Source: Yema Finance
"Hermès in the confinement center" is going to be launched.
Author | Liu Qinwen
Editor | Gao Yan
Source | Yema Finance
As the saying goes, "If the confinement is done well, all the minor illnesses will be gone, and the major illnesses will be half gone."
Confinement, as a custom with unique Chinese characteristics, is now also Go overseas successfully. Santa Bella , which specializes in high-end postpartum care and restoration, has not only opened confinement centers in Singapore and the United States, but also launched a sprint into the capital market. recently submitted a "Prospectus" to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Picture source: Can Gallery
As a high-end confinement center, the price of a confinement session ranges from 100,000 yuan to one million yuan. Not only has it received female artists such as Qi Wei and Gina to stay in , but it also has financial resources. It has received support from well-known investment institutions such as Tencent, Gaorong Capital, China Life, and Swire Properties. For this reason, Saint Bella is known as the “Hermès of confinement centers”.
But the earning power of Saint Bella is far from that of Hermès. just turned a profit in 2023, , with a profit of 20.77 million yuan. In addition, he was also punished for false propaganda, practicing medicine without a license, unfair competition and other reasons. Under the seemingly glamorous surface, what kind of capital story is floating around the Santa Bella IPO?
One confinement period costs millions,
Turn losses into profits in 2023
Confinement period is a custom in China since ancient times. It refers to a period of confinement and recuperation after the mother gives birth. In the past, pregnant women mainly had confinement at home, and some pregnant women would hire confinement nannies to provide postpartum care services.
However, as young people’s consumption habits change, they begin to prefer strong and well-known home care service agencies, hoping to enjoy highly specialized and customized services provided by professionals equipped by relevant agencies. In 1999, the first confinement center in Taiwan was established. In 2017, the high-end confinement care center Santa Bella was officially established with the direction of art therapy.
At present, the Santa Bella Group has three major brands: Santa Bella, Bella Isla and Little Bella, and has 59 high-end confinement centers , including 47 self-owned centers (that is, wholly owned or controlled centers) and 12 Home-managed centers (i.e. centers that are wholly owned or controlled by a third party and managed by Santa Bella). The first self-owned overseas center will be opened in Singapore in October 2023, and the first managed overseas center will be opened in the greater Los Angeles area of the United States in May 2024.
Santa Bella operates three main business lines, namely confinement centers (including postpartum care services and postpartum recovery services), home care services and women's health functional foods.
's "Prospectus" shows that the package prices of the three major brands of Santa Bella, Bella Isla and Little Bella are 68,000 yuan, 98,800 yuan and 168,800 yuan respectively for a 28-day stay at the confinement center in Santa Bella. Among them, the average contract value per room per night for Santa Bella postpartum care services rose from 6,726 yuan in 2021 to 6,887 yuan in 2023.
Source: "Prospectus"
RMB 168,000 is just the basic price of the Santa Bella package. If you want to stay longer and enjoy more services, you need to pay a higher fee. According to the official website, the "Queen's Package" of Santa Bella Xiamen Qishang Branch offers four bedrooms, two living rooms, four bathrooms and two courtyards totaling 320m², and the price for a stay of 56 days is 968,800 yuan. Capella Singapore's "Queen B Package", a stay in a 524m² single-family manor villa, costs 328,800 Singapore dollars for 56 days, which is equivalent to RMB 1.79 million.
Source: Saint Bella’s official website
Qi Wei, Gina, Tang Yixin, Medina, Li Ai and other star artists are all customers of Saint Bella. Medina said, “During Saint Bella’s confinement period, I This is the first time I know that confinement can be so comfortable. The whole experience is very good. The staff are very professional and considerate. They also taught me a lot about parenting.”
Source: Saint Bella’s official website
In addition. , as part of its postpartum recovery services, Santa Bella also sells s-bra brand underwear, mainly customized functional underwear products and postpartum shaping jumpsuits. The price of each underwear product ranges from 2,680 yuan to 23,800 yuan. In May 2022, Santa Bella acquired the brand.
During the reporting period, Santa Bella’s revenue achieved rapid growth. From 2021 to 2023, Santa Bella will achieve revenue of 259 million yuan, 472 million yuan and 560 million yuan respectively.
