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Author: Wei Wen

Editor: Yuan Silai

Hard Krypton learned that Jiuzhi Technology recently completed an angel+ round of financing of tens of millions of RMB. Investors include Professor Gao Bingqiang and his Brizan Ventures II Fund and Future Technology Fund, Professor Li Zexiang's Clearwater Bay Fund and HKX Fund, and Professor Gan Jie's Virtu International Limited. This round of financing will be used for R&D, market and team expansion.

Jiuzhi Technology was founded in July 2021 by Professor Wang Guoxing, a distinguished professor and Yangtze River Scholar at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and Dr. Wu Hao, an artificial intelligence expert. It has independent intellectual property rights in core technologies such as low-power biological signal acquisition systems, bioinformation sensors, and artificial intelligence algorithms.

2023 is the year when sales of smart rings exploded. Jiuzhi Technology launched the RingConn brand to compete with the Finnish brand Oura Ring, and has become the top 2 manufacturer in the smart ring segment. Dr. Wu Hao, co-founder and CEO of Jiuzhi Technology, told Hard Krypton that 2023 is the first year that RingConn enters the market.One year after its launch, Jiuzhi Technology already has 40,000 users worldwide, and is expected to achieve tens of thousands of yuan in revenue in 2023 through a single channel, the DTC brand independent station.

RingConn Smart Ring

RingConn Smart Ring

Health and sleep detection functions are the core technologies of RingConn.Based on the research results of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, the Jiuzhi team has commercialized the ring, and the internal circuits, algorithms and interactive systems of the ring are all self-developed. At present, RingConn's new product RingConn Gen 2 has the functions of monitoring sleep apnea syndrome (OSA), pressure, blood oxygen, and cycling, running, swimming and other sports monitoring. After the functions are increased, the battery life of RingConn Gen 2 is increased to 10-12 days compared with the first generation of products, and the weight and thinness are reduced accordingly, weighing only about 2 grams. Thanks to the self-developed low-power technology, the average battery life of RingConn Gen 2 is 10-12 days, which exceeds other smart rings on the market.

Recently, the new product RingConn Gen 2 has been launched on the Kickstarter overseas crowdfunding platform. The smart ring, priced at US$209 per unit, sold US$1 million in 8 hours. As of press time, it has already raised US$2 million, breaking the crowdfunding speed record of the platform in recent years.

(RingConn Gen 2 crowdfunding exceeded 1 million US dollars within 8 hours of its launch)

Among RingConn's 40,000 users, 70% are American users aged 35-55. Wu Hao explained to Hard Krypton that this age group of users is very concerned about their health and has a demand for daily body monitoring and health management. The motivation and demand for purchasing RingConn Gen 2 is mainly for OSA sleep apnea syndrome monitoring. Wearing RingConn Gen 2 can achieve early monitoring and early warning of OSA.

It is reported that 25% of snoring people have OSA symptoms, which can develop into diseases such as hypertension and memory loss. In terms of OSA monitoring, Jiuzhi has cooperated with well-known medical and scientific research institutions at home and abroad, such as Ruijin Hospital and Sun Yat-sen University, to achieve medical-grade accuracy and is applying for US FDA certification.

(RingConn Gen 2 launches sleep apnea screening function)

As smart ring products gradually mature, leading consumer electronics manufacturers will flock to them. Jiuzhi Technology believes that start-ups need to find their own niche track. Smart rings play a greater role in health and sleep monitoring. Therefore, in terms of product matrix, in addition to iterating basic smart rings, Jiuzhi's product matrix will focus on home consumer-grade medical testing. For serious health (sub-health), blood pressure testing and auxiliary medical care for the B-end market will also be provided in the future.

Previously, Jiuzhi did not choose to ship in large quantities through all channels. In order to ensure mass production, good quality and exchange rate, it sold through a single channel of independent stations. In the first half of this year, based on the polishing and maturity of products and supply chains, Jiuzhi began to lay out omni-channel marketing in overseas markets, and has entered Amazon's 10 national sites and laid out offline channels. At the same time, Jiuzhi will enter the domestic market in September this year.