How to Reshape Trendy Toys and the Crypto Market with k-Fold Returns? The Legend of a Non-Mainstream Investor

Labubu has taken the world by storm, with Pop Mart's market value soaring to 340 billion HKD, making founder Wang Ning the richest person in Henan.

Before and after the IPO of Pop Mart, investors' evaluations of Wang Ning underwent a dramatic change. Before the IPO, he was seen as having an average educational background and lacking charisma; after the IPO, he was praised for his calm personality and possessing the excellent qualities of a "consumer entrepreneur."

This huge contrast in evaluation also applies to Bubble Mart's angel investor, Mai Gang.

Before the rise of Pop Mart, Mai Gang self-deprecatingly referred to himself as an "alternative investor" who was "kicked out of the group chat" by mainstream capital circles. However, with the skyrocketing market value of the company, he transformed into a legendary figure in the investment world.

Mai Gang's legend is not limited to the toy industry. What is less known is that Xu Mingxing, the founder of a leading crypto trading platform, is also an investor in Pop Mart, reaping returns of thousands of times. All of this is inseparable from Mai Gang's recommendation.

Mai Gang is not only Xu Mingxing's mentor but also founded and invested in his earliest entrepreneurial project Dou Ding Wang, and later co-founded a certain crypto currency trading platform.

Moreover, Mai Gang was also a guide for He Yi, the co-founder of a well-known crypto exchange, in entering the cryptocurrency industry.

In 2014, at a private gathering organized by Mai Gang, he introduced He Yi, who was then still a program host, to Xu Mingxing, facilitating He Yi's entry into a certain crypto market trading platform. Subsequently, He Yi introduced another founder of a current crypto market exchange to the team, thereby unveiling the competitive landscape of global crypto exchanges.

Maigang's investment landscape spans two seemingly unrelated fields, yet has nurtured giant enterprises that have changed the industry pattern in their respective tracks. It can be said that Maigang has not only achieved success with Pop Mart but has also, to some extent, influenced the development of Bitcoin.

Early Bitcoin Evangelists

In 2013, Mai Gang was removed from the WeChat groups of two mainstream VC circles for discussing Bitcoin. Although he believed he was explaining professionally, some still mistakenly thought he was promoting a certain product. This experience left him feeling lost and made him realize the existence of mainstream and non-mainstream circles, as well as the cognitive differences between individuals.

In 2025, an article describing Mai Gang's experience of being "abandoned" by the VC circle once again sparked attention.

At this time, the market value of Pop Mart has exceeded 340 billion HKD, an increase of over 20,000 times compared to the valuation during the angel investment by Mai Gang. Meanwhile, the price of Bitcoin has surpassed 100,000 USD, an increase of over 5,000 times compared to the price of 20 USD at the beginning of 2013.

Mai Gang has always admitted that he is one of the earliest evangelists in the Chinese investment community to invest in and actively promote knowledge about Bitcoin. In 2013, when most people still did not understand or regarded Bitcoin as a bubble, he was already actively promoting Bitcoin knowledge and his views nationwide.

Mai Gang believes that Bitcoin can be summarized in two sentences: First, Bitcoin is the perfect currency property simulated by mathematicians, geeks, and network scientists using distributed algorithms; second, this property is maintained by the powerful computing power of distributed computers.

He divides the currency forms of human society into three types: the currency system represented by precious metals, credit currency supported by government credit, and the third type of currency represented by Bitcoin. He emphasizes that these three forms of currency will coexist for a long time.

Regarding Bitcoin, Maigang predicted in 2014 that it would become a tool for major power games. He believes that in the next 10-30 years, the United States may reconstruct the global monetary system, linking the US dollar to new assets including Bitcoin. To achieve this, the US only needs to gain a voice in the Bitcoin field, whether it be in terms of computing power, reserves, or pricing power.

Mai Gang actively popularizes Bitcoin, hoping that entrepreneurs, businesses, and ordinary people in China can gain a voice in the Bitcoin field. He calls for people to recognize the importance and complexity of the Bitcoin game, believing that it relates to the future of future generations.

It is based on this understanding that Mai Gang chose to invest in incubation at the beginning of a certain crypto currency trading platform in 2013.

Maigang and Xu Mingxing's acquaintance can be traced back to 2011, when Xu Mingxing was the CTO of Dou Ding Wang, and Maigang was an angel investor in Dou Ding Wang.

Mai Gang and his partner, the founder of a certain American venture capital firm, jointly acted as angel investors for Xu Mingxing, investing 5 million yuan.

During the Spring Festival of 2014, Mai Gang invited He Yi, who was still a television host at the time, to post a Bitcoin red envelope from a certain encryption currency trading platform in his circle of friends. This action not only opened the door to the Bitcoin world for He Yi but also changed the course of history in the encryption world.

After the Spring Festival, Mai Gang organized a "thank you party" and invited everyone who helped distribute red envelopes to gather. At this gathering, He Yi met Xu Mingxing for the first time. Mai Gang took the opportunity to propose that He Yi join Xu Mingxing's company to be responsible for marketing.

Two weeks later, He Yi officially joined a certain crypto currency trading platform as Vice President, responsible for brand building and marketing promotion. He Yi utilized her media resources to do a lot of promotion for the company, including participating in a certain well-known television program and planning the company's appearance at Times Square in New York.

