A leading massage chair manufacturer in the A-share market has made an investment as a limited partner (LP).
A massage chair manufacturer has allocated half of its on-book funds to the primary market.
Recently, Rongtai Health, the leading A-share listed massage chair enterprise, released an announcement stating that it will co-establish a fund with other parties. The total subscribed capital contribution amounts to 500 million yuan, of which the company contributes 250 million yuan in cash, accounting for 49.90%. The fund is tentatively named Feike Rongtai Investment Fund (Suzhou). The other LP making an equal capital contribution is Shanghai Feike Investment, an affiliate of the "King of Razors" Feike. In addition, Kane Capital subscribes for 0.20% of the shares and acts as the GP.
It is a rare event in itself that the two leading consumer small home appliance enterprises in the massage chair and razor sectors act as LPs side by side. The scale of the investment is also thought-provoking: in terms of the amount of capital invested, this is the largest single LP capital contribution in Rongtai Health's history since its listing.
According to the announcement, the fund has a duration of 8 years, which can be extended to a maximum of 10 years. It will primarily invest in strategic emerging industries such as advanced manufacturing, high-end equipment, and smart hardware, and prioritize supporting hard technology projects integrated with intelligent manufacturing technologies. Rongtai holds a veto right on the investment committee, allowing it to deeply participate in the entire lifecycle of the projects.
Founded in 1997, Rongtai Health listed on the A-share market in January 2017 and has become one of the leading enterprises in China's massage chair industry. Its "Rongtai" brand targets the mid-to-high-end market, while the "Momoda" brand focuses on the entry-level segment. As of 2023, the company has sold over 2.8 million massage chairs globally, operates approximately 1,000 offline stores across China, and exports products to more than 130 countries and regions overseas through the ODM model.
For Rongtai, acting as an LP is not a new practice. Looking through its historical announcements, there is a long list of capital contribution records at the multimillion-yuan level. What makes this time different is both the investment scale and its strategic positioning.
A small Wenzhou workshop that has taken a seat at the big capital table
The story traces back to Wenzhou. When Rongtai was first established in 1997, it had only 7 employees and operated as a small workshop specializing in OEM manufacturing for furniture and health products, with its actual controllers being the father-son duo Lin Guangrong and Lin Qi. Back then, foreign brands dominated China's massage chair market, and most domestic enterprises could only undertake OEM orders, with nearly all their products exported overseas. Rongtai was no exception.
The turning point came in 2004. That year, Lin Qi took over leadership, relocated the company to Zhujiajiao, Shanghai, and explicitly put forward the vision of building China's top brand for the first time. Moving from a factory in Wenzhou to the market in Shanghai represented far more than a geographical shift: Shanghai's strategic location and abundant resources brought a completely new perspective to this Wenzhou-based family enterprise.
The real watershed moment arrived in 2008. Amid the global financial crisis, export-oriented massage equipment peers faced widespread pressure, with reduced orders and underutilized production capacity plaguing the entire industry. However, Lin Qi took a counterintuitive approach by ramping up domestic market investment, inviting Hong Kong actor Lui Leung-wai as the brand spokesperson, and broadcasting advertisements during prime time on CCTV-2 and CCTV-4 — a substantial expenditure at that time.
The high-stakes bet quickly paid off: by 2009, Rongtai's domestic sales revenue grew by 49%, and major retail chains including Carrefour and RT-Mart began partnering with the company. Eight years later, Rongtai listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
The listing provided the company with abundant cash flow, but a new question arose: what to do with the capital on its books? Rongtai's answer was to become an LP.
A clear trajectory of capital contributions can be observed through public announcements. Around 2020, the company invested 50 million yuan of its own funds to acquire a 2.28% stake in Huimei Health Haihe (Tianjin) Fund, which primarily focuses on the biomedicine, medical device, and healthcare service sectors. In December of the same year, Rongtai signed a partnership agreement with Mifang Capital, contributing 20 million yuan to purchase shares in Dezhou Liangyi Mifang Health Venture Capital Fund.
In the subsequent years, Rongtai appeared on the LP lists of funds including Ningbo Yongyuan Wenzhong, Tianjin Dinghui No. 2, and Jiaxing Enyi. Among these, Jiaxing Enyi mainly invests in cross-border e-commerce and digital empowerment sectors, and Rongtai accounted for 6% of the subscribed capital in the fund's first closing.
In September 2023, the company invested 20 million yuan in Xiamen Rosetta No. 1 Fund to participate in early-stage projects in the consumer and intelligent manufacturing sectors. By 2024, it injected another 10 million yuan into Gongqingcheng Jianmu Venture Capital, maintaining a prudent approach throughout the entire process.
In 2025, Rongtai launched a large-scale investment layout for industrial funds. Between March and August that year, it sequentially participated in Ningbo Yongyuan Wenzhong Venture Capital, Jiaxing Enyi Equity Fund, and Tianjin Dinghui No. 2 Equity Fund, while also deploying supporting projects such as Dezhou Liangyi Mifang Health Fund and Huimei Health Haihe Fund to accelerate its entry into the high-barrier healthcare sector.
