KAfe Group Closes US$5.5 million First-Round Financing to Accelerate Expansion of First Urban Fusion Cafe Chain Across Vietnam

HONG KONG, Oct. 14, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- KAfe Group Limited ("KAfe Group" or the "Group"), the first urban fusion cafe chain in Vietnam, has secured a US$5.5 million Series A financing from institutional investors in London and Hong Kong, including lead investor, Cassia Investments. Closed over the summer, the Series A financing will be used to support KAfe Group's rapid network expansion beyond its current network in Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City and other cities throughout the rest of Vietnam. KAfe Group is eyeing an overseas public listing at a later stage for further expansion in the country.

Founded in 2013 by Chi Anh Dao, a Vietnamese home chef, cookbook author and TV cooking personality, KAfe Group is the first urban fusion cafe chain in Vietnam. Targeting young, affluent and trendy customers, it offers a fresh, affordable and quality casual dining experience, with culinary inspirations from Vietnam and across the globe. KAfe Group offers its customers a new and modern lifestyle which is healthy and balanced through a fresh and seasonal menu featuring high-quality ingredients served at modern, stylish outlets for a delightful all-day dining experience.

The Group has developed and operates four brands - The KAfe, KAfe Village, KAfe Box, and The Burger Box - and is currently developing its own branded coffee and tea range (The KAfe Cup), as well as a pressed juice range (The KAfe Pressed). Dao leads a young, international and passionate management team with the skills and experience to manage the rapid expansion.

In just two years, the Group has built an extensive presence in Hanoi and currently has 12 outlets in the city. The Group recently entered southern Vietnam via Ho Chi Minh City, where it operates four outlets. The Group expects to expand the total number of outlets to 26 by the end of the year.

"We are very impressed by the vision and energy of Chi Anh Dao, her success in introducing a new dining experience to Vietnam, the unique positioning of KAfe Group, and the quality of the management and operations team. We see strong potential in the Company and are looking forward to working closely with Chi Anh and Dennis to help ensure the continued success of KAfe Group," said Faris Ayoub, Managing Partner of Cassia Investments, a consumer-focused private equity firm investing in companies across Greater China and Southeast Asia.  

Mr. Dennis Nguyen, Chairman of KAfe Group, said, "We are thrilled to introduce KAfe Group to global institutional investors and are proud of our performance and prospects. As a pioneer in introducing a healthy and modern food culture to Vietnam and other markets, KAfe Group offers compelling investment value and growth potential."

Ms. Chi Anh Dao, founder and CEO of KAfe Group said, "From the day of opening our first outlet until today, I have been extremely glad and hopeful that our vision, enthusiasm and prospects have been highly recognized by the Vietnamese market and international investment community. KAfe Group has undergone phenomenal growth in a very short period, which validates our unique positioning and the associated first-mover advantages we have gained as a result. Our highly-focused vision is to utilize KAfe Group's multi-national background, multi-brand, uniquely positioned strategy with a 'quality-first' principle as the primary vehicle for bringing a safe and healthy local farm-to-table food revolution countrywide."

"In the future, we plan to expand our network aggressively, roll out multi-channel online and offline marketing promotions and delivery service, and expand our chef team. It is also our main goal to improve our operational efficiency. One of our key strategies to achieve that is to enhance our logistics and supply chain, building a KAfe Group ecosystem by acquiring local organic farms in Vietnam to build our own stable and quality supply chain of fresh, clean produce from farm to table. All these initiatives will help us carry out our mission to make KAfe Group the country's leading cafe-restaurant chain within five years, to deliver our value in high quality food and service to more and more customers nationwide and beyond," Ms. Chi Anh Dao added.

Vietnam is one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia, with average GDP growth of 6.15% from 2000 to 2015Q3. Its annual per capita income will grow at an estimated CAGR of 7.6% between 2009 and 2019. Growing disposable income has resulted in a huge demand for a higher quality of living. This translates to demand for a higher quality of dining, in terms of novelty, taste and diversity of food, environment and service, and an emphasis on health. KAfe Group is the prime solution to such a demand, as attested by its popularity and rapid growth.

About KAfe Group Limited

KAfe Group Limited is the first urban fusion cafe chain in Vietnam offering fresh, affordable and quality international casual dining for affluent and trendy consumers. Founded in 2013, the Company currently operates 12 outlets in Hanoi and 4 outlets in Ho Chi Minh City, under four brands - namely The KAfe, KAfe Village, KAfe Box, and The Burger Box and its beverage merchandises The KAfe Cup and The KAfe Pressed. KAfe Group emphasizes fresh, unprocessed and traceable food to offer customers a new and modern lifestyle which is healthy and balanced, through a fresh and seasonal menu featuring high-quality ingredients served at modern, stylish outlets for a delightful all-day experience.

About Cassia Investment

Cassia Investments is a consumer focused private equity firm specializing in lower middle-market companies across Greater China and Southeast Asia. Cassia's strategy is to invest in companies with strong growth prospects, proven business models and defendable market positioning. In addition, the team at Cassia believes that identifying and partnering with strong and talented management teams who share the same values, vision and strategy is the core component of value creation. With extensive investing and operational experience in emerging markets (particularly Asia), Cassia's team has developed a deep network of relationships within local markets and established a strong reputation as value-add investors.

SOURCE KAfe Group Limited