Viral TikTok Frozen Dumplings Company Xiao Chi Jie To Rebrand and Enter Retail Upon Raising $10 Million Series A Led By Imaginary Ventures
Summary
Xiao Chi Jie (XCJ), a frozen soup dumplings brand that could be translated as street food avenue, has TikTok to thank for its recent virality.Launched four years ago in Bellevue, Washington, by two Chinese American entrepreneurs, Caleb Wang and Jennifer Liao, as a brick-and-mortar restaurant that focused on Chinese street food, the company is now ready to transform its social media frenzy into an omnichannel business with a $10 million series A funding, amping up the competition with peer frozen dumpling makers, Fly By Jing and Laoban.This round was recently led by Imaginary Ventures, a $515.35 million (according to PitchBook data) VC behind some of the trendiest CPG and retail brands, including Daily Harvest, Nuggs, Cann and Foxtrot. Additional investors include Shang-Chi actor Simu Liu, Goldhouse Ventures, Hyphen Capital, as well as a group of consumer and retail entrepreneurs, including Colin McCabe (Chopt), Katrina Lake (Stitch Fix), Jason Wang (Caviar), Gabi Lewis (Magic Spoon), Scott Cutler (StockX), and Shan-lyn Ma (Zola).The investment is expected to patch up a whitespace opportunity where the $50 billion Chinese food category has solely survived on restaurants, while it is largely missing from the grocery aisle, explained Logan Langberg, partner at Imaginary Ventures.He believes XCJ, as an authentic Chinese cuisine provider, is able to dominate online, wholesale, and food service and ultimately becomes a staple in American households. We even had customers pack an entire cooler of our soup dumplings to fly with to another state so they could share with other friends and family, Wang noted.However, shipping costs from dry ice, specialized liners and such also increased dramatically as the company ramped up its production. Wang added, At this point, we have grown to the scale required to find large efficiencies and pass those cost savings to our customers.XCJ has so far sold over 13 million dumplings to more than 100,000 customers, according to the company, while its annual revenue between 2020 and 2021 has seen a fivefold increase, and is growing at a similar pace this year. The new line will include three region-inspired varieties: Sichuan Dan Dan noodles, Beijing sweet and salty Zha Jiang noodles available both in ground pork and plant-based version made with Impossible Pork, as well as Shanghai savory scallion oil noodles.Sam Perry, VP of U.S. Retail at Impossible Foods, commented: Its an honor to work with a dynamic brand that shares our commitment to making delicious products.