All these investments share consistent characteristics: each single contribution exceeds 10 million yuan, the company acts purely as an LP, and all funds are managed by professional institutions. The announcements repeatedly emphasize "fully leveraging the experience and resources of professional institutions," reflecting a humble and highly exploratory attitude.
After years of trial operations, the investments have begun to bear fruit. On May 22 this year, Huikang Technology (001237.SZ) — a leading global enterprise in the ice maker sector in which Rongtai Health invested — listed on the main board of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. With an issue price of 53.26 yuan per share, its opening price reached 99 yuan, representing a 200% surge, and the company's market value exceeded 23 billion yuan, bringing book exit returns to Rongtai.
Apart from Huikang Technology, Rongtai's direct investment portfolio also includes Qingdao Maijin Intelligent, a smart cycling enterprise, Shenzhen Hengqu Motor, a brushless motor manufacturer, and Zhejiang Rongtai Electrical, a leading mica product enterprise — the last of which has already achieved exit through listing. The book floating returns are far more persuasive than any roadshow presentation.
The pace of investment has accelerated significantly. In March this year, the company contributed 13.2 million yuan to participate in the establishment of Beijing Rongtai Zhongheng Equity Investment Fund, holding a 47.482% stake. The fund manager is Beijing Yinbai Private Equity Fund Management Co., Ltd. The fund has a 5-year duration, with the first three years designated as the investment period. Four months later, the 250 million yuan large-scale investment was announced.
From the multimillion-yuan level to the 100-million-yuan level, from passive capital contribution to holding a veto right, and from "leveraging the experience of professional institutions" to sitting at the investment table side by side with Feike, Rongtai's position in the investment landscape has completely transformed.
This is the largest equity investment the company has made since its listing, marking the official entry of its industrial fund layout into a strategic upgrading phase — the sectors targeted by the fund, including advanced manufacturing, high-end equipment, and smart hardware, can generate synergies with Rongtai's core massage chair business.
Beyond massage chairs, capital is in search of new outlets
While ramping up investments, the growth of the core business has also slowed down.
Massage chairs are large-sized optional durable goods, generally priced above 10,000 yuan, with purchase decisions entirely driven by consumer willingness. They are not daily necessities and are only considered when consumers have sufficient disposable income. As a result, their sales performance is naturally tied to consumer sentiment: they rise in tandem with a booming economy but are the first to be impacted during market downturns.
From 2023 to 2025, the company's massage chair sales volume decreased from 268,344 units to 239,173 units, with corresponding sales revenue dropping from 1.766 billion yuan to 1.497 billion yuan. Looking back, the company's best-performing year was 2018, when it achieved a net profit of 250 million yuan and operating revenue of 2.3 billion yuan.
Some market analyses suggest that against the backdrop of cautious consumer spending, a downturn in the real estate sector suppressing new household demand, and slow release of elderly care-related demand, it will be difficult to drive growth in end-market massage chair sales in the short term.
The industry landscape has also undergone major changes. According to data from AVC (Ove Cloud), over 100 enterprises entered the online massage chair market in the first half of 2024, with the number of online stores approaching 400. Cost-effective brands have gained greater visibility on e-commerce platforms, while leading brands have continued to increase their investment in paid traffic and content channels. For Rongtai, which has long focused on the mid-to-high-end market, the market pie has not grown, but the number of competitors vying for a share has kept increasing, leading to fiercer competition.
Rongtai has never stopped searching for its second growth curve.
The most well-known attempt was the shared massage chair business. Around its listing in 2017, the company launched experiential massage services, seizing the opportunities brought by the sharing economy, and generated a record high revenue of 366 million yuan in the following year.
Even earlier, the company tested VR-integrated massage chairs and partnered with enterprises including Storm Mirror and iFlytek, aiming to position massage chairs as an entry point for smart home ecosystems. Lin Qi stated in an interview that for enterprises to achieve long-term survival, continuous innovation is essential, and they must either disrupt existing industries or incubate new projects.
New attempts are underway, and this time they are more closely aligned with the manufacturing industry's core competencies. According to the semi-annual report, the dedicated production line for the mechanical massage core component project co-developed by the company and Faurecia started installation and testing at the end of June, and will reach an annual production capacity of 300,000 automotive massage core components after acceptance. The construction of the Thailand factory is also progressing as scheduled and is expected to be put into operation by the end of 2025.
In addition, the company is collaborating with Meituan to develop therapeutic rehabilitation robots. Research reports from Galaxy Securities predict that the company's operating conditions will see new improvements following the recovery of massage chair exports, the mass production of automotive massage core components, and the commercialization of the rehabilitation robot business.
