Gengmei Files IPO Prospectus: How China's Leading Aesthetic Medicine Platform Achieved Over Ten-Billion-Yuan Annual GMV

For the medical aesthetics industry, characterized by low purchase frequency and high average transaction value, the rising cost of customer acquisition has become an undeniable trend. In this context, the value of entry-level medical aesthetics platforms is becoming increasingly prominent.

The benefits brought by internet-based medical aesthetics platforms are, on one hand, educating consumers and enhancing industry transparency, and on the other, reducing customer acquisition costs to alleviate the burden on medical institutions.

After a rigorous process of natural selection, only a handful of medical aesthetics apps remain on the market today. They control over 80% of online traffic, directing it to offline medical institutions.

Gengmei is, to some extent, the leading platform in the medical aesthetics industry.Since its establishment in 2013, Gengmei has consistently garnered recognition from both users and investors. How has it distinguished itself among numerous apps? In response, Liu Di, founder of Gengmei, outlined the company’s path to success from five perspectives.

The uneven quality of medical aesthetic information has long been a persistent problem in the industry, leading some beauty seekers to take many detours.

Typically, users tend to rely on search engines when seeking information about medical aesthetics; however, excessive marketing often compromises the transparency and authenticity of such information.

In contrast, the Gengmei app empowers users’ decision-making with authentic “plastic surgery diaries” (currently totaling 2.8 million entries). These diaries feature Q&A sessions with board-certified physicians, while the system categorizes and organizes medical aesthetics information. To explore a specific procedure, users simply navigate to the corresponding section.

In 2016, Gengmei launched a live-streaming feature to help users make informed decisions more efficiently and place orders directly within the Gengmei app.

Gengmei Platform boasts 2.8 million authentic cosmetic surgery diaries

Gengmei Double Eyelid Search Page

Adhering to the principle of responsibility toward users, Gengmei subjects its “Meigou” feature (a section within the Gengmei app) to rigorous review. First, Gengmei conducts on-site inspections to verify the qualifications of hospitals and physicians, strictly ensuring that all institutions listed on the platform are compliant and legally authorized.

Platform physicians must hold the Physician Qualification Certificate, the Physician Practicing Certificate, and the Principal Attending Physician Qualification Certificate in Medical Aesthetics. Users on the Gengmei APP can also verify authenticity through the “Verify Medications” and “Physician Lookup” features, providing peace of mind.

In the event of disputes between users and hospitals, Gengmei will promptly facilitate mediation. For patients who experience unsatisfactory surgical outcomes, Gengmei offers advance compensation services and legal support. Currently, the accidental injury insurance available on Gengmei covers over 90% of medical aesthetic procedures. Consumers who activate VIP membership receive complimentary "Outcome Insurance," which provides insurance payouts for corrective subsidies if they are dissatisfied with the aesthetic results and meet the eligibility criteria.

Finally, to cater to budget-conscious young users, Gengmei has also launched medical aesthetic installment plans, allowing users to “beautify first, pay later.”

Gengmei Doctor Qualification Verification Page

It is precisely because Gengmei has established these foundational rules for users, building a robust moat, that it has successfully retained users and generated a greater volume of medical aesthetics information.

“Doctor IP” refers to a physician’s personal brand characterized by robust professional expertise and personal charisma, capable of attracting users over the long term through technical proficiency, case studies, and service attitude, thereby fostering secondary word-of-mouth promotion and ultimately realizing multi-dimensional commercial value for the individual physician, their affiliated institution, and the hosting platform.

The diaries posted by Gengmei users are UGC content that combines social and commercial value, enabling consumers to identify and locate high-quality hospitals and doctors through this UGC.

By leveraging user-generated content (UGC) to attract patients, physicians can reduce customer acquisition costs compared to traditional channels, while also devoting more time and energy to ensuring surgical quality. This creates a virtuous cycle in which platforms, consumers, and physicians each obtain what they need.

The average conversion rate for plastic surgery diaries on the Gengmei app reaches 30%, with high-quality diaries from certain doctor IP clients achieving conversion rates as high as 42.5%.

Currently, Gengmei has developed over 1,000 physician IPs, precisely positioning each doctor according to their expertise—such as Wei Min in craniomaxillofacial surgery, Luan Jie in breast augmentation, and Li Qin in rhinoplasty—establishing them as star experts in their respective fields.

In addition to posting plastic surgery diaries, doctors can also proactively answer users’ medical aesthetic questions on the Gengmei community; answers from doctors that receive a high number of likes will be marked as “Featured Answers.”

This Zhihu-style operational model will give rise to prominent doctor influencers, or “doctor IPs,” much like it has produced top-tier contributors on Zhihu. On the Gengmei app, a doctor’s excellence is evaluated based on service quality and user reputation.

Doctors can also conduct live streams on the Gengmei platform, such as broadcasting surgical procedures or answering questions about medical aesthetics, to bridge the gap with users and help them better understand the doctors.

Gengmei Top Doctors IP Team

Furthermore, Gengmei annually hosts events such as the Young Physicians Competition and the Distinguished Physicians Awards to identify outstanding medical professionals. Currently, Gengmei has garnered strong support from leading industry experts at prestigious institutions, including Plastic Surgery Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (Badachu), Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital, Nanfang Hospital in Guangzhou, and Xijing Hospital. The platform has onboarded more than 7,000 medical aesthetic institutions and over 10,000 physicians.

The development of mobile healthcare generates vast amounts of data. By leveraging this extensive accumulation of medical aesthetics data, Gengmei can help offline medical aesthetics institutions easily stay abreast of the latest industry trends.

Recently, the Gengmei app has opened its platform to key account (KA) merchants, granting them exclusive access to Gengmei’s big data database and committing to a return on investment (ROI) of no less than 1:4. The eight major dashboards released this year will empower merchants to capitalize on opportunities in the mobile healthcare sector.

Gengmei's Eight Major Dashboards

KA merchants are Gengmei’s key strategic partners. These merchants enter into annual cooperation agreements with the Gengmei platform, which provides comprehensive guidance and services to institutions in areas such as online customer acquisition, platform operations, and marketing planning.

Key account (KA) merchants are tiered based on their marketing expenditure, with a maximum investment of RMB 6 million generating RMB 24 million in sales. If Merchant A invests RMB 6 million in marketing, Gengmei guarantees RMB 24 million in sales revenue. Should the actual sales reach only RMB 12 million, Gengmei will refund RMB 3 million of the merchant’s marketing investment.

The eight major dashboards include the Product Selection Dashboard, Pricing Dashboard, Detail Page Dashboard, Journal Dashboard, Advertising Dashboard, Campaign Dashboard, Inquiry Dashboard, and Data Dashboard.

The Product Selection Dashboard is designed to identify high-potential projects early, securing a first-mover advantage in the market. The Pricing Dashboard monitors competitors’ price fluctuations to enable rapid adjustments. The Product Detail Page Dashboard evaluates the content quality of various sections on the page and compares conversion efficiency against similar premium products. The Content Journal Dashboard allows users to view the conversion efficiency of each journal entry; Key Account (KA) merchants can autonomously apply for exposure placements for journals with high conversion rates.

Furthermore, the Ad Placement Dashboard provides a clear overview of the efficiency and value of each ad exposure slot within the app, supporting data-driven decisions for future advertising strategies. The Direct Message Dashboard enables real-time monitoring of message content and conversion rates, facilitating the creation of personalized chatbots. The Data Dashboard allows Key Account (KA) merchants to gain comprehensive visibility into all user data generated throughout the entire customer journey, including page views, inquiries, order placement, payment, appointment scheduling, and verification.

In 2016, Gengmei completed its Series C financing round, one of the few major financings in the history of China’s medical aesthetics industry.

This funding round has enabled Gengmei to attract a diverse group of investors, including Tencent, Fosun, Legend Capital, China Securities Co., Ltd., and several publicly listed companies. Combined with existing shareholders such as Matrix Partners China, Sequoia Capital, VV Fund, and China Renaissance, Gengmei has now connected the mainstream investors and high-quality resources in China’s primary and secondary capital markets within the internet-based medical aesthetics sector, thereby delivering more valuable services to the entire industry.

Gengmei's Historical Investors

With a sound and verifiable business model, Gengmei has become VIVO Capital’s first investment project in China by integrating the operational capabilities of consumers, healthcare, and commerce. Managing over $1 billion, VIVO Capital is committed to building high-quality enterprises in the life sciences and healthcare sectors.

With the participation of Fosun Pharma, the parent company of the renowned domestic optoelectronic device brand Alma Lasers and the primary distributor in China for international optoelectronic device manufacturers, as well as investors with significant footholds in the healthcare industry such as Sequoia Capital, WuXi Healthcare Ventures, and Legend Capital, Weimei will provide a full range of optoelectronic equipment to all offline institutions free of charge. By making installment payments based on actual business volume, clinics can eliminate upfront capital expenditures.

Such strategic synergies will also occur with other prominent shareholders of Midea.

In the era of information explosion, how to attract and retain users while enhancing user experience has become a critical issue for every mobile internet practitioner.

As the Gengmei APP, which holds a leading position in the industry in terms of transaction volume, user base, and number of cooperating physicians, has taken the lead in brand upgrading and large-scale brand promotion, rapidly seizing the traffic dividend and capturing the mindshare of the new generation of aesthetic surgery users.

Gengmei TVC Featured in New York's Times Square

In May 2017, Gengmei upgraded its brand philosophy to “Life Is Not Predestined” and launched a new brand advertisement titled Life Is Not Predestined, which exposed the pressures faced by urban women in a looks-obsessed society and encouraged them to confront life head-on and take control of their destiny.

This advertisement appeared in New York’s Times Square, costing tens of millions. It was featured in the opening credits of the hit TV series “Ode to Joy 2” and achieved dominant screen presence through outdoor advertising in 50 cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou.

On social media, the video “Life Is Not Innate” was promoted through channels such as Weibo and WeChat, with discussions on Weibo surging more than 20-fold overnight. Its viewership on platforms including Tencent Video and Miaopai has exceeded 10 million.

In 2016, Gengmei’s online gross merchandise volume exceeded ten digits, generating approximately RMB 7 billion in output value for the medical aesthetics industry. In 2017, Gengmei will rapidly expand into broader markets.