Zdeer Files IPO Prospectus: Pioneering Smart Wellness with 'Geek Health' Philosophy

Staying up the latest nights, applying the most expensive eye creams. Amid the prevailing trends of “punk wellness” and “Buddhist-style wellness,” issues of suboptimal health are becoming increasingly prominent.

According to relevant data, approximately 15% of China’s population meets the World Health Organization’s definition of health, while another 15% are in a diseased state. The remaining 70% are in a state of “sub-health.”

Currently, in China’s first-tier cities, 76% of white-collar workers are in a state of sub-health, approximately 60% are experiencing overwork, and the proportion of individuals who are truly healthy is less than 3%. Among those in a sub-health state, women are particularly susceptible to gynecological and cardiovascular/cerebrovascular diseases, while men face heightened risks of sudden death, overwork-related complications, and cancer. It is against this backdrop that the scientific wellness concept of “preventive treatment of disease” has become an essential need for the public.

zdeer, a company recently contacted by VCBeat, is an innovative tech brand that advocates science-based wellness concepts and focuses on the smart wellness product and smart consumer healthcare markets. While committed to raising public awareness of healthy lifestyles, the company aims to break free from the constraints of the traditional health industry. Through continuous technological innovation and product upgrades, it delivers better-looking, more user-friendly, high-quality products to consumers at more affordable prices.

"Middle-aged resignation: goji berries steeped in a thermos." Health preservation often seems like a reluctant compromise made by older adults in response to the realities of their declining physical condition. However, for young people—especially those in the internet industry—prolonged exposure to the "996" work schedule has led to a variety of health issues.

“The ‘geek spirit’ has swept the globe in recent years, driving us to continuously surpass and break through in technological innovation. However, behind this trend, we often overlook attention to our own physical well-being,” Zhu Jiangtao, Founder and General Manager of zdeer, told VCBeat. Observing that while people pursue a “geek” mindset in their work—daring to venture and strive—they frequently neglect their health, he advocated for applying the same “geek” approach (i.e., a correct and scientific attitude toward wellness) to personal health. This led to the proposal of the concept of “Geek Wellness,” which entails developing geek-style wellness products with a geek spirit and practicing wellness with a scientifically rigorous, geek-oriented attitude.

In response, the zdeer team decided to focus on creating premium products by developing a range of wellness-oriented solutions for users. As zdeer’s flagship product, the zdeer Xiaoai Smart Moxibustion Box was launched in September 2018. This product introduces functional innovations based on traditional moxibustion concepts, features a minimalist design, and incorporates numerous manufacturing processes, technological advancements, and new materials previously unused in the industry.

To deliver a convenient moxibustion experience across diverse scenarios, the zdeer Smart Moxibustion Box features smokeless operation, anti-scald protection, and intelligent control. As is well known, traditional moxibustion relies on open flames, generating smoke and high temperatures that not only pose potential safety hazards but also demand considerable technical proficiency from users. Furthermore, shifting consumer preferences have placed greater emphasis on environmental sustainability. The zdeer Smart Moxibustion Box effectively addresses these pain points.

Behind high-quality products lies the embodiment of the “geek spirit.” Taking battery safety as an example, the second-generation zdeer Xiao Ai Smart Moxibustion Box features a built-in lithium battery alongside a heating element that reaches 180°C. In this scenario, ensuring battery safety became a significant technical challenge. To overcome this hurdle, the zdeer team dedicated substantial time to researching structural and technical details, ultimately safeguarding the battery through a combination of active and passive safety systems.

In terms of design, the zdeer team has also demonstrated unique insights. “When designing products, we insist on strict adherence to ergonomic principles, ensuring that consumers enjoy the utmost comfort in every aspect, including user experience, aesthetic appeal, and safety,” stated Zhu Jiangtao. He added that for young consumers, a good product should not only be practical but also enhance their appreciation of beauty.

It is worth mentioning that, to ensure stronger protection for these intellectual achievements, zdeer established an intellectual property team in 2017. Since then, it has filed over 600 applications for technological and patent reserves, covering design patents, utility models, and invention patents.

For consumer-facing products, becoming a widely recognized brand is inseparable from strong marketing support.

In Zhu Jiangtao’s view, effective marketing must first ensure that the product genuinely helps users solve their problems. “The key criterion for consumer healthcare products is whether they can improve users’ physical health. The zdeer Smart Moxibustion Box removes limitations on usage scenarios, thereby giving young people ample time to engage in health conditioning.”

Given that its current user base primarily consists of young consumers born in the 1980s and 1990s, zdeer has proposed the concept of “a new approach to Guochao (China-chic) wellness.” This concept encompasses two dimensions: first, it must align with young people’s demand for lightweight, on-the-go wellness practices; second, the products must be sufficiently trendy to appeal to their aesthetic preferences. Adhering to this philosophy and meticulously refining its offerings, zdeer has developed specialized products such as smart smokeless moxibustion boxes, smart uterine-warming devices, and smart home moxibustion units. On December 30, 2019, renowned financial scholar Wu Xiaobo highlighted zdeer as an emerging domestic brand and a “beacon of Chinese goods” during his New Year’s Eve speech.

In terms of distribution channels, zdeer has built its own brand-specific KOL resource pool across major mainstream platforms, including Xiaomi Youpin, Weibo, WeChat, Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book), Douyin (TikTok China), and self-media outlets. To date, zdeer boasts over 100 core channels and more than 1,000 key clients, with celebrity collaborators including Lin Yilun, Hu Ke, Li Xiang, Ye Yiqian, Shen Tao, and Qian Feng.

“Since our inception, we have remained dedicated to developing high-quality products. We believe that only by delivering superior products can we truly fulfill our responsibilities to investors and users, as well as to ourselves and our team,” said Zhu Jiangtao. After establishing its product line and distribution channels, zdeer completed two rounds of financing within six months: a multi-million RMB Pre-A round in October 2019 from Haiquan Fund, affiliated with renowned singer Hu Haiquan, and a tens-of-millions RMB Series A round in April 2020 from Tiantu Investment.

To better expand its market presence, zdeer has established a robust organizational structure. Technical and business personnel together account for 90% of the team. Zhu Jiangtao, Founder and General Manager, founded zdeer while pursuing his master’s degree at Wuhan University of Technology. Liu Jihui, Dean of the Health Research Institute, has 26 years of experience in R&D of smart consumer healthcare products, holds more than 30 patents, and has previously provided technical support to companies such as Huawei and Omron.

Chief Industrial Designer Xu Li has served at renowned companies such as Philips, Midea, and Joyoung, and has participated in the design of industrial CNC machine tools for major national special projects. TCM Guidance Expert Yao Qin boasts nearly 40 years of experience in scientific research, clinical practice, and teaching in traditional Chinese medicine. He formerly served as a member of the 9th and 10th Hunan Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, head of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Culture Promotion and Education Base under the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and professor at the Hunan Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

The sudden outbreak of the novel coronavirus pneumonia this year has unprecedentedly heightened public attention to home health products, making the home setting a key focus area for the next wave of consumer healthcare. As integrated hardware-software solutions, home health products generate vast amounts of user health behavior data due to their high-frequency usage. This data offers companies greater potential to develop products that better address users’ pain points.

Looking ahead, Zhu Jiangtao stated that zdeer will continue to uphold its “geek spirit,” constantly optimizing and refining its products, while developing a series of original offerings in certain categories. “If we make it into the next decade, we hope to conduct fundamental scientific research and drive innovation in select niche fields.”