The $112 Billion Allure of China's Medical Aesthetics Market

By Zhou Chao, Zheng Qi

According to relevant studies, China’s beauty industry has surged to become the second-largest market globally. The size of China’s medical aesthetics market is projected to reach RMB 800 billion in 2019, with over 10 million cosmetic surgery procedures performed annually in the country. Experts indicate that, on a per capita basis, China still possesses at least tenfold growth potential compared to South Korea, the United States, or Brazil.

From an industry perspective, medical aesthetics is the most market-oriented segment within the healthcare sector. It falls outside the scope of public health insurance coverage, and consumers demonstrate a strong willingness to pay, thereby eliminating the need to navigate or disrupt the entrenched systems of public hospitals.

From a capital perspective, as the market-oriented reforms of the healthcare system accelerate, various forms of capital—including venture capital and industrial capital—have flocked into the sector, bringing about a structural shift in China’s medical aesthetics industry.

Such enormous market potential has spurred a surge of startups launching mobile apps. However, after experiencing the past year’s capital frenzy and subsequent winter, only a few medical aesthetics apps have survived.

Interestingly, several major medical aesthetics apps have recently secured substantial investments in succession. This trend not only signals confidence from the capital market—particularly industrial capital—in the medical aesthetics industry, but also foreshadows another round of fierce competition within the medical aesthetics app sector.

At this critical juncture in the development of the medical aesthetics industry, VCBeat provides an in-depth analysis of the industry background, market landscape, and business models of medical aesthetics apps, offering a comprehensive overview of the competitive dynamics and future trends in this sector.