YOHO! was China's top streetwear platform — it went from $100M funding to bankruptcy

YOHO! started as a streetwear magazine in 2005 and evolved into China's leading streetwear e-commerce platform. The company raised approximately $100 million in Series D funding in 2015 from investors including Sequoia China and Tencent. At its peak, YOHO! employed around 1,500 people and had a valuation estimated at over ¥10 billion.

The decline began around 2019 when YOHO! launched the UFO project — a C2B2C sneaker resale platform designed to compete with Poizon (得物). The project burned tens of millions of yuan in subsidies to attract users and sellers. When China's central bank moved to cool the speculative sneaker market in 2019, YOHO!'s fundraising plans collapsed. Brands including Vans and Converse terminated their partnerships.

By 2022, YOHO!'s cash flow had been cut off for about a year. The company could not pay suppliers and was restructured when its creditor filed for bankruptcy. Court records showed assets of ¥355 million against liabilities of ¥548 million — net negative equity of ¥193 million. The parent company was listed as a dishonest entity by the Supreme People's Court, facing over 30 civil lawsuits.

In July 2024, ¥80.96 million in YOHO! receivables were auctioned on Alibaba Auction at a starting price of ¥20.24 million — 25 cents on the yuan. Employee count had fallen from 1,500 to approximately 300. Management was seeking a buyer among JD.com, ByteDance, Tencent and Bilibili.