(Yicai Global) Nov. 1 -- The two-year-old Chinese maker of Moody contact lenses has finished its more than CNY1 billion (USD156.1 million) Series C round of financing, led by US investment company KKR and Chinese venture capital firm 5Y Capital, while predicting its 2021 sales to quadruple.

Weimu Shanghai Technology, the parent of the colored contacts brand, will use the proceeds of the latest fundraiser to develop and upgrade its products and to accelerate its global business positioning, tech media 36Kr reported today.

Sales should exceed CNY800 million (USD124.9 million) this year, the same news outlet reported, citing the startup. Last year, the firm sold more than CNY200 million worth of products, leading in online sales of colored contacts in China.

The money should go toward innovation. The company has already invested CNY300 million in developing materials and production lines and will further allocate more than CNY500 million toward that purpose in the future, based on the report.

Moody has found a sweet spot in an expanding market. It prices its products between CNY89 and CNY119 (up from USD14) and targets white-collar women aged between 18 to 35. The startup has secured six rounds of financing from investors including GL Ventures, Tencent Holdings, Matrix Partners, and Source Code Capital.

China is the world's fastest-growing market for colored contacts. Over the past five years, the market has been expanding with a compound annual growth rate of 41 percent, per statistics from VC firm Cyanhill Capital. Sales in 2020 surpassed CNY20 billion.

That means intensifying competition. Moody has 2,800 rivals, and nearly 85 percent of them were formed in the past five years as of last August, according to corporate information inquiry platform Tianyancha.

Moody finished its Series B and B+ rounds of financing, totaling around CNY380 million, in February. Its competitor 4inLook completed its CNY100 million Series B+ round in March, and Kilala secured more than CNY400 million through its Series B and B+ rounds.

The sector has the advantage of repeat buyers. The repurchase rate of colored contact lenses is from 30 percent to 50 percent, higher than the 20 percent rate of lipsticks, CBNData released in a report earlier.

Editor: Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi