Dayone Capital

What Dayone Capital does

Dayone Capital (日初资本) is a privately held, China-based venture capital and private equity firm founded in 2020 by serial entrepreneur Allen Chen, who previously built the eyewear brand Mujosh and co-founded Chuxin Capital. The firm positions itself as a 'value-creation driven' specialist investor with a '专、少、深、长' (specialized, few, deep, long-term) full-cycle investment strategy. Headquartered across Beijing and Shenzhen (with the management entity registered in Zhuhai's Hengqin special economic zone), Dayone operates a single primary fund — Dayone Capital Fund I L.P., which closed in August 2021 with US$630 million in AUM from global sovereign wealth funds, fund-of-funds, family offices, and leading Chinese internet enterprises.

The firm invests across two core verticals: consumer goods (baijiu, medical aesthetics, dental, sports, food & beverage, condiments, consumer electronics, restaurants) and new energy (photovoltaic, energy storage, EV supply chain). Portfolio companies of note include 喜茶 (HEYTEA), 泡泡玛特 (Pop Mart), 巨子生物 (Giant Biogene), 海辰储能 (Hithium), 华晟新能源 (Huasun Energy), 欣旺达EVB (Sunwoda EVB), ROBOSEN, COMMUNE, and Castlery. In April 2022, Dayone took an 80% operational-control stake in Guizhou Huaizhuang distillery via portfolio company Zhengong Spirit, marking a shift from passive minority investing to active control in the baijiu vertical. The team is approximately 40 professionals, led by Managing Partners Allen Chen and CG HE.

Dayone's business model is traditional VC fund economics: management fees (typically ~2% on committed capital during the investment period) plus carried interest (typically 20% above hurdle) on its single Fund I. The firm differentiates through its 'industry-investment' model combining entrepreneurial DNA with deep operational expertise, providing portfolio companies with capital plus strategic guidance, organizational support, and supply-chain expertise. Distribution channels include direct founder outreach, institutional LP fundraising, and co-investment syndicates with top-tier VCs (Sequoia China, Hillhouse Capital, PROfounders). The firm has been recognized consecutively by Zero2IPO as a TOP10/TOP30 China consumer investment institution (2022, 2023) and by 36Kr as a top entrepreneur-preferred VC.

Name

Dayone Capital

Legal name

珠海横琴日初初远私募基金管理有限公司

Website

https://dayonecap.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Dayone Capital is a China-based venture capital firm founded in 2020 that manages a $630M fund investing in consumer goods and new energy companies, serving institutional LPs and portfolio founders with capital plus operational support.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Venture Capital Fund Management

NAICS

Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (52394)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro primary industry

Venture Capital Fund-of-Funds / Multi-Manager Platforms (FSANAAAJ)

Keywords

• Venture capital management
• Consumer sector investing
• New energy investments
• Growth equity funding
• Fund management services

Headquarters

HQ city

Beijing

HQ country

China

HQ region

Asia

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Fund Management: Dayone Capital generates revenue through traditional VC fund economics: management fees (typically 2% on committed capital during investment period) and carried interest (20% of profits above hurdle rate). The firm closed Fund I with $630 million AUM in August 2021.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Dayone Capital is a venture capital and private equity firm that raises institutional capital from Limited Partners and deploys it as growth and venture equity into Chinese consumer goods and new energy companies. The firm manages Dayone Capital Fund I L.P. (US$630 million, closed August 2021), with a portfolio spanning leading consumer brands (HEYTEA, WonderLab, Giant Biogene) and new energy players (Hithium, Huasun, Sunwoda EVB, Li Auto, Hozon Auto). Beyond capital, the firm provides operational support — organizational build-out, channel development, supply chain guidance — to portfolio companies under its "industry-investment" hybrid model.

Product overview

Dayone Capital is a venture capital and private equity firm that operates as a single unified investment platform rather than a multi-product company. The firm manages one primary fund (Dayone Capital Fund I L.P.) and provides investment management services to its LPs. The firm's investment activities span consumer goods and new energy sectors through portfolio company investments. The fund closed in August 2021 with US$630 million in commitments.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Dayone Capital Fund I L.P. Dayone Capital's flagship and currently sole investment vehicle — a US$630 million dollar-denominated venture and growth equity fund deploying capital into selective verticals of the Chinese consumer goods industry (baijiu, medical aesthetics, dental, sports, F&B, condiments, consumer electronics) and new energy sector (EV, batteries, energy storage, photovoltaic). Available to institutional Limited Partners including sovereign wealth funds, fund-of-funds, family offices, and corporate investors.

Quantifiable outcome

• Fund I closed at $630 million AUM within approximately one year of founding
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Chuxin Capital (初心资本): Early/growth consumer and tech VC co-founded by Dayone founder Allen Chen. Closely comparable in consumer thesis and stage focus, and shares founder DNA with Dayone.
• Source Code Capital (源码资本): China-based multi-stage venture firm with deep consumer and technology focus. Highly comparable to Dayone in stage range, sector specialization, and 'industry-investment' operating model, and competes directly for the same consumer deal flow.
• Qiming Venture Partners (启明创投): Multi-stage China-focused VC with material consumer and healthcare exposure. Comparable to Dayone in stage mix, USD fund structure, and presence on rounds in Chinese consumer and new-energy adjacencies.
• Tomato Capital (番茄资本): Consumer-specialist China VC that has co-invested with Dayone (e.g., COMMUNE). Direct peer in consumer vertical focus and similar fund size tier.
• Matrix Partners China: Multi-stage China VC with consumer and enterprise tech focus. Comparable fund size tier and stage mix, competing for similar growth-stage consumer and new-energy opportunities.
• ZhenFund (真格基金): China-focused early-stage fund with strong consumer and tech seed franchise. Comparable founder-led culture and Chinese consumer ecosystem access, though ZhenFund skews earlier-stage than Dayone.

Broad incumbents

• Hillhouse Capital (高瓴资本): Large China-rooted alternative asset manager with broad consumer and new-energy exposure. Competes for the same institutional LPs and top consumer deals but at much larger AUM and broader sector coverage.
• Sequoia Capital China (红杉中国): Premier China venture/ growth franchise with diversified sector coverage including consumer and new energy. A frequent co-investor with Dayone and benchmark for top-tier Chinese VC franchise value.
• IDG Capital: Long-tenured multi-stage China VC/PE with broad sector coverage including consumer and TMT. Comparable as a Chinese USD VC investor but with substantially longer track record and larger fund vintages.

Emerging players

• PROfounders: UK-based consumer-focused VC that co-led Qneiform with Dayone. Comparable as a consumer-thesis specialist but operates primarily in Europe rather than China, providing cross-border co-investment complementarity.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/dayonecapital

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments20 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Dayone Capital