#vertical-integration

#vertical-integration

Mixue, the fast-growing megachain that boasts a bigger global retail footprint than McDonald's, opened its first U.S. outpost on Hollywood's Walk of Fame last month, selling drinks for less than $5 and ice cream for about $1. Mixue spokesperson Xu Ping said in a written statement in Chinese that the company chose Hollywood as its first U.S. location because the "movie capital of the world" attracts both international tourists and local consumers year-round. The store, Ping added, "aims to serve a diverse global consumer base and demonstrates the brand's commitment to the American market."

Invitation Homes' $89 million acquisition of ResiBuilt one of homebuilding mergers and acquisitions' 2026 table-setters is a small deal that can change the rules of engagement and shift the balance of competitive power for two adjacent ecosystems. Here's the context: Single-family rental REITs, with an exception or two, have historically been buyers of homes. Single-family builders have historically been sellers of them.

In the late 2010s, at the height of the direct-to-consumer boom, Framebridge founder Susan Tynan was green with envy. Many other venture-backed startups from the era-like Casper, Away, and Glossier -were growing much faster than her custom framing business. While these other buzzy brands focused on acquiring customers and growing revenue, Tynan was using her $81 million in venture funding to tackle more arduous operational issues, like building factories and hiring hundreds of craftspeople to make frames by hand.

We connected over a really basic question, which is: why doesn't that magical experience that you get out of a Rivian exist in anything smaller than a car?