However, in terms of net profit, the performance was somewhat unsatisfactory. From 2021 to 2023, Santa Bella's losses during the year were 122 million yuan, 412 million yuan and 239 million yuan respectively, with a cumulative loss of 773 million yuan in three years. After adjustment, will turn losses into profits in 2023, which are -29.868 million yuan, -44.628 million yuan, and 20.772 million yuan respectively.
ranks first in the market, and "mutually hurts" its peers. Behind the rapid growth of
Santa Bella's revenue, according to the Frost & Sullivan report, based on the revenue generated by ultra-high-end confinement centers in 2023, Santa Bella is The largest postpartum care and recovery group.
Source: "Prospectus"
However, in the market competition, Santa Bella has also engaged in unfair competition with its peers in "slandering" each other's business. The
Judgment Document Network shows that in 2017, Weige Investment Company, a high-end confinement center brand, signed a franchise contract with Nanjing Weixige Housekeeping Service Co., Ltd., and both parties opened Weige Mobei Confinement Center in Nanjing in the form of a franchise. center. In 2020, because Mobella Company failed to pay the brand management fee for the next year, Weige Company decided to terminate the "2017 Brand Franchise Agreement".
Picture source: Judgment Document Network
After Weige Company and Mobella Company terminated the franchise contract, Beacon Company (Santa Bella Operating Company) acquired the assets of Mobella Company and changed its name to "Baby Bella Maternity and Infant Care Center" (Nanjing Jumeirah Store)" will continue to operate.
After the acquisition by Beikang Company, on January 1, 2021, the "babybella Maternal and Infant Care Center" (later renamed "babybella Little Bella Maternal and Infant Care Center") WeChat public account released "babybella acquires Nanjing Weige" Mobei, "Reborn" defines New Moon" to promote the article.
The article stated, "In December 2020, Beikang Group successfully completed the asset acquisition of the original Weige Nanjing franchise store-Nanjing Mobella Maternity and Infant Care Co., Ltd. " "We chose Mobei Confinement center because it has the highest price among the many confinement centers in Nanjing. Due to the continuation of the franchise form, cannot achieve iterative updates of concepts and services, so it fails to reflect equality during the operation process. ”
Weige believes that Beikang Company uses expressions such as “name change” and “brand upgrade” to try to make consumers think that the Jumeirah store under the name of Nanjing Mobella is the same group before and after the name change. Management and operations only changed the name of the store, and they tried to convey that the service and brand after the name change are better than before the name change. It is an unfair competition behavior that devalues Weige's brand and damages Weige's reputation.
The court ruled that could easily lead consumers to mistakenly believe that part of the business of Weige Company was acquired by Beikang Company, which would lead to the mistaken impression that Beikang Company's operating conditions or brand strength were stronger than that of Weige Company. constitutes false propaganda.
In addition, when Beikang Company acquired Mobella Company, it also acquired the Dianping account opened by Mobella Company for Weige Mobella Confinement Center. After the acquisition, the evaluations of consumers during the cooperation between Weige Company and Mobella Company before October 2020 were still retained.
On January 18, 2021, the account said in reply to a consumer message: "Dear Mom, Nanjing Weige Mobei has been acquired by our babybella due to poor management ." After a court ruling,
stated in its public reply to consumers that Weige Mobei Confinement Center was acquired due to poor management, and was an act of fabricating and disseminating false information to damage the business reputation of Weige Company, which constituted commercial defamation.
In June 2023, following the final judgment of the second instance of the court, Beikang Company issued a statement that would last for at least ten days on the WeChat public account of the "Santa Bella Maternal and Infant Care Center" and the non-center seam position of the "China Market Supervision News" , in order to eliminate the adverse effects; and compensated Weige Company for economic losses of 500,000 yuan.
However, Santa Bella never issued a statement. It was not until late at night on July 7, 2024, 12 days after submitting the prospectus, that it issued a statement to clarify. The statement has now been deleted.
Picture source: Xiaohongshu
In addition, the two confinement centers also exchanged words on social platforms and issued statements.
