The New Cross-Disciplinary Investment Species Are Here — AI + Fitness, Pets + Stem Cells, AR + Everything... | FreeS Family Funding News · Vol 12

峰瑞资本峰瑞资本·October 10, 2022

Looking forward to working alongside more outstanding founders.

"FreeS Family Funding News" is a regular column featuring funding announcements from FreeS Fund's portfolio companies. It covers both new investments and follow-on rounds for previously backed companies. Together, we witness each step of innovation — from 0 to 1, 1 to 10, and 10 to 100.

This Issue at a Glance:

  • Tech + Consumer crossover: BodyPark (hereinafter referred to as BodyPark) raised several million dollars in Pre-A funding led by FreeS Fund; DeepLight Technology, a FreeS Fund angel-round project, completed tens of millions of RMB in Pre-A funding with continued investment from FreeS Fund.
  • Healthcare + Consumer crossover: Mitoken Biotech raised tens of millions of RMB in angel funding, with FreeS Fund as the sole investor.

(Funding information in this roundup is limited to publicly disclosed deals from August and September, sorted alphabetically by company name.)

Reader Perk: BodyPark is offering an exclusive deal for FreeS Fund readers. Click the mini-program below to purchase a RMB 137 value package for just RMB 0.9 (includes 1 beginner experience class and 1 fitness assessment report, valid until November 10). Experience professional fitness courses at home — let's get moving~**

BodyPark announced the completion of its Pre-A funding round, led by FreeS Fund with Picus Capital as co-investor, raising several million dollars.**

**/ What the Investors Say / **

Fitness and wellness represent the direction of consumption upgrade in this cycle. The pandemic has not only accelerated this awakening of consumer awareness but also made staying at home part of consumption habits. As China's fitness industry grows rapidly, it faces a supply-demand mismatch in fitness services. BodyPark has seized the opportunity at the intersection of these trends and contradictions, using cutting-edge AI technology to provide a win-win innovative solution for young Chinese consumers who are highly digitalized and receptive to new consumption formats.

This innovative solution allows fitness coaches to guide users more efficiently through technology and remote services, while giving consumers the flexibility to choose when and where to exercise — making fitness simpler and more convenient. This compelling innovation model better integrates many emerging trends and aligns with the current Chinese market characteristic of combining "consumption + technology innovation."

Welcome to click and watch the video to explore BodyPark together **/ Company Details / **

Founded at the end of 2020, BodyPark built an "AI + Live Coach" online personal training platform through self-developed technology and courses. The AI motion recognition engine for vertical fitness scenarios demands much higher performance than general-purpose human motion capture engines, and BodyPark has gradually established its own technical advantages. BodyPark currently achieves full-body tracking of 27 main skeletal keypoints and over 140 body key nodes using just a smartphone camera and WeChat mini-program — including lumbar spine tracking that is unique even internationally. Through two-way interaction between coaches and students plus AI monitoring, training essentials can be more effectively mastered, preventing injuries from incorrect form, while students and coaches can build relatively close relationships. Additionally, through digitized courses, live coaches can relatively easily provide one-to-many guidance during classes. (See full coverage from Lanxiong Sports: "AI + Live Coach" Online Personal Training Platform BodyPark Raises Several Million Dollars | Chuangye Xiong)

Mitoken Biotech announced the completion of its tens of millions of RMB angel funding round, with FreeS Fund as the sole investor.

**/ What the Investors Say / **

The pet sector has continued to develop rapidly in recent years. Growth in pet numbers, increased consumer willingness to pay, and extended consumption cycles have provided fertile ground for domestic premium pet brands and improved growth efficiency in the pet industry. In the pet healthcare direction, in approximately five years, many pets today will face aging issues, and consumer demand for anti-aging products for pets will rise. Regenerative medicine therapies including stem cell treatment are important and even necessary means to meet this demand — a blue ocean field worth exploring.

