Gengmei Files IPO Prospectus as a Consumer Healthcare Platform Specializing in Aesthetic Medicine

In Beijing, Wangjing is widely regarded as “Koreatown.” Consequently, the area is home to numerous plastic surgery and aesthetic clinics of varying sizes, most of which specialize in “Korean-style” cosmetic procedures. The headquarters of Gengmei is located in Wangjing SOHO, a complex of modern buildings with a contemporary flair.

Gengmei, an app focused on cosmetic surgery and minimally invasive aesthetic procedures, officially launched in August 2013 as a comprehensive platform integrating community, e-commerce, and services within the consumer healthcare sector. It was initially named “Perfect Clinic.” In this regard, Liu Di, founder and CEO of Gengmei, explained that the term “clinic” placed excessive emphasis on the medical aspect, whereas their positioning for minimally invasive aesthetic services should prioritize consumer experience over medical intervention. Hence, the name was ultimately changed to “Gengmei.”

“Because abroad, dermatologists and plastic surgeons walk the red carpet alongside celebrities just like fashion designers do, cosmetic surgery is closer to the world of fashion than to the medical field,” said Liu Di.

CEO Liu Di

Starting from a Weibo account with 50,000 followers

In 2011, Liu Di joined Chunyu Doctor as a co-founder, holding management positions in the product, marketing, and business development departments. During his tenure, he observed that securing collaborations with major departments of public hospitals was generally challenging, whereas departments such as plastic surgery, ophthalmology, and dentistry were actively seeking partnerships with Chunyu. This stark contrast led Liu to recognize the significant disparity in reliance on internet channels between commercialized and non-commercialized healthcare markets. Since then, his personal interest has gradually shifted toward consumer healthcare.

In fact, as a serial entrepreneur, Liu Di had prior startup experience in the internet healthcare sector before joining Chunyu. In 2009, drawing on the patient community model of the foreign platform PatientsLikeMe, he established a China-based physician-patient community dedicated to rare diseases. Due to the immaturity of the business model at that time, he later joined the Chunyu team.

After leaving Chunyu, Liu Di launched a Weibo account focused on cosmetic and plastic surgery to test his ideas. Managing it single-handedly, he went online in the early hours each day to answer followers’ questions, quickly amassing 50,000 followers. “At first, I had to look up information before responding, which was very slow. But later I realized that all the questions essentially boiled down to about 400 common queries. So I compiled them into an Excel spreadsheet, spending just one hour a day to answer up to 200 questions at a time.”

Liu Di clearly remembers that operating the Weibo account cost a total of 20,000 yuan, averaging 0.4 yuan per follower. After crunching these numbers, he felt the project was ready to officially launch. With the first batch of seed users on Weibo secured, the next step was to engage doctors at public hospitals. Coming from a family of medical professionals, he had a deep understanding of the physician community and knew exactly what they needed.

“Faced with a high-pressure external environment, doctors tend to project a strong, assertive demeanor both outwardly and inwardly, leaving little room for effective communication. To us outsiders—‘barbarians’ intruding into the medical field—they are inevitably hostile at first. How can we persuade them to trust us? This requires a strategic approach.”

Liu Di specially invited videographers from video platforms to meticulously produce a series of videos titled “Profiles of Renowned Chinese Medical Aesthetics Experts,” enabling physicians to express their understanding of the industry and their inner thoughts with relative freedom and sincerity. “For these leading figures in the field, their greatest need is to gain greater recognition from the outside world, as well as broader understanding and attention.”

Finally, Liu Di gained recognition from the leading figures in the aesthetic plastic surgery industry. At the annual conference of the Aesthetic Plastic Surgery Branch of the Chinese Medical Association, he made his debut product presentation following a personal introduction by Qi Zuoliang, the Chairperson of the association, thereby successfully entering the highly exclusive professional medical aesthetics circle.

Subsequently, Liu Di began visiting renowned Grade-A tertiary and public hospitals across China one by one. “Fudan University annually releases a Top 10 ranking of plastic surgery hospitals; I used this list as a guide to approach each institution individually.” As a result, the platform assembled a cohort of top-tier plastic surgeons, which then facilitated the recruitment of aesthetic physicians from second- and third-tier cities. “It is fair to say that our platform was initially built on the foundation of public hospital physicians, ensuring a high standard of clinical expertise.”

Community + E-commerce = Social Commerce

Drawing on his experience at Chunyu, Liu Di explained that as one of many specialized sectors, Gengmei began merely as a physician–patient consultation tool. The evolution from an initial Q&A platform to a community-sharing model was a natural progression driven by user needs: users not only sought consultations or medical knowledge but also had a strong desire to share their experiences after treatment, which gave rise to the community model.