On July 16, Weige Postnatal Center issued a statement on social media stating that Weige sued Santa Bella for unfair competition, false publicity, and commercial defamation. Weige won the case and won the case first. !
Source: Xiaohongshu
In addition, Weige also posted a consumption restriction order issued by the People's Court of Chaoyang District, Beijing. The consumption restriction order shows that Beikang Company failed to perform the performance within the period specified in the execution notice. In accordance with the payment obligations determined by legal documents, has taken consumption restriction measures against Beikang Company and its legal representative, Xiang Hua.
However, the consumption restriction order cannot be found on public channels. Generally, it may be because the information has not been updated or entered, or the decision of to restrict high consumption has been lifted or changed.
Picture source: Xiaohongshu
Shengbella also fought back against Weige . On July 13, Shengbella said on social platforms, " Shengbella won the case against Weige for unfair competition disputes. ! The court’s judgment on April 11, 2023 has come into effect. The judgment found that Weige had constituted commercial defamation of Hangzhou Beikang Health Technology Group Co., Ltd. (“Santa Bella”) and found that Weige had made multiple false claims.”
Picture source: Xiaohongshu
According to the judgment published by Santa Bella, Weige must be registered on the WeChat public account named "Nanjing Weige Confinement Center" and in the non-center position of the "China Market Supervision News" , issued a statement that will last for at least ten days to eliminate the adverse effects caused by the unfair competition involved in the case, and compensate for economic losses of 100,000 yuan.
However, the verdict published by Santa Bella cannot be found in public channels, and there is no way to know the specific false propaganda and commercial defamation behavior of Weige.
Source: Xiaohongshu
According to the pictures posted by Santa Bella, On July 14, Weige issued a statement admitting commercial defamation. So far, it has also been deleted.
Picture source: Xiaohongshu
Public information shows that Weige is also a high-end confinement center, established in 2006. In the early days of its business, it introduced a full set of technology and a full set of management models from Taiwan, China, and its headquarters was established in Beijing. As of 2023, Weige The number of Ge service users exceeds "10,000+" high-net-worth families. According to statistics from Xiaohongshu bloggers, the average price of Weige Confinement Center in Beijing is around 210,000. Yao Chen once stayed here.
Picture source: Xiaohongshu
The same as Santa Bella, the number of Weige stores also follows the route of being refined but small. The official website of shows that Weige has 30+ branches in cities such as "Beijing, Shenzhen, Shanghai..." across the country.
"Since high-end confinement centers emphasize customization and specialization, they are not suitable for the expansion model through simple mergers and reorganizations. Usually leading companies gain market share through regional competitive advantages. hopes to use standardized It is difficult to operate a high-end confinement center in this way, so how to integrate the original enterprises after the merger is a difficult task in this industry," said Qu Fang, an investment consultant at Wanlian Securities.
spent 53.81 million on advertising a year, and
was fined for false publicity.
Santa Bella’s false publicity behavior did not only occur in competition with peers. On April 22, 2022, the Hangzhou Xiaoshan District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau fined Beikang The company issued an "Administrative Penalty Decision".
The decision letter states that Beikang Company has used "the first art therapy maternal and infant care center in China and the only research center for Chinese women's confinement established with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology" on the brand's official website since the end of 2020. "Infant Professional Nursing College-Bacon Nursing College" description, but Beacon Company failed to submit evidence to prove the authenticity of the above wording.
Accordingly, the Hangzhou Xiaoshan District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau determined that Beikang Company’s advertisement contained false propaganda content and fined Beikang Company 10,500 yuan. After
was punished many times for false advertising, online marketing channels are becoming one of the main channels for Santa Bella to acquire customers.
The "Prospectus" shows that in 2023, about 36% of Santa Bella's 2,820 first-time postpartum care service customers were recommended by existing customers or acquired through Santa Bella's own online channels (including websites and mini programs) .
To this end, Santa Bella spends tens of millions of dollars on advertising every year. The "Prospectus" shows that from 2021 to 2023, Santa Bella's advertising expenditures will grow rapidly. will be 14.457 million yuan, 32.015 million yuan and 53.814 million yuan respectively, accounting for 44.3%, 54.5% and 66% of sales and distribution expenses. %.
