Xrush Files for IPO: Redefining Children's Oral Care with Smart Toothbrush Tracker
“Teaching children to brush their teeth is like waging a war; it is utterly exhausting,” revealed one parent. In recent years, oral health has garnered increasing public attention. Adults have achieved more thorough cleaning results by using electric toothbrushes, leading to a year-on-year rise in market demand for these devices. Children aged seven and under are in a critical period of primary tooth eruption and exfoliation. Improper use of electric toothbrushes may damage their fragile periodontal tissues. Therefore, experts advise against the use of electric toothbrushes by young children.
However, oral health issues in children are becoming increasingly prominent. Data from the "Fourth National Oral Health Epidemiological Survey Report" shows that the prevalence of dental caries among 5-year-old children is as high as 70.9%. If brushing twice daily is practiced, this figure can be reduced to 24.1%.
“Getting children to brush their teeth properly is no easy task,” Zhou Yu, project lead at Xrush, told VCBeat. Traditional childhood education tends to be directive, and children often fail to take toothbrushing seriously. “We aim to make oral hygiene education for children more engaging and empathetic,” Zhou stated.
Xrush Toothbrush Buddy is a smart hardware device that attaches to standard toothbrushes. By syncing with a mobile app, it transforms brushing into an engaging game to encourage children to brush their teeth. Additionally, it captures brushing motion data to generate reports within the app and delivers corrective video tutorials, ensuring children brush correctly.
Xrush is the first smart hardware project of Chongqing Xiantao Frontier Consumer Behavior Big Data Co., Ltd. Founded in 2016, the latter is an innovative company dedicated to studying consumer behavior and leveraging cutting-edge technologies such as big data and cloud computing, with a core focus on data services, smart products, and IoT platforms. Zhou Yu told reporters that the idea for Xrush originated from a project related to electric toothbrushes. As market demand for oral health continues to grow, children’s oral health faces numerous challenges. How to encourage young children, who are too naive to understand the importance, to brush their teeth diligently has been a persistent concern for Zhou Yu and his team.
“Electric toothbrushes are not suitable for young children, so we decided to develop a smart hardware product.” Once the initial product concept was finalized, Zhou Yu and his team immediately launched the Xrush project, leveraging innovative enterprise resources within the Yubei innovation ecosystem where the company is based to accelerate product development.
“It took less than six months, from project initiation in April 2018 to the completion of the first demo in August 2018,” said Zhou Yu.
Visually, Xrush is an adorable green “Big-Mouth Dragon.” Weighing only 22 grams, it features built-in sensors to capture children’s toothbrushing behavior. Its material has obtained FDA food-grade silicone certification and EU safety certification, with a waterproof rating of IPX7. The cartoon character’s four limbs are designed with non-slip silicone, allowing it to be directly fitted onto standard toothbrushes. “Xrush is highly universal and compatible with 99% of ordinary children’s toothbrushes on the market,” explained Zhou Yu. “The exterior design was finalized after surveys involving over one hundred parents and ergonomic testing.”
Xrush Smart Hardware
Complementing the Xrush hardware are its companion mobile app and content design. The app features professional tutorials recommended by the Chinese Stomatological Association to guide children in proper toothbrushing. Children who meet the recommended brushing duration unlock the “Wisdom Exploration Journey” and the “Book of Wisdom.” With each completed brushing session, children open a new gateway to wisdom, broadening their horizons and acquiring knowledge alongside the protagonist, X, thereby encouraging the development of consistent oral hygiene habits. The “Wisdom Exploration Journey” begins with the encounter between X, the big-mouthed dragon, and the main characters, Xiao Yu or Xiao Xi. Starting from Chongqing, it guides children through cultural landmarks and natural science knowledge across China. Throughout this learning process, Xrush gradually helps children become better individuals. To date, Xrush has developed content for four cities and created over 100 wisdom cards, with new series to be released continuously.
Xrush Global Travel Storyline
Furthermore, the “Big-Mouth Dragon” attachment for the toothbrush is equipped with sensors that track brushing patterns, connect to a mobile app via Bluetooth, and automatically generate data reports to analyze children’s brushing quality. It pushes corrective video tutorials in response to incorrect brushing techniques or missed areas. At the end of each week, Xrush generates a weekly brushing report and flags any anomalies. Overall, Xrush comprehensively guides and encourages children to brush their teeth correctly by monitoring factors such as brushing duration and motion trajectories.
Test results showed that 90% of children extended their brushing time and improved their brushing technique after using Xrush for two weeks.
At first glance, Xrush appears to be merely a compact cartoon animal toy; however, both the device and its accompanying app leverage multiple innovative technologies, including big data, sensor technology, human-computer interaction, and AI. It has been granted 11 patents by the China National Intellectual Property Administration, comprising one utility model patent, four invention patents, and six design patents.
In August 2018, Xrush made its debut at the inaugural China International Smart Industry Expo. In December 2018, China Central Television (CCTV) featured a one-minute special report on Xrush products. In April 2019, Xrush launched a crowdfunding campaign on Taobao, raising more than twice its target amount. Subsequently, during the “6·18” shopping festival, Xrush partnered with Babytree, a well-known maternal and child community platform, for its product launch, while simultaneously making it available on Tmall at a price of RMB 299. Zhou Yu revealed that Xrush was warmly received by many parents and children, generating nearly RMB 1 million in sales within the first month of its release.
In addition to smart hardware, many animated designs in the app, such as toothbrushing videos and card-based stories, are modeled after “Big-Mouth Dragon.” For children, “Big-Mouth Dragon” is not merely a cartoon toy attached to a toothbrush, but also an adventurer in the app’s stories. This enriches the character of “Big-Mouth Dragon,” giving it the potential to become an intellectual property (IP). The company will continue to launch “Big-Mouth Dragon” merchandise, building an IP around its smart children’s toothbrush hardware.
Regarding future plans, Zhou Yu stated that the company is seeking brand partnerships in the oral care sector to jointly promote the market adoption of Xrush smart hardware. Additionally, the company looks forward to cross-industry collaborations with other enterprises to develop the “Dazuilong” IP and its associated merchandise ecosystem.
Furthermore, the company will leverage data and algorithms to adopt a user-centric approach, continuing to explore consumption scenarios in the pediatric dental market. By targeting the incremental growth segment of pediatric oral care, it aims to establish a novel model integrating “smart hardware + mobile app + IP.”