Putting all these initiatives together, the logic behind acting as an LP becomes clear. In the short term, investment returns can offset fluctuations in the core business's profitability. In the long run, the company uses funds to strengthen ties with the supply chain, drive technology introduction, explore new consumer scenarios, and generate industrial synergies. The fund's focus on advanced manufacturing and smart hardware naturally aligns with the massage chair industry's core segments, including core component manufacturing, sensor integration, and complete machine production. The successful case of Huikang Technology also provides a solid foundation for the management to further increase investment efforts.
However, every coin has two sides. Industrial funds typically have very long durations, and their underlying assets are primarily unlisted equities, which are far less liquid than cash on the books. The announcement explicitly states that the fund offers no capital preservation or minimum return guarantees. It will take time to see the final results of these investments, and this initiative also tests a manufacturing enterprise's ability to make accurate judgments in unfamiliar domains.
Listed companies are collectively acting as LPs
Taking a broader perspective, Rongtai is just one ripple in the entire market within a single year.
The most high-profile case is Mixue Bingcheng. In June, industrial and commercial information showed that Shenzhen Qianhai Huatou Xingwang Technology Venture Capital Fund completed an equity change, with its registered capital increasing from 100 million yuan to 152 million yuan. Mixue Bingcheng became the largest shareholder with a subscribed capital contribution of 150 million yuan, accounting for 98.684% of the total shares. The fund's general partner is Qianhai Xingwang Investment, which focuses on hard technology and large consumer sectors. The lemonade retailer's 1.5 billion yuan investment quickly triggered a market response: after the news was released, Mixue Group's Hong Kong stock price once surged by more than 4% during afternoon trading.
In the same month, Youngor announced that it would subscribe 51.5 million yuan as a limited partner for Yarong Aurora (Wenzhou) Venture Capital Partnership, accounting for 99.9% of the total capital contribution. Earlier in May, Jingzhida announced plans to jointly establish a venture capital fund with a total size of 200 million yuan with related parties, contributing 54 million yuan of its own funds to hold a 27% stake. Liaoning Chengda, together with its subsidiary Chengda Bio and other partners, launched a 502 million yuan biomedicine industrial fund, which also completed its industrial and commercial registration.
In July, the trend continued to accelerate, with companies including Tongyi Co., Ltd. and Xinjingang sequentially releasing announcements about participating in investment funds within a single week. Enterprises from industries ranging from bubble tea manufacturing to suit production and testing equipment manufacturing have all joined the LP lists of various funds.
According to statistical data, in January 2025 alone, 20 listed companies participated as LPs in 19 registered funds, with total subscribed capital reaching approximately 6.341 billion yuan. Among them, Yunnan Baiyao subscribed 5 billion yuan for the establishment of a traditional Chinese medicine big health industrial fund, making it the largest single LP contributor among listed companies that month. The phenomenon of listed companies acting as LPs is no longer an isolated case; it has developed into a stable and non-negligible force in the primary market, forming the third major category of capital contributors alongside state-owned assets and financial investors.
Reasons can be found on both the supply and demand sides. On the capital contributor side, enterprises including Mixue, Youngor, and Rongtai share similar characteristics: they have stable cash flow from their core businesses and abundant capital on their books, but the growth rate of their respective industries has slowed down. Incubating new businesses from scratch independently would incur high trial-and-error costs and require a long cycle. Therefore, leveraging the professional insights of experienced GPs to explore new industrial sectors has become a relatively cost-effective approach. On the fundraising side, the power of industrial capital is unprecedentedly strong.
According to statistical data, among large-scale financing deals exceeding 1 billion yuan in the embodied intelligence sector in the first half of this year, the proportion of deals participated in or led by large industrial enterprises and local state-owned assets has exceeded 40%. Traditional financial VCs are gradually transforming into co-investors, and GPs are more willing than ever to accept LPs that bring industrial resources and practical application scenarios.
The improving market environment has also lowered people's psychological investment thresholds. According to data from Tianyancha, in the first half of 2026, the number of equity investment deals in China's domestic market reached 3,899, representing a 37.5% year-on-year increase, with the total investment amount hitting 431.425 billion yuan, up 173.4% from the same period last year. Data from the Asset Management Association of China (AMAC) also shows positive performance: 2,919 new venture capital funds were registered in the first half of the year, far exceeding the 1,372 funds registered in the same period of the previous year. Exit channels have been opened, and the profit-making effect has returned, with cases like Huikang Technology serving as the best demonstration.
Back to Rongtai: the massage chair business is an industry that brings relaxation to consumers, but acting as an LP is an initiative that tests patience to the greatest extent. An 8-year fund will not deliver its final results until many years later. What is certain is that as more and more traditional manufacturing enterprises choose to take a seat at the LP investment table, the landscape of capital contributors in the primary market is being quietly reshaped.
This article is sourced from the WeChat Official Account "Rongzhong Finance" (ID: thecapital), author: Wang Tao, editor: Wu Ren, published with authorization from 36Kr.