Picture source: "Prospectus"
The effect of spending money on Santa Bella is remarkable. According to Frost & Sullivan, , in 2023, Santa Bella became the most searched confinement center brand on Xiaohongshu.
"Our advertising expenses mainly include expenses for online marketing and promotion of content. We cooperate with the Xiaohongshu platform to promote our services. Based on content creation and publishing video blogs featuring our confinement center and cooperation with us Marketing activities. We will also promote our services and products on shopping information and e-commerce platforms,” said Santa Bella.
Investment banking elites and Tencent and Gaorong Capital,
share the capital feast
Behind the high-end confinement center Saint Bella, there is a powerful alliance between a male investment banking elite and a media goddess. The "Prospectus" of
shows that the founder of Huawei Santa Bella, Lin Wanyi is the co-founder. They both studied in the UK. As of now, the two hold 42.49% and 11.89% of the shares respectively. To Huawei’s controlling shareholder.
Xiang Hua graduated from Oxford University in 2010. After graduation, he joined , UBS Hong Kong Branch, as deputy director of the Asian M&A and Corporate Finance Department, participating in M&A, equity and debt capital market transactions; in 2015, he was transferred to the Asian Healthcare Group as Director, focusing on financing and mergers and acquisitions in healthcare services, medical devices and pharmaceuticals, and has participated in projects worth more than US$10 billion.
According to "Times Weekly" report, Xiang Hua was only 30 years old when he resigned, but he had already taken the position of director of the health group, with an annual salary of millions of yuan.
Lin Wanyi received a bachelor's degree in music from Wuhan Conservatory of Music in China in 2009 and a master's degree in mass communication from the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom in January 2013. After graduation, he served as the public relations director of the marketing department of "Fashionable Bride" magazine. In April 2014, he became the co-founder of the online wedding platform Wedding Ji and served as the brand vice president of the brand and public relations department.
In 2017, Xiang Hua resigned from UBS Hong Kong Branch and co-founded Santa Bella with Lin Wanyi.
In 2022, Xiang Hua also participated in the Mango Channel variety show "100 Rays of Light" as a "Light Assistant", sharing the stage with He Jiong, Yang Zi, and Huang Shengyi. In 2023, we participated in the new tide new wave brand conference.
Picture source: Xianghua Weibo
In the comment area of Xianghua’s Weibo, many netizens directly called “very handsome” and “can he go work?”
Picture source: Xiang Hua Xiaohongshu
Not only is he handsome, Xiang Hua is also very ambitious in business operations. In an interview with fashion magazine Tatler, Xiang Hua said, "We were building the concept of a brand group from the beginning, and wanted to be lvmh in the nursing industry."
In August 2024, Xiang Hua was selected into the "Fortune" 2024 The annual "China's 40 Business Elites Under 40 Years Old" were also selected at the same time as Kimi's founder and CEO Yang Zhilin, MiHoYo co-founder, president and chairman Liu Wei, Wangwang Group CEO Manager Cai Wangting and others.
Xianghua’s previous experience in the investment field, coupled with the high-end confinement center concept of Saint Bella, also made Saint Bella popular among investors in the market.
Qichacha shows that Santa Bella has received 10 rounds of financing in the 7 years since its establishment. In 2018, the year after its establishment, it received 15 million yuan in financing from Tangzhu Capital and Gaorong Capital; in 2020, it was also favored by Sun Hung Kai, and the company’s valuation Reaching US$100 million; will receive RMB 200 million investment from Tencent Investment and Gaorong Capital in 2021.
In addition, China Life, Swire Properties Innovation Fund, and Mirae Asset Group of Korea are among the investors in San Bella.
Source: Qichacha
The "Prospectus" shows that as of now, Tencent holds 11.61% of the shares in Santa Bella, Gaorong Capital holds 8.26%, and Ningbo Tangzhu holds 6.61%.
Picture source: "Prospectus"
Have you ever known about high-end confinement centers? What do you think of the story of Santa Bella and Xiang Hua? Welcome to leave a message below for discussion.
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