Mitoken Biotech is a newcomer in pet stem cell pharmaceuticals, but its founding team has deep accumulation in animal cell technology and human stem cell drug R&D. In its early development stage, it has adopted rigorous cell drug development approaches and achieved therapeutic validation data in disease models in a short period. FreeS Fund focuses on frontier disciplines and crossovers between different sectors. We are optimistic about Mitoken Biotech's acumen and expansion capabilities at the frontier of stem cells, and will continue to support the company's exploration at the intersection of pet healthcare and consumer sectors.

**/ Company Details / **

Mitoken Biotech is a biopharmaceutical company focused on pets, currently concentrating on cell drug development for common diseases in elderly pets that currently lack effective treatments, aiming to improve quality of life for aging pets and enhance pet owners' well-being. Founded at the end of 2021, the company's founder and CEO Dr. Ren Yu graduated from the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Zoology with a major in developmental biology. Founding team members come from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tsinghua University, and China Agricultural University, with overseas research experience, stem cell pharmaceutical industry experience, and serial entrepreneurship backgrounds. The company is currently R&D-focused, with team size continuing to expand. Mitoken Biotech's main cell drug under development — mesenchymal stem cells, or mesenchymal stromal cells — has extensive research and clinical reports on safety and efficacy regarding immunomodulation, anti-inflammation, promotion of neurovascular regeneration, protection of damaged cells, and tissue repair. (See full coverage from Artery Network: Exclusive | Mitoken Biotech Raises Tens of Millions in Funding to Develop Cell Drugs for Elderly Pets)

DeepLight Technology completed tens of millions of RMB in Pre-A funding, led by Guotai Venture Capital with continued investment from existing shareholder FreeS Fund.

**/ What the Investors Say / **

Feng Chong is the youngest CEO FreeS has ever invested in — young and brilliant, with a clear mind, entrepreneurial passion, and down-to-earth execution. His company DeepLight Technology focuses on the combination of AR interaction and touch projection technology, positioning itself as "everything can be projected." From its initial education scenario, it has expanded to office entertainment, smart vehicles, and personal home environments. What DeepLight is doing creates long-term value; the team needs to prepare for a protracted entrepreneurial battle, solidify its technical foundation, and find suitable application scenarios.

As early-stage investors, we believe Feng Chong and the highly young, professional DeepLight team he leads possess abundant energy and entrepreneurial passion, making them well-suited for sustained innovation in such a long-term赛道.

Welcome to click and watch the video to unlock the hard tech behind "everything can be projected"

**/ Company Details / **

A student entrepreneurship team from Beihang University combined AR technology with projectors to create a new form of virtual-physical interaction. Within the projected image, users can directly touch and control the projector — for example, translating book materials, playing card games, or remote communication. With the AR projector, users no longer need to wear AR devices; they can obtain virtual-physical interactive experiences with the naked eye. Founder Feng Chong explained that DeepLight Technology was founded in 2019, with an initial strategy of using AR to "empower object surfaces." In 2021, it established its long-term strategy of "everything can be projected" — gradually achieving virtual-physical interaction and IoT connectivity across various application scenarios. DeepLight Technology currently has three product lines: education scenarios, office entertainment scenarios, and smart vehicle cockpits. For its earliest education scenario, the company launched "Little Light Classmate AR Smart Projection Desk Lamp" — an AR interactive education product using touch projection technology that merges paper and digital experiences. (See full coverage from Cyzone: Exclusive | 97-born Beihang Entrepreneur Wants to Build "Everything Can Be Projected" AR Projection, "DeepLight Technology" Completes Tens of Millions in Pre-A Funding)

Reader Perk: BodyPark is offering an exclusive deal for FreeS Fund readers. Click the mini-program below to purchase a RMB 137 value package for just RMB 0.9 (includes 1 beginner experience class and 1 fitness assessment report, valid until November 10). Experience professional fitness courses at home — let's get moving~

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