Zhao Lusi-Endorsed Efficacy Skincare Brand Secures New Investment

Leading domestic enterprises have made another strategic move.

Another leading domestic enterprise has taken a new strategic step

Just two months after consolidating the financial statements of Huazhizhi, Proya has further expanded its multi-brand territory, targeting a cutting-edge efficacious skincare brand this time

Yesterday (September 16), Proya (Hainan) Investment Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Proya Hainan”) officially became the second largest shareholder of Shanghai Kedai Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Kedai Biotechnology”), the parent company of Peterson’s La, with a current shareholding ratio of 19%

Source: Screenshot from Qichacha

It is worth mentioning that this transaction is quite similar to Proya’s previous investment in Huazhizhi. Similarly, taking a small equity stake in Peterson’s La first is more like a lightweight trial. By linking with leading cutting-edge brands in segmented tracks through equity, Proya broadens the group’s capability boundary without damaging the original vitality of the brand

Why Peterson’s La?

According to the information from Qichacha, this share acquisition by Proya Hainan is carried out in the form of equity transfer. Its original shareholders, Tianjin Yiyan Enterprise Management Consulting Partnership (Limited Partnership), Shanghai Yiyang Enterprise Management Consulting Partnership (Limited Partnership), and Shanghai Xingxu Management Consulting Co., Ltd., all exited the shareholder list in this transaction.

Source: Screenshot from Qichacha

Judging from the background of Kedai Biotechnology itself, Proya’s favor for this move may be related to the differentiated background of itself and Peterson’s La

Public information shows that [1], Kedai Biotechnology and Peterson’s La were established at the end of 2016, and its founder Sino Shi has a very rich personal experience

He obtained his bachelor’s degree from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and later earned a master’s degree in electrical engineering from The Ohio State University in the United States. After returning to China, Sino Shi interned at Qiming Venture Partners, and joined China Growth Capital in 2014, focusing on early-stage investments in the O2O, software and hardware sectors

Sino Shi, founder of Peterson’s La

From radio frequency chip engineer to VC investor, and then to skincare brand founder, Sino Shi’s cross-border path itself has a rationalist underlying tone

For this reason, the brand’s positioning has been directed at cutting-edge laboratory dermatological science from the very beginning, and was named “Peterson’s Lab”, with the core concept that “formulators should be generals, not soldiers”

Sino Shi once stated in an interview that he himself once had damaged skin due to improper acid peeling and became sensitive skin. This experience made him deeply realize that barrier repair is more critical than “strong-acting ingredients”, which also formed the starting point of Peterson’s La’s product logic [2]

This “formula mechanism philosophy” has made Peterson’s La form differentiated recognition in the efficacious skincare track. For example, the brand’s core product line revolves around oily acne-prone skin and barrier repair: the Five-Ring Essence targets five targets of oily acne-prone skin, including oil control, keratin metabolism, anti-inflammation, anti-oxidation, and flora balance, while the Thick-Skinned Cream focuses on barrier repair.

At present, Peterson’s La’s product line covers multiple categories such as essences, eye creams, facial cleansers and face creams, mainly including the repair series centered on the “Five-Ring Essence”, the oil-control and anti-acne series featuring salicylic acid, and anti-aging products such as the “Morning C & Evening A Eye Cream”, with prices ranging from 25.5 to 374 yuan (note: referring to the preferential prices on Tmall flagship store). Among these products, the Thick-Skinned Toner has monthly sales of more than 300,000 units on Tmall, ranking second in the toner repurchase list.

Source: Screenshot from Peterson’s La Tmall flagship store

At the same time, third-party data shows that from January to June 2026, Peterson’s La’s lip care products ranked first in the online lip care segment

More notably, Peterson’s La has also launched the MED line. This series focuses on rosacea, atopic dermatitis and seborrheic dermatitis, with pharmacy channels and doctor endorsement as its core strategy, which has helped it build technical barriers in the efficacious skincare track

In addition, founder IP is another key word for Peterson’s La’s rising popularity in recent years. In June 2024, Sino Shi posted on his personal Xiaohongshu account to talk about his entrepreneurial experience, review failed products, and reveal R&D details. Through the “confession-style” narrative videos, he has accumulated a group of user mindsets for the brand. At present, Sino Shi’s personal accounts on Douyin and Xiaohongshu have accumulated tens of thousands of followers.