In addition, He Yi also introduced a well-known industry figure who had previously worked at the Tokyo Stock Exchange to the company as CTO.

Mai Gang's series of seemingly casual referrals and connections ultimately reshaped the entire crypto market exchange competitive landscape. Later, this CTO left the company to establish a new exchange, and He Yi subsequently joined, together building it into the world's largest crypto market exchange, while the original platform also developed into today's leading exchange platform globally.

The First Investor of Pop Mart

In June 2020, six months before Pop Mart went public, Mai Gang published an article titled "The Story of Pop Mart: From 10 Million to 100 Billion." In this, 10 million was the valuation when Mai Gang invested in Pop Mart during the angel round, and 100 billion was Mai Gang's expectations for Pop Mart at that time.

As a result, Pop Mart's market value exceeded 100 billion on the day of its listing, and now, five years after its listing, its market value has surpassed 300 billion, firmly establishing itself among the star companies on the Hong Kong stock market.

Back in 2012, Pop Mart was just a small company nestled in a simple residence in Beijing. In May of that year, founder Wang Ning sent an email to Mai Gang, which lay quietly in the recipient's inbox for three months before being discovered.

This accidental discovery has led to a precious investment relationship.

In August 2012, 25-year-old Wang Ning met Mai Gang for the first time. The young Wang Ning was wearing a pair of trendy shorts from a brand that had not yet been launched in China at that time, a detail that made Mai Gang keenly aware of his unique sense of trend. From the first meeting to signing the investment, the entire process took only five days.

On August 10, 2012, Mai Gang made the first investment payment of 2 million yuan, becoming the first angel investor of Pop Mart.

After signing the investment agreement, the two went to a bar in Wudaokou. Wang Ning said to Mai Gang: "Brother Mai, if you invest in me today, if I were Jay Chou, you would be Wu Zongxian."

Later, when talking about the reasons for his investment, Mai Gang expressed that what truly touched him were the qualities displayed by Wang Ning: "calm, composed, clean, and not deceiving."

At that time, most investors and entrepreneurs were focused on e-commerce, believing that the offline retail industry was a counter-trend environment. However, Mai Gang and Wang Ning firmly believed that there were still huge opportunities in the offline retail market, especially for trendy products that are rich in design and can touch people's emotions.

For Wang Ning, this investment is of extraordinary significance. After securing the investment, he immediately called his father: "Dad, from today onwards, your child is a millionaire, because the shares I hold are worth 10 million."

As an investor who is rather stingy with praise, Mai Gang gave a high evaluation of Wang Ning in his social circle after a year of investment, "Young and promising, ambitious, there will definitely be a place for him in the future of China's retail industry."

However, apart from Mai Gang, not many people in the capital market really have faith in Wang Ning and Pop Mart.

Wang Ning has almost met all the investors and FAs, not only visiting financial institutions, but even meeting with industrial capitals like Light Media and Aofei, yet every time he went with high hopes but returned disappointed.

A typical example is a fund under a certain satellite TV station, which still did not invest after a long due diligence process. In the last meeting, they even said to Wang Ning: "How could such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity come to you?"

Continuous setbacks in financing have also led to Bubble Mart being in a long-term state of financial strain, with the company's account once having less than 1 million yuan, making it difficult to even pay salaries.

Mai Gang recalled that he could empathize with the inner turmoil Wang Ning experienced during the financing setbacks, but even in the face of difficulties, he could still feel Wang Ning's inner confidence and steadfast belief in the company's value.

On the night of Bubble Mart's listing in 2020, an article titled "Behind the 100 billion market value of Bubble Mart: a collective failure of China's large funds" went viral throughout the investment and entrepreneurship circle, serving as a release of emotions and an expression of attitudes.

In Mai Gang's view, Wang Ning's multiple financing setbacks may be a very important trial in the development process of Pop Mart; without this trial, Pop Mart might not have reached its current stage.

"First, because there is no financing, Pop Mart is very cautious when spending every penny; second, the company has been looking for breakthroughs, forcing the founder to constantly think."

Mai Gang has always been a person who opposes the concept of a hot trend. He believes that Pop Mart has not received large-scale financing, has hardly had much media exposure, and has never become a company at the forefront of trends. Instead, it has become a myth of creating a hot trend (pioneering the industry).

Mai Gang Qi Ren

In 1996, Mai Gang began his career in the venture capital industry after graduating from Renmin University of China, becoming one of the earliest people engaged in venture capital in China.

In 2001, he went to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to pursue an MBA, during which he won first place in the University of California Entrepreneurship Competition and fifth place in the National College Entrepreneurship Competition. During his time in the United States, he met his "Wu Zongxian" and formed a connection with the godfather of Silicon Valley venture capital, thus entering the venture capital circle in Silicon Valley.

In 2005, he co-founded VenturesLab with this Silicon Valley venture capital patriarch, which is one of the earliest startup incubators in the country.

Unlike mainstream VCs, Mai Gang chose an "alternative" investment path.

He has never raised funds externally and has always insisted on investing with his own capital. In his view, the current venture capital industry has a "scale curse"—many large funds adopt a "money-splashing model" to improve investment hit rates, which often lowers LP returns. The best operational model in the venture capital industry is a small team with a "workshop-style" approach—led by a leader with three to five elite members, focusing deeply, striving to have three to five projects succeed out of twenty.

He holds a cautious attitude towards the windfall. He believes that entrepreneurs and investors should pay more attention.