Laifang Secures 3 million yuan in Angel Round Financing: Reconstructing cultural and tourism scenarios with game thinking, low-cost digital solutions to solve industry pain points
36Kr learned that Laifang, a developer and operator of digital live-action games, recently completed a 3 million yuan angel round of financing. The investor is Shanghai Guanghan Education Technology Co., Ltd. The funds from this round will be mainly used for the R & D of digital content in scenic spots, the optimization of the technical platform, and the construction of a standardized product matrix for corporate team - building. This company, which transformed from traditional team - building, is providing low - cost and highly adaptable digital transformation solutions for the cultural and tourism industry through the technical path of "virtual - real integration". Its representative products have been launched in 5 scenic spots such as Shanghai Film Park and Beijing CITIC Guoan Film City, and it has reached cooperation with more than 20 team - building companies.
From offline team - building to "real - life scripted murder mystery games": A technological breakthrough in scenario reconstruction
Shanghai Laifang Industrial Co., Ltd. was established in 2012. In the early days, it focused on corporate team - building and offline entertainment scenarios. In 2023, the team keenly captured the opportunity of the cultural and tourism industry's transformation from "hardware construction" to "content operation", and shifted its business focus to the construction of "virtual - real integration" experience scenarios. Its independently developed core technologies such as LBS positioning and dynamic plot engine have built a trinity product system of "software (mini - program) + hardware (mobile escape room equipment) + mechanism (gameplay)". Tourists in scenic spots can receive AR tasks through the mobile phone mini - program, such as looking for the "thousand - year keepsake" in the bell tower of an ancient temple or participating in the "city exploration" in a commercial complex, and complete team - cooperation challenges with mobile escape room props (such as AR treasure chests and combination locks).
This model breaks the limitations of the traditional "sightseeing experience" in cultural and tourism. Taking Shanghai Film Park as an example, through Laifang's digital system, tourists can "travel back" to the film sets of the Republic of China era, interact with virtual NPCs in the old Shanghai street scenes restored by AR technology. The team - play mode supports flexible adaptation for 2 - 96 people, covering diverse scenarios such as family trips, study tours, and corporate team - building. As of now, its online direct - sales C - end product, a 2000 - square - meter experience store of "Box Girl", is also in operation, forming a closed - loop experience that combines online and offline.
Addressing three major pain points in the industry: When 60% of employees complain that team - building is meaningless, how can lightweight transformation break the deadlock?
The current cultural and tourism industry is facing significant pain points: The average stay time of tourists in traditional scenic spots is less than 6 hours, and the annual repurchase rate is less than 0.3 times. Although the study - tour market has an annual growth rate of over 20%, most products remain at the level of "sightseeing - style practice". Corporate team - building has fallen into a dilemma of fixed forms, and 60% of employees think that the activities lack participation value. The key for Laifang to break the deadlock lies in "lightweight transformation" - by converting the movement lines of scenic spots into game - based exploration paths, on the premise of reducing 90% of hardware investment, it can quickly adapt digital modules such as AR script tasks and mobile escape room props. The deployment cost per scenic spot is 70% lower than that of traditional VR projects.
This "low - cost, high - flexibility" solution directly addresses the financial pressure of scenic - spot operators. Taking a certain ancient town project as an example, tourists can follow the mobile phone prompts to complete scenic - spot check - ins and AR plot tasks. They can not only learn historical and cultural knowledge but also have an immersive experience through the game - based mechanism. Data shows that each implemented project can increase the average stay time of tourists in the cooperating scenic spots by 30% - 50%. The quantitative reports on the effectiveness of corporate team - building have helped 80% of the cooperating parties achieve repurchase. "We are not rebuilding the scenario, but reshaping the value of space with content," emphasized founder Chen Hui.
The technological moat of a serial entrepreneur: How can the dynamic task generation system make ancient temples and parks "evolve" in sync?
Founder Chen Hui has 10 years of experience in operating offline entertainment entities. He has led the implementation of chain brands of escape rooms, party venues, and education - technology projects. His core team consists of designers of digital solutions, game planners, and hardware engineers, forming technological barriers in areas such as dynamic task generation and real - time data feedback. The system can generate personalized tasks in real - time based on tourists' locations and behaviors. For example, when visiting an ancient town, a random plot of "searching for a lost manuscript" can be triggered, similar to the "dynamic event" mechanism in games.
More forward - looking, Laifang is building an "immersive operating system" aiming to enable both ancient temples with a thousand - year history and technology parks to quickly generate exclusive virtual - real symbiotic experiences. By collecting and analyzing tourists' behavior data, the team can optimize the design of the consumption movement lines in scenic spots. Its "scenic - spot co - branded scripts" have achieved in - depth integration with local culture. For example, the folk tales of a certain ancient town are transformed into plot clues, and tourists can naturally absorb cultural content while completing tasks, which not only enhances the fun of the experience but also strengthens the dissemination of local culture.
From the "content - data - business" closed - loop to the new infrastructure of the industry: The logic of breaking the deadlock for digital live - action games
Driven by the new infrastructure of cultural and tourism and the upgrading of the experience economy, Laifang's business model shows unique value. Its closed - loop model of "low - cost transformation + standardized products + data feedback" not only lowers the threshold for scenic - spot digitization but also broadens the business boundaries through the standardized product matrix for corporate team - building. Currently, the team is accelerating the improvement of the technical platform, planning to increase the adaptation efficiency of the dynamic plot engine by 30% and expand to more scenic spots in the sinking markets.
"When tourists are willing to stay longer for a 'treasure - hunting game in the Song Dynasty' and when corporate team - building changes from 'employees' complaints' to 'active repurchase', in essence, digital technology has activated the experience value of the scenario," said Chen Hui. In the future, Laifang will continue to focus on the "virtual - real integration" technology, making every physical space an interactive and evolving "real - life game field" and injecting long - term growth momentum into the traditional cultural and tourism industry.
This cultural and tourism transformation driven by game thinking may indicate a new trend: In the future, scenic spots will no longer be just check - in places but will become "digital live - action amusement parks" that offer diverse experiences. Laifang's exploration has provided a concrete example for this trend.