36Kr Exclusive | Men's beauty brand "GREENLAB" secures strategic investment from Baoding Venture Capital, and ZHANG Yaodong appointed as company director
36Kr has learned that the painless facial grooming brand "GREENLAB" (hereinafter referred to as "Greenlab") recently announced the completion of a new round of financing in the tens of millions. This round was strategically invested by Baoding Venture Capital. After the financing, Zhang Yaodong, the founding partner of Baoding Venture Capital, will serve as a director of Greenlab and participate in the long - term construction of brand strategy, product matrix, channel operation, etc.
This is also the second time Greenlab has received external capital injection in about half a year after completing the Pre - A round of financing in 2025. It is understood that the funds from this round will be mainly used for new product R & D and mass production, brand building, channel operation, and organizational capacity improvement.
Greenlab is a brand that 36Kr has been continuously following. It is positioned as "painless facial grooming" and mainly targets young male users who are "refined and lazy". The so - called "painless" means that users have as little psychological burden as possible in terms of purchase, use, and presentation effects: the products should be natural, convenient, and efficient, not require complex skills, and users do not want to be obviously seen as having a "makeup look".
Greenlab's "Light Mist Complexion - Correcting Lotion" product
For Greenlab, the significance of this round of financing is not just the funds themselves. Zhang Yaodong is one of the senior operators in the Chinese beauty industry and has served as the vice - president of L'Oréal China. In public reports, Zhang Yaodong has mentioned many times that consumer brands cannot rely solely on traffic and capital for rapid growth. More importantly, they need continuous innovation, refined operation, and systematic brand capabilities.
This also aligns with Greenlab's current needs. In the early stage of brand establishment, new consumer brands often first validate single products, channels, and target groups. After a single product is successful, the more long - term issue is how to move from a "blockbuster product" to a "category" and then from a "category" to a "brand".
In a previous interview with 36Kr, William, the founder of Greenlab, mentioned that the demand for men's beauty products has long existed, but the market supply often remains in stereotypes: the packaging is more "tough - guy" - like, the selling points are concentrated on oil control and moisture replenishment, or the logic of women's makeup is directly applied. Greenlab targets a more specific scenario - when young men want to improve their facial conditions such as dark circles, acne marks, and dull skin, is there a product that is lighter and more natural than foundation and has more corrective power than BB cream?
Therefore, Greenlab launched its main product, the "Original Complexion - Correcting Lotion". This product is between traditional liquid foundation and BB cream. It features applying with bare hands, being natural and not heavy, and being washable with a facial cleanser, aiming to lower the threshold for male users to enter the beauty consumption market. According to "Qingyan", Greenlab ranked first in the market share of men's makeup brands in the first half of 2025 with this product. In addition, the cumulative sales of the Original Complexion - Correcting Lotion exceeded 800,000 units in 2025.
In January this year, Greenlab launched a new generation product, the "Light Mist Complexion - Correcting Lotion". Compared with the early products, this new product has been comprehensively upgraded in terms of quality and price, but the users' enthusiasm for purchase has not decreased. Besides old customers, new customers are also willing to give it a try first. According to William, Greenlab's monthly GMV exceeded 10 million yuan in January 2026. So far, the monthly GMV in 2026 has continued to maintain a three - digit year - on - year increase.
Greenlab's "Light Mist Complexion - Correcting Lotion" product
In terms of the target group, Greenlab focuses on the "refined and lazy" group aged 18 - 30. In actual sales, it has further found that college students aged 18 - 22 account for nearly 50%. This means that what users want is not just "men's beauty products", but more specific and detailed "scenario and emotion solutions" - young men want to know "how to make myself look good and energetic all at once". This demand is concentrated in four major scenarios: dating, job interviews, taking photos, and attending large - scale classes. These lightweight but high - frequency life moments form the key user base that Greenlab focuses on.
