Jiahuzhijia Seeks Angel Round Financing to Solve Pain Points in Newborn and Women's Clothing Care

36Kr has learned that the startup project "Jiahu", which enters the clothing care market for newborns and women with the features of "wall-mounted folding + medical-grade ultraviolet sterilization + 55°C constant-temperature gentle drying", has officially launched and is seeking angel-round financing of 3.6 million RMB. In this round of financing, 33% of the equity will be transferred. The funds will be mainly used for the establishment of the core team, the official launch of the product, and market expansion in the next 18 months.

The Three Hurdles of Market Pain Points: The Blue Ocean of Demand Behind the 8% Penetration Rate

The Chinese clothes dryer market is caught in the paradox of "high demand and low penetration". According to data from Aowei Cloud Network, in 2024, the retail volume of the clothes dryer market reached 2.83 million units, a year-on-year increase of 30.6%, and the retail sales exceeded 16.2 billion RMB. However, the overall penetration rate is still less than 8%, far from the 80% level in Europe and the United States. Behind this contradiction are three unmet core pain points.

Health anxiety comes first. A report from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention points out that the indoor mold concentration in southern families during the rainy season is 3.7 times higher than the standard. While traditional high-temperature clothes dryers (with temperatures often exceeding 70°C) can dry clothes, they can damage the fabric fibers. Cases of silk losing its luster and wool shrinking are common. For infants with delicate skin, the need for thorough sterilization while protecting clothes has become the primary gap in the market.

The space dilemma is also prominent. 90% of urban apartments do not have independent balconies. 16 million hotel rooms cannot be equipped with drying equipment due to space limitations. 10 million long-haul truck drivers also face difficulties in drying their clothes. Traditional vertical clothes dryers occupy 0.8 - 1.2 square meters, and the folding ones have a capacity of only 3 - 5 pieces of clothing. They have always failed to balance "space occupation" and "usage needs".

Consumption upgrading has spawned new demands. With the birth of 9 million newborns every year, the maternal and infant home appliance market has become a blue ocean of incremental growth. However, professional drying equipment for infants aged 0 - 6 either costs more than 8,000 RMB or lacks core functions such as sterilization and temperature control. A Tmall survey shows that 43% of consumers are forced to replace their clothes with high-priced ones due to color fading and deformation caused by air-drying. The market is calling for innovative products that combine "health care + space optimization + high cost-performance ratio".

Breaking the Deadlock with Patent Technology: A Space Revolution the Size of an A4 Sheet + China's First Medical-Grade Ultraviolet Sterilization

When founder Shi Jun entered the market with 15 years of experience in consumer electronics design at Garmin, he targeted the long-standing structural contradictions in the industry. "There has been no major structural innovation in the traditional clothes dryer industry for 30 years. What we want to do is not improvement but reconstruction." The patent certificate ZL2023.22905895.0 in his hand reveals the core competitiveness of this product - the combination of wall-mounted folding, top-mounted fan, and hot air shaping technology.

This innovative design brings amazing space conversion efficiency: the maternal and infant special model only occupies 0.06 square meters (the size of an A4 sheet) when folded, but has a drying space of 190L when unfolded, with a load-bearing capacity of 10kg. It can process 10 pieces of baby clothes + 5 bibs or parents' underwear and towels at the same time. It can be used by infants aged 0 - 6, breaking the limitations of traditional maternal and infant products.

In terms of health care, the product uses a dual sterilization system of medical-grade ultraviolet lamps and 55°C constant-temperature drying, with a sterilization rate of 99.9%. It can effectively kill common germs on baby clothes such as Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus.

The NTC temperature sensor monitors humidity in real-time to avoid high-temperature damage to cotton fibers, increasing the strength retention rate of clothes by 30%. For the scenario of frequent spitting up of newborns, the 45-minute rapid drying function enables "washing and drying at once", solving the problem of drying clothes during the rainy season and in the northern haze days.

Replicating the Xiaomi Model: The Business Logic Behind the 339 RMB Pricing

When the pricing of similar maternal and infant drying equipment in the industry generally exceeds 1,000 RMB, the selling price of this product at 339 RMB has attracted market attention. "High cost-performance ratio does not mean sacrificing profits but reconstructing the cost structure," explained Wang Shuling, the operation director. Relying on the cooperation with Zhongshan Tianjun Electric Appliance, a contract manufacturer for Midea and Gree, the project controls the cost per unit at 120 RMB, achieving a gross profit margin of 64.5%.

This Xiaomi-style business model includes three dimensions: a channel strategy mainly based on online direct sales, reducing intermediate links through platforms such as JD.com, Tmall, and Douyin Mall; user-participatory iteration, quickly optimizing product functions based on feedback, such as planning to add modules like baby clothes racks and intelligent reservation; and expansion of value-added services. Membership services such as aroma modules and extended warranties will enhance user stickiness.

The Founding Team and the Development Blueprint

The core team of "Jiahu" has both technical expertise and product insights. Founder Shi Jun serves as the CEO and chief product development engineer, leading the product production and subsequent upgrade iterations. Co-founder Wang Shuling serves as the operation director. With her professional background in e-commerce management, she is responsible for the market promotion and operation of the product.

Founder Shi Jun said, "The original intention of our entrepreneurship stems from a real and common problem in life. We firmly believe that technology should serve life to have its value. We believe that wall-mounted folding clothes care machines and clothes dryers will enter thousands of households just like intelligent toilet seats."

One of the core goals of this round of financing is to promote the mass production of the maternal and infant clothes care machine. According to the development blueprint, the company plans to achieve mass production and enter the market within 6 months after the financing, promote the mass production and market promotion of the household wall-mounted folding clothes dryer 12 months later, and promote the mass production and market promotion of the commercial wall-mounted folding clothes dryer for hotels 18 months later.

The project's target sales volume in the first year is 200,000 units, with a revenue of 67.8 million RMB and a net profit of 32.544 million RMB (net profit margin of 48%).