DayDayCook Pivots to Bitcoin, But its CPG Portfolio is AWOL

DDC Enterprise Limited, which does business as DayDayCook, has raised a whopping $124 million in equity financing – but it doesn’t seem likely that much, if any, of it will be put into the Hong Kong-based company’s recent CPG acquisitions.

DDC announced today that its new nine-figure funding round, led by PAG Pegasus Fund and Mulana Investment Management, will go towards supporting a Bitcoin treasury strategy, part of an ongoing shift towards cryptocurrency and blockchain opportunities.

It’s a curious and sudden pivot after its CPG shopping spree, in which it acquired Asian American food brands Nona Lim, Yai’s Thai and Omsom in quick succession throughout 2023 and 2024. At the time, founder and CEO Norma Chu said the goal was for DDC – which began as a Chinese language recipe and food website in 2012 – to become the “General Mills for Asian food.”

But now it appears that priorities have shifted. Websites for noodle brand Nona Lim and sauce maker Yai’s Thai are both offline.

Social media for Omsom, which was the most recent CPG acquisition as of June 2024, has become far less active than it was pre-acquisition, and Omsom’s website no longer includes an online store or retail store locator, which it previously had at the time of the acquisition.

Additionally, Nona Lim products appear to be unavailable for purchase on all major online retailers, while Yai’s Thai products are out of stock or in short supply on Amazon.

Nona Lim’s official phone number appears to be disconnected.

Social media users have also claimed to encounter out-of-stock issues for Omsom in recent months.

Omsom co-founders Vanessa Pham and Kim Pham both ended their tenure with the company in December after a six-month period as brand advisors, according to LinkedIn. Nona Lim, founder of the namesake brand, also left her company in July 2024.

DDC did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Nosh.

The company first announced its Bitcoin reserve initiative this past May, with Chu calling it “a cornerstone of our long-term value creation plan.” But since the pivot there’s been little mention of DDC’s previous value creation plan: to corner the global Asian food category with next-generation, better-for-you brands.

Equity analyst Pedro Goulart suggested in August that DDC appeared to be an “easy candidate” to transition to a Bitcoin treasury model, noting the business had “stagnant revenues, even after the IPO”, negative EBIT since fiscal year 2020 and a “significant net loss” with earnings per share of -$14.95 in fiscal year 2024.

Certainly, DDC’s time as a public food company had not been ideal: In April, the New York Stock Exchange halted trading of DDC shares during a “broad market sell-off,” leading the company’s board to approve a reverse stock split.

Also that month, DDC formed a joint venture with Chinese ready-to-eat meal maker Hewen Agricultural Technology with a focus on the mainland China market.

As of now, it’s unclear what the future might hold for DDC’s CPG portfolio, although the company appears to still own the IPs behind the brands and the founders have been quiet on the fates of their businesses.

While details remain sparse, it does seem safe to say that DDC’s goal of becoming the General Mills of Asian foods is off for now.