing the country's most prestigious financial institutions.

Total financing for JRCoffee is estimated to reach 100 million yuan, quite an ambitious sum for one coffee shop, said YiHui, a funder as well as secretary-general of the enterprise, which is run not only like a traditional company but also like a society or foundation. Funders in this scenario invest money and receive shares of equity.

Equity crowdsourcing is a burgeoning fundraising model for entrepreneurial projects, and experts said the potential size of the market in China could dwarf those of the United Kingdom or United States.

A number of crowdfunded coffee shops have sprung up in cities such as Beijing and Hangzhou over the past several years, and most of the funds were raised among circles of acquaintances or alumni.

Yi said the coffee shop's funders were carefully selected from financiers of varied backgrounds, such as banking, insurance and securities, as well as innovative financing such as peer-to-peer and Internet financing and virtual currency.

About 60 percent of the funders hold an advanced business degree, such as an MBA or EMBA, and up to 30 percent are from overseas. Most shareholders of the coffee shop are in their 40s or 50s, and tend to be middle-to top-level managers at financial institutions.

Yi and his partners are planning two rounds of fundraising for their coffee shop and hope to collect 300,000 to 500,000 yuan per person from 200 funders. In retur hey will get a coffee consumption card worth the same value with a five-year validity period. That is roughly the equivalent of about 164 to 273 yuan per day, which is equal to about seven lattes from Starbucks.

All funders will hold equal shares in the company. The first round of fundraising is almost over. Yi said the price of its coffee will be a bit higher than Starbucks and that the shop will also offer food and other beverages for sale, as well as such services as hosting meetings, parties or other events in the approximately 2,000-square-meter space. Though the coffee shop will mainly serve its members, it also will provide take out service.

The raised capital will guarantee that the coffee shop will survive for at least five years. Any other money raised could be invested, but there's no guarantee of returns, he said.

So far, there is no withdrawal mechanism; however, investors may transfer their membership to other qualified candidates in the future, Yi said.

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