Overseas brands have noticed this phenomenon and are using it as a reference. How to make product innovations, then promote them in a localized way, and expand brands to the global market have become part of the standards for Tung and his team’s project evaluation. At a roundtable conference last year, Tung stated that “the next decade will still be the golden era for the mobile Internet while globalization will become the next boost for startups.”

　　This is GGV Capital’s strength. In the past year, Tung has been eyeing the consumer packaged goods sector, taking several financing projects like Function of Beauty, Wear Lively and Dirtylemon etc. Before that, GGV Capital was involved with the financing of Wish, Poshmark and Offerup. All of these apps have made it into the top ten on App Store in the Shopping app category.

　　Besides the education and career background of the startup teams’ members, Tung also values the new concept, strategy and culture of the products and marketing.

　　For instance, there is the upgrade of value, or let’s say, mindset. Instead of following the path of Victoria’s Secret, a brand that makes sexy underswear, Wear Lively focus more making their underwear comfortable to wear for women besides providing sexiness boost. This design logic is different from that of the past ones, which were more about catering to men. It’s a value that more fitted for today’s female consumers.

　　And we have the growing customization trend. In March this year GGV Capital led the A round financing of Function of Beauty, which was completed at $9.5 million. According to Function of Beauty, the company customizes the hair products based on the consumers’ hair condition, and fragrance preference etc., offering up to 12 billion customizable combinations.

　　In Tung’s opinion, even though consumer goods giants like P&G have complete and mature production lines, Function of Beauty still could set itself apart from the crowd by adding personal and customizable features to its products, enhancing a sense of participation.

　　However, in terms of enhancing consumer participation, the change of marketing strategies might have brought the most obvious progress. The rise of social media is powering startups to better interact with their consumers online.

　　Let’s look at Dirty Lemon as an example. This startup was founded in September 2015, without a brick-and-mortar store, or a shopping guide. The energy drink company went popular for its distinguishable package. And models and gym lovers have been posting about it on Instagram, attracting a great reputation for the company. That’s how Dirty Lemon gained momentum in such a short time.

　　By building a good relationship with KOL like models and gym lovers, Dirty Lemon channels its products through social media like Instagram, laying a promotion foundation for the brand’s early development.

　　“Platforms with high user participation rate will build their community according to their products and brand voice, which appeals to users to join willingly,” Tung told TMTPost. Similar cases include Airbnb and Xiaohongshu. When talked about Xiaohongshu’s status after the new cross-border e-commerce policy, Tung showed a rather positive attitude, saying that Xiaohongshu is having a great overall performance, and the platform is thinking about transforming to a complete e-commerce platform or a community-based e-commerce platform.

　　“Going for the e-commerce direction entirely is about the GMV. After entering the platform, users will realize that the platform doesn’t have an environment fitted for them, so it’s pointless to do so. Now Xiaohongshu has figured that only by building a great community can it become a big company,” Tung said.

　　Short video business: the U.S. sells advertisements, China sells products

　　As I have mentioned in the first half of the article, investment organization’s portfolio should also form an ecosystem chain of some sort. The consumer goods companies Tung has invested in all emphasize on online marketing when it comes to customization and user participation. Besides Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, or WeChat and Weibo in China, the emerging short video industry is also becoming an important part of GGC Capital’s investment plan.

　　“In the U.S., social platforms like Instagram are more open than WeChat. Small startups can connect with users through social media and channel the data flow to their platform. Companies like Amazon and Neflix etc. are doing similar things. These companies are hoping to spread their PGC content to as far as possible, lowering the distribution cost,” Tung said.