“Moreover, I have observed an intriguing phenomenon: backend data indicates that the post-80s generation possesses the strongest purchasing power, often spending over RMB 10,000 on services, yet they rarely take the initiative to share their experiences. In contrast, the post-90s and post-95s generations, while having less purchasing power than the post-80s cohort, exhibit a strong desire for social interaction and frequently post photos within their social circles. This likely reflects the differences in mindset across generations.”

Therefore, Meimei’s users generally fall into two categories: those who engage in social networking and community building, and those who shop. All other features revolve around these two core services—community and e-commerce. The community serves as a pathway to e-commerce; its purpose is to drive traffic to the e-commerce platform by leveraging user-generated content that subtly stimulates other users’ desire to purchase, thereby facilitating consumer transactions.

Now, Gengmei has achieved the integration of social networking and consumption. The Gengmei e-commerce platform offers a range of consumer healthcare services, including plastic surgery, dentistry, ophthalmology, and anti-aging treatments. However, unlike Taobao’s e-commerce model, Gengmei is gradually signing lowest-price guarantee agreements with its merchants, similar to those used by Suning and Gome.

“Gengmei aims to assure consumers that all products on its platform are guaranteed to be the lowest-priced in the industry. If users find lower prices elsewhere, Gengmei will require merchants to subsidize consumers by refunding the price difference.” What underpins Gengmei’s confident stance on industry pricing? Liu Di explains that in the past, marketing channels in the aesthetic medicine industry were narrow, relying heavily on online promotion. The traditional pay-per-click ranking mechanism forced aesthetic clinics and pharmaceutical companies to incur substantial advertising costs, with 50–70% of industry sales revenue being paid to search engines.

Liu Di told VCBeat that Gengmei can help merchants understand the true state of the industry, persuade manufacturers to bypass intermediaries and join the Gengmei platform to gain greater user traffic. In effect, Gengmei helps merchants save substantial advertising costs, but it requires them to offer prices that are competitively positioned in the market.

For example, there are only five to six compliant hyaluronic acid manufacturers in China. These pharmaceutical companies supply products nationwide, resulting in uniform supply costs across all regions. The original market price for domestically produced botulinum toxin injections for facial slimming was approximately RMB 4,000. Gengmei required hospitals to significantly reduce prices, offering the product on its platform for RMB 780. “As long as one supplier agrees to the price cut, other suppliers are forced to follow suit; otherwise, they risk losing customers,” Liu Di told VCBeat.

From the outset, Liu Di planned to adopt a revenue-sharing model with merchants on the platform. Doctors and pharmaceutical companies joining the platform are direct clients of Gengmei. Only by delivering tangible benefits to them can Gengmei ensure its future revenue stability. Similar to Taobao University, educating platform merchants has also become one of Gengmei’s current initiatives.

“We need to teach them the rules of the game on the internet. For instance, ultra-low-price promotions, such as those at 780 yuan, can be used as loss leaders to drive traffic. Additionally, product packaging and strategies to encourage repeat purchases are essential skills they must learn.” “For newly onboarded physicians who may already enjoy high reputation outside the platform, a minor surgical procedure might typically command a hefty fee. However, when just starting out on the platform, they must initially attract users with low prices. Once they have accumulated a sufficient number of successful cases and established a strong reputation, they can gradually raise their prices, which users will accept. This is because patients seeking cosmetic and aesthetic procedures prioritize the physician’s technical expertise and procedural safety over price sensitivity.”

“Right now, it’s as if we are helping a group of entrepreneurs launch their startups,” said Liu Di.

Alternative Collaboration with Insurance Companies and Qufenqi

In addition to high-quality physician resources and low-cost pharmaceutical supplies, Gengmei has partnered with insurance companies to launch cosmetic surgery insurance. Under this arrangement, in the event of complications from aesthetic procedures, compensation is provided by either the insurer or the medical institution. Although Gengmei primarily focuses on minimally invasive procedures and strives to avoid higher-risk interventions such as liposuction, breast augmentation, and bone contouring, it still offers cosmetic surgery insurance as an optional coverage for users.

In terms of payment models, Gengmei partnered with microfinance platforms such as Qufenqi, which align with the spending capacity of college students, to attract more young, beauty-conscious users through installment payment options. By June 2015, Gengmei had amassed over 5 million users and more than 4,000 certified experts, with its monthly transaction volume approaching RMB 100 million.

On July 22, 2015, VIVO Capital and Sequoia Capital China publicly announced an investment of tens of millions of US dollars in Gengmei. Liu Di stated that Gengmei would subsequently undertake several initiatives: expanding its medical service categories from plastic surgery to all consumer healthcare services, with plans to enter fields such as dentistry and ophthalmology in the next phase; gradually extending its geographic reach from first- and second-tier cities to third-tier cities; and bolstering its offline marketing team, increasing headcount from the current 70 to 150–200 by year-end.

Editor: Bu Yan