The Internet of Things solves the pain points of bottled water. "Spring Piglet" is seeking angel round financing.

The traditional bottled water delivery industry has long faced pain points such as low efficiency, difficulty in standardizing services, and high operating costs. As the market demand for instant and transparent services increases, the digital upgrade of the industry has become an inevitable trend. 36Kr recently learned that "Quan Xiaotun" is targeting the transformation opportunity in this traditional track. Through independently developed intelligent hardware and software systems, it has launched the nation's first industry solution for sterile intelligent bottled water, attempting to reconstruct the industry ecosystem with an integrated model of "equipment + platform + operation".

Quan Xiaotun was incubated by Delta Technology. The project team has rich experience in intelligent hardware R & D and Internet of Things platform construction. The founder said that the team's practical experience accumulated in the sharing economy field enables it to accurately address the digital management and service upgrade challenges in the terminal delivery of the bottled water industry.

From "Water Delivery Workers" to "Intelligent Terminals": Reconstructing the Delivery Process with Software and Hardware

The traditional bottled water supply chain relies on manual scheduling and phone orders, often resulting in problems such as delayed water delivery, opaque fulfillment information, difficult personnel management, and manual registration of ledgers. Delta Technology chose to start from both the terminal equipment and the scheduling system to build a closed - loop of software and hardware.

On the hardware side, the team developed intelligent equipment suitable for the bottled water scenario. This equipment innovatively solves the problem of secondary bacterial contamination in bottled water delivery. Through intelligent water level monitoring and real - time inventory management, it enables remote and precise control. The equipment structure is optimized for different drinking water scenarios, meeting the needs of both upright and inverted use. It also has waterproof and shock - proof features, effectively solving the pain points of the traditional delivery model, such as high labor consumption, repeated deliveries, and long waiting times for users, and significantly improving the service experience.

The software system includes a regional management background, a user mini - program, and an intelligent scheduling platform. Operators can view the equipment status, water consumption data, and financial situation in real - time. The system intelligently plans the optimal delivery route based on order distribution and equipment status. The platform innovatively connects to credit systems such as Alipay's "Pay Later" service. On the user side, functions such as one - click ordering, points redemption, and real - time progress tracking can be realized, creating a smooth digital consumption experience.

The First Product Launched, and Business Model Verified through Investment Promotion

Currently, the project has launched its first - generation product and entered the small - scale investment promotion stage. The initial target customers are mainly water plant operators, property management companies, and household users. The team said that the product not only helps partners transform their operation mode from "passive response" to "active service" but also provides them with precise marketing and intelligent replenishment suggestions through data analysis, effectively improving the single - point operation efficiency.

In terms of the business model, the company's main sources of income are intelligent hardware sales, software service fees, and operation profit sharing. The hardware provides one - time income, and the software system charges service fees annually or monthly. In the future, with the expansion of the equipment network scale, it can also extend to diversified profit channels such as advertising placement and data services.

The founder revealed that the project's start - up funds came from the team's own investment. Currently, it is gradually opening up the recruitment of city partners and plans to verify the business model and accumulate operation data in multiple regions across the country. Feedback from the first batch of partners shows that after connecting to the system, the delivery efficiency has increased by 40%, the customer complaint rate has decreased by 60%, and the operating cost has been reduced by 25%.

A Trillion - Yuan Market to Be Explored, and the Time for Intelligent Transformation Is Right

According to data from iiMedia Research, the scale of the Chinese bottled water market exceeded 150 billion yuan in 2023, and the user scale continues to grow. However, the industry concentration is low, with many regional brands, and the overall digitalization level is backward. As labor costs rise and consumers' requirements for service immediacy increase, there is a clear market gap for solutions with standardization and intelligence capabilities.

Similar models such as intelligent express cabinets and shared power banks have formed stable business forms in their respective fields after educating the market. The bottled water scenario is more frequent and more of a rigid need. If the cost structure and service experience can be optimized through intelligent equipment, it is expected to be quickly replicated in scenarios such as household users, communities, and office buildings.

The project team believes that its core barrier lies not only in hardware R & D and Internet of Things capabilities but also in a deep understanding of offline operation logic, including equipment placement strategies, dynamic scheduling systems, and user habit cultivation. These experiences can help the project reduce trial - and - error costs during the implementation stage.

Future Plans: From Equipment Installation to Platform Ecosystem

In the short term, the team will still focus on investment promotion and equipment installation, and quickly expand the market through the regional partner model. In the medium and long term, it plans to expand value - added services such as supply chain optimization and brand - linked marketing for B - end customers based on the equipment network and user data, and gradually build an intelligent ecosystem platform around the "drinking water service" scenario.

Digital innovation in vertical fields has become an important path for the upgrade of traditional service industries. The bottled water industry has heavy operations, low informatization levels, and high transformation difficulties, but it also means that the opportunity window driven by technology has emerged. Whether Quan Xiaotun can truly achieve "cost reduction, efficiency improvement, and experience upgrade" in the industry through intelligent hardware and digital platforms is worthy of continuous attention.

The company is currently recruiting city partners. Relevant institutions interested can contact the project team.

The core goal of this round of financing is to introduce a top - notch market sales elite team and obtain sufficient market promotion funds to accelerate the company's market expansion and business growth.

According to the development blueprint, the company plans to:

Within 6 months: Complete the establishment of the high - level market sales team, including the recruitment of core positions such as the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) and the sales director, and launch the national market promotion plan to achieve large - scale implementation of the product in key cities.

Within 12 months: Establish a sales network covering major cities across the country, achieve a market coverage of 500,000 household users, and explore diversified B - end service models, including customized enterprise solutions and data value - added services.

Within 18 months: Establish a leading market position in the intelligent bottled water field, achieve an annual sales volume exceeding 50 million yuan, and launch Series A financing to further expand the market share and brand influence.

The company will introduce senior management personnel with rich experience in FMCG and B2B sales and combine it with sufficient market promotion funds to quickly build a strong market expansion ability and achieve a leap - forward development from product innovation to market leadership.