Click to read the original article for details On July 12, Three Squirrels listed on the ChiNext board of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, officially entering the A-share market after many twists and turns, with stock code 300783 and an issue price of 14.68 yuan. By midday close, it surged 44.01%. Interestingly, on the listing day, Three Squirrels handed the bell-ringing ceremony to its brand super IP, with three cute squirrel mascots taking the stage, a departure from the usual practice of founders, partners, and executives ringing the bell. The prospectus shows that Zhang Liaoyuan is the controlling shareholder and actual controller of Three Squirrels, directly holding 44.52% of the company's shares; he also indirectly controls 1.86% through Liaoyuan Investment and 1.96% through Songguo Investment Center, totaling 48.34% of voting shares. This also means that Zhang Liaoyuan's current net worth has exceeded 4 billion yuan. In 2012, Three Squirrels was established in Wuhu, Anhui, mainly engaged in the R&D, testing, repackaging, and sales of its own brand leisure food. After 7 years of development, Three Squirrels has become a leading leisure food e-commerce brand in the industry, with products covering nuts, dried meat, dried fruit, puffed snacks, baked goods, and other full-category snacks. Three Squirrels' one-stop shopping experience has been loved by consumers. After a 7-year marathon, Three Squirrels finally rang the A-share bell. As is well known, no company develops smoothly, and Three Squirrels is no exception. From brand creation in 2012 to 2017, after 5 years of rapid growth, Three Squirrels' growth slowed. The first wave of dividend customers had also passed 5 years, and consumers' consumption concepts and product demands had changed. Although in 2012, Three Squirrels was highly innovative in terms of brand, product, user experience, and product design, starting from 2017, many of Three Squirrels' infrastructure, including supply chain, product innovation, and user experience, needed to be upgraded along with users. Starting from the fourth quarter of 2017, Three Squirrels' growth slowed. At the same time, the entire snack industry began to undergo transformation and layout, with competitors like Baicaowei expanding to full categories, intensifying competition. This brought great pressure to Three Squirrels. Meanwhile, at the end of October 2017, due to the resignation of the signing lawyer, Three Squirrels voluntarily suspended its review. In December, due to matters requiring further verification, the Issuance Examination Committee decided to cancel the review of Three Squirrels' issuance application. Three Squirrels' road to listing was not smooth. The stagnation of growth during the 2017 "Double 11" also revealed internal problems within the company. In 2017, Three Squirrels' revenue reached 5.554 billion yuan, net profit 302 million yuan, and net profit attributable to parent after deducting non-recurring gains and losses 278 million yuan. By 2018, revenue surged to 7.001 billion yuan, but net profit was only 304 million yuan, and net profit attributable to parent after deducting non-recurring gains and losses was 256 million yuan. According to the prospectus, from January to March 2019, Three Squirrels achieved operating revenue of 2,867.6723 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 27.17%; net profit attributable to parent company shareholders was 249.2930 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.95%; net profit attributable to parent company shareholders after deducting non-recurring gains and losses was 246.7308 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.84%. This was due to a price war around cake baking that Three Squirrels fought in April-May 2018. That battle cost Three Squirrels 100 million yuan, but it allowed Three Squirrels to capture a large share of the market. At the same time, Three Squirrels also adjusted its product structure, shifting from nuts as the main product to diversified leisure food, which became a new growth point for Three Squirrels. Having started with e-commerce, Three Squirrels will focus on digitalization in the future. If in the past 7 years Three Squirrels enjoyed dividends from natural e-commerce traffic, then in the future Three Squirrels will be driven by digitalization to achieve supply chain front-loading and organizational efficiency. In addition to Three Squirrels' own brand building and continuous product innovation, the capital behind it also contributed significantly to its successful listing. In April 2012, IDG Capital invested $1.5 million in a Series A round for Three Squirrels. In May 2013, Capital Today and IDG Capital invested $6.17 million in a Series B round. In March 2014, Capital Today and IDG Capital added $16.27 million in a Series C round. In 2015, FreeS Fund invested 166 million yuan in a Series D round. It can be seen that before 2015, Three Squirrels maintained a pace of one financing round per year, and capital support became key to its rapid development. With the successful listing of Three Squirrels, besides Three Squirrels itself, IDG Capital and Capital Today are also the biggest beneficiaries. According to incomplete statistics, IDG Capital and Capital Today have returns as high as 45 times and 28 times, which is quite considerable. After achieving success in e-commerce channels, Three Squirrels has also made some progress in offline expansion. Currently, there are multiple squirrel feeding stores nationwide, and over 80 squirrel small stores. Three Squirrels combines online and offline channels to bring consumers offline, and with its Squirrel Cloud Manufacturing System, it empowers enterprises and consumers with digital tools. In our view, the rapid development of Three Squirrels is primarily due to the favorable environment and timing of the large market. The domestic leisure snack market is gradually becoming branded, and the concentration of the leisure snack industry will further increase. The retail format of leisure food in first-tier developed cities is mainly characterized by diversified competition with relatively high concentration; in second- and third-tier cities, it is characterized by coexistence of diversification with low concentration. There is still huge room for development. Another set of data: in the next three years, China's leisure snacks will maintain a compound growth rate of over 20%, and by 2020, leisure food sales are expected to exceed 2 trillion yuan. However, despite the huge market, no company has yet exceeded 10 billion yuan in revenue. For Three Squirrels, listing is just a milestone. Zhang Liaoyuan's goal for 2019 is to exceed 10 billion yuan in revenue. On this track, who will be the first to cross the 10 billion finish line? Let's wait and see!