In terms of products, Greenlab will still focus on "complexion correction" in the next two to three years. In addition to the existing complexion - correcting lotions, it plans to launch local concealer products for dark circles and deep acne marks, as well as more portable complexion - correcting air cushions. In September this year, Greenlab also plans to iterate the Original Complexion - Correcting Lotion to version 2.0, strengthening scenarios such as daily commuting and portability through new packaging design.
Furthermore, Greenlab hopes to turn the "complexion - correcting lotion" from a single product into a clearer category. William told 36Kr that Greenlab is conducting research on group standards and plans to establish standards around aspects such as the formula logic, raw material selection, spreadability, gloss, and ease of washing off of complexion - correcting lotions, and form group standards by the end of the year. For a new brand, the significance of this move lies in transforming front - end user insights into category language that can be more easily recognized by the industry.
In terms of channels, Greenlab is adjusting from being driven by a single interest - based e - commerce platform to a more balanced online channel structure. Last year, about 80% of Greenlab's sales came from Douyin, with a relatively high proportion from live - streaming by influencers. This year, the proportion of Douyin sales has dropped to about 55%, while the proportion of Tmall sales has increased to about 30%. For consumer brands, Douyin is usually more inclined to interest - based e - commerce and impulse purchases, while Tmall is closer to a search - based and shelf - type field. The increase in the proportion of Tmall sales means that after being attracted by content on content platforms, users start to actively search for and purchase the brand's products.
In the industry, the men's beauty market is still a track that "seems hot but is difficult to operate". On the one hand, the female beauty market is highly saturated, and men's care and grooming are regarded as new growth directions. Data from iiMedia Research shows that the scale of the male skin - care market in 2025 was about 25 billion yuan, with a compound growth rate of 18%. Xinhua News Agency cited e - commerce platform data, stating that during the "Double 11" in 2025, there was an explosive growth in men's beauty - related categories, with the total transaction volume of men's facial essence products increasing by 7064% year - on - year.
On the other hand, the penetration rate, frequency of use, and social acceptance of men's beauty consumption are still in the early stage, and consumers' psychological threshold is higher than that in the female market.
In the past few years, brands such as Liren, DearBoyFriend, and Blue have entered the market from the aspects of men's skin care, personal care, and makeup; brands such as L'Oréal Men and Biotherm Men under international groups have also long occupied the shelves. However, there has never been a real mind - occupying brand in the men's beauty market. The reason is that many brands solve the problem of "men can also buy skin - care products" but do not really answer the question of "why men need a different beauty solution from the female market".
Greenlab's approach is to translate "makeup" into "grooming" and compress complex steps into a lighter product experience. What it hopes to do is not to copy women's makeup for men, but to find a new product form and expression in the psychological gap of young men who "want to look good but are afraid of trouble and being noticed".
In William's view, in the next two to three years, the core goal of the brand is to become the first grooming product for a new generation of young men to look good. In other words, when young men aged 18 - 22 first want to improve their facial conditions and first realize that "looking good" can be simpler, Greenlab hopes to be the brand they think of first.
Investor's View
Zhang Yaodong, the founding partner of Baoding Venture Capital: Greenlab is the only beauty project that Baoding Venture Capital has invested in in the past two years. We believe that Greenlab is an excellent player among the new - generation beauty brands. There are mainly three aspects: First, the brand has insight into the iteration of the lifestyle of the new - generation consumers. Young people represented by the post - 00s have much more refined requirements for their own image, and the change among boys is particularly obvious. There has also been a qualitative change in the consumption experience. Products should not only be useful but also look good and be in line with users' interests; Second, the brand accurately provides high - quality offerings for this generation of consumers. From the product's efficacy, to the packaging design, to the brand content, it gives users a comprehensive and rare consumption experience; Third, the founding team is a rare high - quality team. Their three - dimensional work experience, practical ability, good educational background, broad vision, and overall aesthetic quality provide better imagination space for the brand's development. We believe that the brand has a good chance to start from men's base makeup and develop into a multi - category, new - generation, global beauty brand that is loved by both men and women.