When Was the First Coffee Maker Invented Compared to 3W Coffee?

Beijing 3W Coffee, described as China's first crowdfunded cafe, has completed deregistration. Founded in 2011 in Zhongguancun, it was backed by roughly 180 internet investors and executives, including Shen Nanpeng, Xu Xiaoping, and Zeng Liqing. It expanded nationwide within four years and became a model imitated by other startup cafes before the entrepreneurial climate cooled.

The closure reflects a broader shift in the startup cafe industry, where rising barriers to entrepreneurship and fewer makers have weakened the incubation-platform model. The coffee culture of Zhongguancun that once packed the shop with people holding business plans has thinned out, and the deregistration marks the end of that chapter rather than a single store's fate.

Once a landmark in Zhongguancun, 3W Coffee—the first crowdfunded café in China—has officially been deregistered. Backed by roughly 180 internet investors and executives including Shen Nanpeng, Xu Xiaoping, and Zeng Liqing, this startup café was once a mecca for makers. From bustling crowds to quietly closing its doors, and then to its business status being changed to deregistered, the rise and fall of 3W Coffee is not just the fate of a single store, but also a reflection of the broader shifts in the entire startup café industry. As the barriers to entrepreneurship rise and the number of makers declines, how much further can the startup café model, centered on providing incubation platforms, go?

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According to Xiaoxiang Morning Herald, Beijing 3W Coffee recently completed its deregistration.

For those unfamiliar with the venture capital circle, this name may sound somewhat unfamiliar. However, more than a decade ago, 3W Coffee was arguably the most dazzling presence on Zhongguancun Street. Over a hundred leading figures in the internet industry, including Shen Nanpeng (co-founder of Ctrip) and Xu Xiaoping (co-founder of New Oriental), lent it their support, attracting a large number of young people with entrepreneurial dreams to make pilgrimages there.

Public information shows that 3W Coffee was founded in 2011. From its inception, it carried a distinct internet identity, positioned as a startup-themed café serving the "maker" community. Grassroots entrepreneurs, IT professionals, entrepreneurial college students, and investors were all regulars here.

It is worth mentioning that it was also the first café in China born from a crowdfunding model, with a shareholder lineup that included about 180 internet investors and corporate executives such as Shen Nanpeng, Xu Xiaoping, and Zeng Liqing (former COO of Tencent).

It was precisely the backing of these industry elites that allowed 3W Coffee to firmly secure the top spot amid the startup café wave at the time. In just four years, it expanded its chain stores nationwide and spawned the widely imitated 3W-style startup café business model. During the period when the entrepreneurial atmosphere was at its most intense, 3W Coffee was packed with customers, and young faces holding business plans and waiting for pitch opportunities could be seen everywhere.

But in March of this year, during an exclusive visit, Beijing Business Today found that this former landmark had its doors tightly locked, with only scattered items left on the workstations inside the glass windows. According to nearby building security personnel, the store had "not opened for a long time."

The store manager at the time explained the closure to reporters as "the lease contract with the property owner expiring normally," and said "there are new development plans, but they fall under the company's internal strategic arrangements, so it is temporarily inconvenient to disclose more information." What was unexpected was that just five months later, the business status of Beijing 3W Coffee officially changed from active to deregistered.

As an iconic presence of the "startup café" era, the quiet exit of 3W Coffee, to some extent, also mirrors the collective predicament of those startup cafés that were once wildly popular and crowded with big names.

Unlike the coffee shops commonly seen today, the real product sold by "startup cafés" like 3W Coffee was not a cup of beverage. They used the café as a physical carrier to build startup incubation platforms, and coffee sales accounted for only a very small proportion of store revenue. Take Garage Coffee, whose model is similar to 3W Coffee, as an example: its core business is providing entrepreneurs with supporting services such as free Wi-Fi and information sharing. The daily rent for a workstation in the maker office area is 20 yuan, and renters also need to ensure they are present to work at least five days a week.

It can be said that few people who walked into startup cafés came purely for the coffee. Their real demand for gathering here was to get attention for their projects or to win the favor of investors.

However, times have changed. With multiple factors such as rising barriers to entrepreneurship and the public becoming more cautious in assessing entrepreneurial risks, the group of entrepreneurs has gradually shrunk, startup incubation spaces have declined, and the eventual closure and deregistration of 3W Coffee, which was deeply tied to the entrepreneurial ecosystem, was actually not entirely without traces to follow.

As the saying goes, the waves behind the Yangtze River push the waves ahead. The now-deregistered and closed 3W Coffee is like a previous wave left on the beach by the tide of the times. With the curtain falling on the "startup café" era, it has completely bid farewell to that Zhongguancun Street that once witnessed countless entrepreneurial dreams.

Image source: Internet

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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.