Rongtai Health Invests 250M as LP: Massage Chair Giant Goes Cross-Border

By ChanLianShe CLS

A-share massage chair leader Rongtai Health becomes an LP.

In July 2026, Rongtai Health announced it would invest RMB 249.5 million of its own funds with Flyco Investment (under the "shaving king" Flyco) and Kain Capital to establish a 500 million industrial fund named "Flyco Rongtai Investment Fund (Suzhou) Partnership".

Founded in 1997, Rongtai Health listed on the A-share market in 2017. Its products are exported to over 130 countries and regions, making it a leading massage chair company in China. In Q1 2026, revenue reached RMB 442 million, with net profit attributable to parent of RMB 69.73 million.

From a small Wenzhou workshop to an A-share massage chair leader, and now a significant industrial LP, Rongtai Health is undergoing a transformation.

8-year lock-up: when will the 250M return?

In July 2026, Rongtai Health announced the establishment of a fund, with Rongtai contributing RMB 249.5 million in cash (49.90%), Flyco Investment contributing the same amount as LP, and Kain Capital contributing 0.20% as GP.

It is rare for leading consumer appliance companies in massage chairs and shavers to join as LPs. Notably, this RMB 249.5 million is the largest single equity investment since Rongtai's listing nine years ago. Previously, commitments were mostly at the tens of millions level; this leap into the hundred-million level represents a tenfold increase in just three years.

Rongtai's LP activities are not impulsive.

As early as September 2023, Rongtai Health began its industrial fund layout with a RMB 20 million subscription to Xiamen Rosetta **** Fund, targeting early-stage consumer and smart manufacturing projects. In 2024, it added RMB 10 million to Gongqing Chengmu Venture Capital.

In 2025, the pace accelerated significantly. Within a year, Rongtai participated in four or five funds including Ningbo Yongyuan Wenzhong Venture Capital, Jiaxing Enyi Equity Fund, and Tianjin Dinghui No.2 Fund, also expanding into healthcare. In March 2026, the company established Beijing Rongtai Zhongqing Equity Investment Fund with RMB 13.2 million of its own funds.

In May 2026, Huikang Technology, an ice maker company in which Rongtai holds a stake, listed on the Shenzhen Main Board. The issue price was RMB 53.26, opening at RMB 99.99, and closing at RMB 111.80 (up 109.91%), with a market cap of RMB 16.586 billion. Based on this, Rongtai's stake is worth approximately RMB 63 million.

Rongtai's continued commitment to industrial funds is driven by two considerations.

Investment returns can hedge against fluctuations in core business profits, and more deeply, industrial synergies.

The new fund targets advanced manufacturing, high-end equipment, and smart hardware—areas naturally related to massage chair mechanics, sensors, and manufacturing. Rongtai is advancing two new business lines: an automotive massage mechanism project with Faurecia (already in mass production for Zhiji Auto, with annual capacity of 300,000 units), and a physical therapy robot business with Meituan, piloted in Shanghai.

Both new businesses require technology resources, and using an industrial fund to secure supply chains and new technologies is more cost-effective than starting from scratch.

In the 2026 capital market, it has become a spectacle that listed companies are flocking to become LPs.

Mixue Ice City invested RMB 150 million into a venture fund, Youngor contributed RMB 51.5 million, and Yunnan Baiyao committed RMB 5 billion to a traditional Chinese medicine health industry fund.

These companies share a similar nature: stable cash flow from core businesses, ample cash on hand, but slowing industry growth and high trial-and-error costs for new ventures. Leveraging professional GPs to explore new tracks is a relatively cost-effective way out.

However, an 8-year fund with unlisted equity as underlying assets has far less liquidity than cash.

The announcement clearly states: no principal guarantee, no minimum return. When and how much of the invested money can be recovered is unknown. This tests not only the company's financial strength but also its judgment in unfamiliar fields.

So why is a massage chair manufacturer so eager to entrust so much money to others to invest? Where does Rongtai's confidence come from?

Massage chairs not selling well: where to invest the cash?

You may not have noticed the name "Rongtai Health", but you have likely sat on its products in shopping malls, cinemas, or airports: those shared massage chairs that can be activated by scanning QR codes are often from Rongtai's sub-brand "Modong".

Rongtai Health originally engaged in R&D, production, and sales of massage chairs and small massage appliances. Founded in 1997, it listed on the A-share market in January 2017 and became one of the leading massage chair companies in China.

Rongtai currently adopts a dual-brand strategy: "Rongtai" targets the mid-to-high-end market, with prices usually above RMB 10,000, aiming at quality- and feature-seeking consumers; "Modong" targets the entry-level market with pricing below RMB 10,000, appealing to younger demographics.

Overseas markets are mainly ODM dealer model, designing and manufacturing for foreign brands, exporting to over 130 countries and regions.

According to a Galaxy Securities report citing annual report data, Rongtai sold 240,000 massage chairs in 2025, up 4.2% year-on-year; domestic sales revenue reached RMB 770 million, up 15.8%, with online channels growing over 30%, steadily increasing market share.

