EyeOxo Files IPO Prospectus: Pioneering Myopia Control in China's Growing Vision Health Market

Shijieweidu is the first health and medical application in China centered on myopia prevention and control. Built on a foundation of myopia prescription assessment and visual clarity optimization, it also features functions such as eye care plans and eye care reminders.

How the Platform Implements Eye Protection Features

Shijieweidu was initiated in early 2015 and officially launched in January 2016. Its target user group is individuals aged 6 to 35 who suffer from visual fatigue and are in the pre-myopia stage before developing true myopia. The core of the product involves conducting visual assessments via mobile devices, regularly tracking and analyzing data, and providing feedback to offline optometric centers.

After registering on the client side, users input their personal information and vision status. Shijieweidu then evaluates the data, generates an initial vision report for first-time use, and provides correction recommendations.

When users utilize their smartphones in later stages, the software will generate reports based on long-term eye usage habits, duration of use, and changes in ocular data, allowing users to compare their personal eye metrics. Shijieweidu will recommend professional vision training programs based on this data to help improve users' eye usage habits, thereby alleviating visual fatigue and preventing myopia from progressing into the moderate stage of true myopia.

Meanwhile, experts on the Shijieweidu platform address users' myopia-related concerns. The online consultation model spares users the hassle of traveling to hospitals.

Shijieweidu integrates service providers, user data, and expert expertise to enable users to understand their personal vision status on the platform. Meanwhile, Shijieweidu aims to further build a “vision care ecosystem” centered on big data and O2O (Online-to-Offline) concepts, operating through a franchise chain model, collaborating with community optometry centers, establishing online and offline resource alignment, and forming a complete commercial chain.

The Shijieweidu app serves merely as an entry point to the internet ecosystem. Over the next five years, Shijieweidu will integrate its project with wearable devices, establish more than 1,000 mini, community-health-oriented, and school-based non-profit physical stores for vision protection within local life circles across China, and also found a public welfare foundation.

"Myopia is a process. Vision can be corrected through training during the stage from eye strain to pre-true myopia," Hu Dingkai, founder and CEO of Shijieweidu, told VCBeat.

China's myopic population is approaching 600 million, with nearly 250 million adolescents affected. The prevalence of myopia among young children in China stands at 32.6%, reflecting the urgent need to address this growing trend of early-onset myopia.

Currently, young children with pseudomyopia constitute a distinct demographic. This group refers to children aged 6 to 12 who have developed myopia due to poor eye-use habits or delayed development. Regular vision screenings and the establishment of visual development records are essential for this population. Shijieweidu’s data analysis and reporting features enable parents to gain real-time, clear insights into their children’s visual health, as timely intervention is critical in myopia prevention and control.

Eye Care Alliance

Currently, Shijieweidu has formed an Eye Care Alliance with Yanmeng, Huyanbao, and Xiaoxinyan, aiming to leverage complementary resources and advantages among the four parties.

The Shijieweidu team boasts a professional medical background, with strengths in specialized medical technology and a deep understanding of market pain points and demands. Huyanbao has a large user base and substantial capital. Yanmeng possesses a strong technical team and extensive resources. Xiaoxinyan’s eye-washing solution gained widespread recognition through its Taobao crowdfunding campaign. The Eye Care Alliance is currently focused on integrating resources from all parties.

The founders reached a consensus to target the online myopia prevention and control market within the eye care and optometry sector of digital health.

“We hope to leverage our complementary strengths to strengthen the Eye Care Alliance, thereby contributing to the industry, rather than engaging in relentless competition as rivals. Only through cooperation can we achieve win-win outcomes,” said Hu Dingkai.

Myopia Prevention and Treatment: A Sunrise Industry

When VCBeat asked Hu Dingkai about his entrepreneurial insights, he laughed heartily and said, “Entrepreneurship is inherently a hardship; it cannot be accomplished in a comfortable environment. However, we are driven by the belief of benefiting society. The optometry and ophthalmology industry is highly valuable, as it can truly help those facing myopia issues, which makes me very happy.”

During the preparatory phase of the Shijieweidu product, the team encountered technical challenges. They developed five versions of the app, each of which was rebuilt due to minor issues, until the final launch version was finalized. Hu Dingkai joked that Shijieweidu 1.0 should actually be considered version 6.0.

As an employed professional, Hu Dingkai could only communicate with his team about the project and negotiate collaborations after work hours and on weekends during the early stages of his startup. Going to bed at 2 or 3 a.m. became commonplace. This meaningful endeavor enabled him and his team to persevere through all hardships and fatigue. Hu Dingkai stated, “Treat the industry as your career.”

Shijieweidu operates in the upstream segment of the eye care industry. Because myopia rehabilitation and adjustment require extended treatment cycles, the return on investment is also long-term. The eye care sector lacks the high profit margins characteristic of the eyewear industry, making it challenging to identify investors who truly understand this field and are willing to invest in it.

On the one hand, the general public lacks knowledge about myopia prevention and control, pays little attention to their own visual health, and fails to provide timely feedback on their vision status or seek professional consultation. On the other hand, for hospitals, senior ophthalmologists typically possess extensive experience in treating major eye diseases, whereas myopia prevention and treatment fall within the domain of optometry and vision science.

Optometry is an emerging discipline that has only recently gained prominence, and its adoption in China remains limited. This has led to information asymmetry. As an increasing number of people choose to wear glasses, the downstream eyewear industry is experiencing rapid growth.

If society, families, and myopia patients fail to take the visual development and vision problems of themselves and the next generation seriously within the next five years, China will become the “Kingdom of Myopia.”

The market for China’s optometry and vision care industry has yet to be fully tapped. However, the future health market in this sector is poised to become substantial, driven by inelastic demand. From a long-term value perspective, the optometry and vision care industry is expected to deliver stable profitability and exhibit strong diversification.

In 2008, the Ministry of Education issued the “Work Plan for Myopia Prevention and Control among Primary and Secondary School Students.” Since May 2015, local education authorities across various cities have successively released “Local Measures for Myopia Prevention and Control among Primary and Secondary School Students.”

In the long run, the Shijieweidu project not only generates high economic returns but also enjoys support and acclaim from the government and the general public, making it a project with significant potential.

Hu Dingkai told VCBeat that he believes people should take a long-term view rather than focusing solely on immediate gains. He described myopia prevention and treatment as a sunrise industry, expressing his strong desire to find like-minded partners to jointly contribute to the sector’s growth and create value for society.

“Our team aims to reduce the prevalence of myopia in China by 10% over the next decade, and we also hope to draw increasing attention to this field,” said Hu Dingkai.

Hu Dingkai is an operations management expert at the China Myopia Correction Center, with years of experience in managing refractive myopia ophthalmic medical institutions and providing solutions for myopia prevention and correction. He advocates for "early-age control and prevention to avert true myopia" and is the initiator of the eye-care ecosystem model characterized by "rapid control, community-based services, and superior user experience."

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