Source: Screenshot from Xiaohongshu and Douyin

At the same time, Peterson’s La also leverages celebrity endorsements to boost relatively weak categories. In May 2025, the brand signed Leo Wu as the global spokesperson for Peterson’s La face masks. Then in July 2026, Peterson’s La officially announced Zhao Lusi as the global spokesperson for facial cleansers, driving the brand’s overall online buzz to surge 1208% month-on-month [3]

Source: Peterson’s La official Weibo account

At present, Peterson’s La has achieved impressive online growth. In addition to the Tmall performance mentioned earlier, Douyin is another important

Data from Zhishu Digital shows that from January to August this year, Peterson’s La’s GMV on Douyin continued to grow, with monthly GMV ranging from 50 million yuan to 100 million yuan, and the monthly growth rate maintained double-digit or triple-digit levels. Especially in the anti-acne and oily acne-prone skin segmented tracks, this volume and growth rate are quite competitive

In short, what Proya values in choosing Peterson’s La is exactly its differentiated positioning of “formula mechanism school”, the product barriers in the barrier repair and oily acne-prone skin tracks, and the scarce brand value jointly formed by founder IP and high online growth

Three layers of Proya’s investment logic

It also needs to be noted that Proya’s equity participation in Peterson’s La this time needs to be interpreted in a larger strategic framework

In June this year, Proya Chairman Hou Juncheng clearly stated at the 2025 annual general meeting that the “Double Ten Strategy” should be realized, which is to rank among the top ten global cosmetics companies in the next ten years. He emphasized that relying solely on self-owned brands is far from enough, and it is necessary to leverage capital strength to carry out overseas mergers, acquisitions and cooperation [4].

In fact, this is a further plan for Proya’s revenue target of “50 billion yuan in 10 years” proposed at the 2024 annual general meeting

At that time, Proya stated that its self-owned brands are expected to contribute only about 35 billion yuan in the next ten years, and the remaining revenue gap of about 15 billion yuan will be mainly filled through mergers and acquisitions and other methods [5]

In this regard, Hou Juncheng revealed to the public: “China has the market dividend of 1.4 billion people. We can acquire overseas brands at a reasonable price and then use the Chinese market to expand them.” [4]

However, the sense of urgency comes from the pressure of fundamentals. The 2026 H1 financial report shows that in addition to the pressure on revenue, the simultaneous slowdown of its two core brands, Proya main brand and Chicmax, has turned “supplementing fresh blood” from a strategic option into a practical necessity

Against this background, Proya established its wholly-owned investment platform Proya Hainan in July 2025

With the advancement of the extension M&A strategy, Proya Hainan uniformly undertakes capital operations such as brand mergers and acquisitions, equity participation in upstream raw material enterprises, and industrial fund contribution, and promotes the construction of a multi-brand platform

As of press time, Proya has invested in Huazhizhi, Peterson’s La, Huaguan Biotechnology, and Vichy Technology. Among them, the former achieved controlling stake and consolidated financial statements through “investment + M&A”, while the latter three are all industrial equity participations

Looking through the above capital operations, Proya’s current investment territory presents three major characteristics:

First, controlling stake to grasp overall incremental growth, represented by Huazhizhi. It made its first strategic investment in 2024, completed the controlling stake in June 2026 with a 51% shareholding, with a total contribution of 779 million yuan, and included it in the consolidated statements. The financial report shows that Huazhizhi’s revenue and net profit maintained a growth rate of more than 50% from 2023 to 2025, with particularly outstanding performance in overseas markets, and its overseas revenue reached 200 million yuan last year.

Second, equity participation to tap segmented potential, and Peterson’s La is a typical example. Proya’s small shareholding means that it can link with a cutting-edge target with strong product power and good user reputation in the efficacious skincare track without taking full responsibility for brand operation

The underlying logic behind this is: establish connections through equity, retain the operational autonomy of the founding team, and reserve the possibility of category expansion for the group at the same time

Third, direct investment to consolidate the upstream supply chain, represented by Huaguan Biotechnology and Vichy Technology. This move points to long-term product differentiation and supply chain security

The above investment situation is also in line with Proya’s strategic layout. As Proya General Manager Hou Yameng publicly stated: “Whether it is M&A or internal incubation, brands have independent operation space, and the company mainly provides support in supply chain, finance and other aspects.”

From the perspective of the “Double Ten Strategy”, the 15 billion yuan M&A gap requires more brands of the size of Huazhizhi. Although the current scale of Peterson’s La is not enough to take on this role, it represents another kind of value: establishing a product-power-supported outpost in segmented scenarios such as anti-acne and barrier repair that Proya’s main brand has not covered deeply enough.

Taking equity participation instead of controlling stake is not only prudence, but also trial and error. At the moment when M&A integration in the beauty industry is accelerating, the 19% equity stake Proya bought is not only the future possibility of a brand, but also a ticket to enter the segmented efficacious skincare track

Information

[1] The personal background information of Sino Shi, founder of Kedai Biotechnology and Peterson’s La, is referenced from the website of Investors;

[2] From the Xiaozhou podcast “Becoming”, in the April episode this year “PETERSON’S LAB: Precision and Effectiveness Is the Antonym of Universal Popularity”, Sino Shi’s personal account;

[3] This data is cited from User Says;

[4] Cited from National Business Daily, June 18, 2026, “Live at the Shareholders’ Meeting: Frequently Questioned for ‘Heavy Marketing and Light R&D’? Proya Chairman Hou Juncheng: Relying Solely on Self-owned Brands Cannot Make It to the Top Ten Global Cosmetics Companies in Ten Years”;

[5] Cited from CLS, reposted by Eastmoney.com, May 20, 2025, “Disassembling How to Realize the 50 Billion Yuan 10-Year Revenue Vision, Leading Beauty Company Proya Says ‘M&A Has Not