Chamate's Last Round Financing Before Getting Listed

Having finished two rounds of financing, Chamate, the Chinese food and beverage chain, recently announced that the company has received a further investment of USD23 million from a U.S. venture capital company, Oak Investment Partners, which completes its final round of financing before getting listed.

Chamate said that after the three rounds of financing, its shareholders include Ting Hsin, Shanghai First Venture's FMCG Fund, IDG Technology Venture Investment, Taiwan TECO Group, Granite Global Ventures, and Oak Investment Partners.

With a 20% stake in Chamate, Oak Investment Partners will be the largest single shareholder of the restaurant chain. Jerry Gallagher and Allan Kwan from Oak will be new members of the board of directors of Chamate.

High-level sources from Chamate stated that the third round financing will be used to develop new restaurants, train employees, upgrade equipment, and research products. When the annual revenue of Chamate reaches USD1 million or it has about 100 restaurants, it will be time for the company to get listed. The company is expected to get listed in 2010 or 2011 and in the next three to five years, the company will focus on areas such as Shanghai, Beijing, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang.

Founded in Taoyuan, Taiwan, Chamate started its push into the Chinese mainland in 2002. Its first mainland restaurant was opened in Shanghai in June 2002 and so far the restaurant chain has set up more than 70 sites in 14 large and medium-sized Chinese cities, including Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou, and Nanjing. It is expected to have 75 restaurants by the end of 2008.