Meridian Secures Tens-of-Millions Angel Financing, Driving Domestic Substitution of High-End Medical Erbium Laser Equipment in China

Shenzhen Meridian Laser Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Meridian") has recently completed an angel financing round of tens of millions of RMB. The investors are Nanshan SEI Investment and Great Wall Fund. Micronano Capital serves as the company's long-term exclusive financial advisor.

According to Yang Jingwei, founder and chairman of Meridian, the proceeds from this financing round will be primarily used for the registration of Meridian's Class III medical device products and the subsequent construction of production lines.

The demand for photoelectric aesthetic, dental, and gynecological treatments in China continues to grow steadily. However, the industry presents a polarized landscape: on one hand, domestic manufacturers are crowding into the low-cost CO₂ laser and basic photonic device segments, driving intense competition; on the other hand, overseas brands such as Eurostar dominate the million-level high-end erbium laser equipment market, with the localization rate for complete high-end systems remaining extremely low.

Imported equipment not only carries procurement costs as high as one million RMB per unit, but also imposes high costs for consumables, after-sales service, and maintenance, significantly increasing the operating expenses of aesthetic and medical institutions. In contrast, most domestic manufacturers are limited to component assembly, with a generational gap in implicit core parameters such as beam quality and energy stability compared with imported devices, failing to meet high-precision clinical requirements.

At the same time, the 2940nm and 1064nm dual-wavelength erbium laser is recognized as the gold-standard therapeutic band in aesthetic and dental medicine. The 2940nm wavelength lies at the strong absorption peak of water in human tissue, enabling micron-level precise ablation of skin, mucosa, and dental hard and soft tissues, combining therapeutic safety with regenerative outcomes. However, the three core modules—the laser source, laser power supply, and energy feedback control system—have long been subject to overseas restrictions, making it difficult for domestic enterprises to achieve independent breakthroughs, leaving a significant market gap.

Meridian has positioned itself on a differentiated pathway of "performance comparable to imported products with significantly lower pricing." Its complete system hardware specifications and clinical outcomes are fully benchmarked against Eurostar, while its selling price and consumables costs are expected to be substantially lower, filling the market gap between high-end imported equipment and low-to-mid-end domestic products.

Based on its dual-wavelength erbium laser technology platform, Meridian has established a comprehensive product matrix covering skin rejuvenation, women's health, and dental diagnosis and treatment, with regulatory approval pursued in phases according to National Medical Products Administration registration requirements and market demand:

The dual-wavelength erbium dermatological treatment system is benchmarked against imported high-end anti-aging devices, suitable for facial tightening, scar reduction, and acne mark repair. The treatment requires no topical anesthetic, offers a short post-operative recovery period, and provides superior skin-tightening effects compared with radiofrequency-based devices.

The dual-wavelength erbium gynecological treatment system targets the multibillion-yuan intimate rejuvenation market, addressing vaginal laxity, stress urinary incontinence, and vaginal dryness. Compared with traditional approaches including CO₂ laser and collagen injection, the 2940nm wavelength stimulates collagen regeneration more gently, with lower risks of bleeding and scarring.

The dual-wavelength erbium dental treatment system is designed to address the pain points of traditional dental drills, including vibration, strong pain sensation, difficulty in hemostasis, and the need for suturing, enabling one-stop treatment of both soft and hard tissues.

In addition to erbium laser products, Meridian has also planned an intense pulsed light dry eye treatment system based on its existing technological expertise. Targeting the over 360 million dry eye sufferers in China, the system can complete meibomian gland expression, anti-inflammatory, and demodex treatment within 10 minutes, and has already secured 500 intended orders.

In terms of commercialization, Meridian adopts a dual business model of own-brand and original design manufacturer services, precisely matching different product positioning strategies.

Among these, the own-brand products, including the gynecological erbium laser and dental erbium laser, will establish a long-term recurring revenue model combining main systems and consumables, building a proprietary high-end medical equipment brand. Meanwhile, the original design manufacturer services, including the dermatological erbium laser treatment system and the intense pulsed light dry eye treatment system, will be carried out through deep collaboration with partners who have established channel expertise to handle market promotion, while the company focuses on research, development, and manufacturing, enabling rapid cash flow recovery to reinvest in core erbium laser technology iteration.

Unlike assembly-oriented players in the industry, Meridian has achieved full-stack independent intellectual property rights across its laser source, laser power supply, and energy monitoring self-calibration system, with the comprehensive cost of core modules reduced by 90% compared with imported products. Moreover, its supply chain has been fully localized, with no risk of overseas supply disruption.

In terms of the laser source, Meridian has independently developed a dedicated pump cavity. While imported counterparts cost over RMB 10,000 per unit, the proprietary solution costs only RMB 1,000. The opto-electronic conversion efficiency is comparable to leading overseas products, addressing the common shortcomings of domestic devices, including beam divergence and uneven energy output.

In terms of the laser power supply, development is led by the technical director, who brings over a decade of experience in mass production of laser power supplies. The team has developed proprietary square-wave pulse and sub-pulse train control algorithms, enabling precise control of tissue ablation and thermal coagulation depth, thereby avoiding clinical overtreatment.

In terms of energy control, this core function has historically been absent from most domestic devices. Meridian has pioneered a domestic-first real-time energy monitoring and self-calibration system, in which a photodetector collects real-time energy data during device operation and dynamically feeds back adjustments to the power supply. Data shows that energy fluctuation over one hour of continuous operation is less than 5%, significantly outperforming the national standard limit of 20%, with the potential to substantially improve the safety of high-precision gynecological and dental treatments.

Yang Jingwei stated that Meridian may in the future consider external supply of core optical components to broaden its revenue channels.