From the financial data, in Q1 2026, operating revenue was RMB 442 million, up 11.96% year-on-year; net profit attributable to parent was RMB 69.7388 million, up 58.72%.

However, behind the high growth, the real incremental source is not the core business. In Q1, investment income reached RMB 41.25 million, an increase of nearly RMB 30 million year-on-year. In other words, without this investment income, the profit growth would not be as impressive. Galaxy Securities also noted that investment income was the main reason for the net profit growth rate significantly exceeding revenue growth.

Investment income boosts the book growth, but masks the downward pressure on the core business.

From 2023 to 2025, Rongtai's massage chair sales volume decreased from 268,000 to 239,000 units, with corresponding revenue falling from RMB 1.766 billion to RMB 1.497 billion. The company's best year was 2018, with revenue of RMB 2.3 billion and net profit of RMB 250 million—and it has not been able to surpass that level since.

The decline in sales is not unique to Rongtai but reflects the structural difficulties of the entire industry.

The massage chair business has a natural weakness: it is a large-ticket optional durable good, often costing over RMB 10,000, not a necessity. Consumers buy only when they have extra cash, so sales rise with economic prosperity and are the first to be cut when the economy slows. In recent years, consumer spending has been cautious, and the downturn in real estate has suppressed demand for new home furnishings. It is difficult to expect a significant recovery in the massage chair market in the short term.

The industry landscape has also changed. In the first half of 2024, over 100 companies entered the online massage chair market, with nearly 400 sales stores. Cost-effective brands gained more traction on e-commerce platforms, and top brands are increasing spending on paid and content channels. For mid-to-high-end brands like Rongtai, competition is only becoming more intense.

Currently, Rongtai Health's core business growth has peaked, and the strategic shift to LP investment is not a temporary passive choice. So, who founded this A-share massage chair leader? Why has the founder repeatedly taken unconventional paths?

From a Wenzhou workshop to an A-share massage chair leader

In 1997, 52-year-old Lin Guangrong rented a 90-square-meter workshop on Guihu Road in Wenzhou, with 7 employees, starting a small OEM workshop for furniture and health products.

The early days were tough. Unable to afford booth fees, he placed his products in the corner of other exhibitors' booths, discreetly handing out business cards to interested parties. For strong leads, he even gave away products for free to let them experience them.

Lin believed that only by treating people with integrity could one make true friends. The market gradually opened up through his persistence.

Just one year later, Lin rented a 500-square-meter factory.

In 2002, Lin Guangrong and his son Lin Qi established Shanghai Rongtai Health Technology Co., Ltd. in Shanghai, moving the company from Wenzhou to Zhujiajiao, Shanghai.

Moving from a small city to the big market of Shanghai changed not only the location but also the vision and resources.

In 2004, Lin Qi first explicitly set the goal of becoming "China's **** brand". When the 2008 financial crisis hit, many peers in the export-oriented massage appliance industry were under pressure, with reduced orders and underutilized capacity. Lin Qi, however, spent heavily to hire actor Lv Liangwei as brand endorser and ran prime-time ads on CCTV.

This approach quickly paid off: in 2009, Rongtai's domestic sales surged 49%, and large retailers like Carrefour and RT-Mart came knocking.

In January 2017, Rongtai Health listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, becoming the "first massage chair stock" on the A-share market. Around the time of the listing, Lin Qi made another bet on shared massage chairs. Rongtai had experimented with them as early as 2012, but technology was immature, requiring coin operation, with issues like coin jams and settlement problems. It was not until the end of 2015, when QR code payments and IoT technology matured, that Lin Qi officially launched the shared massage brand "Modong", rolling it out in cinemas, malls, and airports nationwide. By the first half of 2017, Modong had deployed over 27,000 units across more than 4,000 locations, generating a record revenue of RMB 366 million the following year.

After that, Rongtai also experimented with VR massage chairs, collaborated with Baofeng Mojing and iFlytek, joined the Xiaomi ecosystem, invited Wang Yibo as brand ambassador, and bought Bored Ape NFTs to enter Web3.0. Lin Qi once said: "For a company to survive long-term, it must keep innovating, disrupting or incubating new projects."

But by around 2020, relying solely on massage chairs for growth became increasingly difficult. With ample cash but no high-growth new stories in the core business, Lin Qi turned his focus from product innovation to capital operations. Rongtai began to transform from a pure massage chair manufacturer into an industrial LP.

References:

"Rongtai Health sets up 250M industrial fund, 'manufacturing + investment' dual drive", China Financial Information Center;

"A-share massage chair leader becomes LP", Rongzhong Finance;

"Rongtai Health: proposes 250M investment with private fund and related party transaction", Daily Economic News;

"Announcement on cooperative investment with private equity fund and related party transaction", Shanghai Securities News;

"Shanghai manufacturing 40 years: how this Shanghai company confidently invites the world to sit down", People's Daily Online Shanghai;

"Diversified strategy and brand upgrade put Rongtai Health in a valuation recovery cycle", Securities Star.