Beauty / Personal CareChina
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JOURNEY · DETAIL
Mao Geping: The Wenzhou makeup artist for Liu Xiaoqing who spent 20 years polishing high-end counters into the top domestic beauty IPO
Founded: Mao Geping, Wang Liqun · Mao Geping Cosmetics Co., Ltd.
JOURNEY
Key Fields
FIELD STAMPSIndustryBeauty / Personal Care
RegionChina
ScaleGiant
ChannelOther
Origin
Born in Wenzhou in 1964, Mao Geping started his career as a Shaoxing opera actor before becoming a film and television makeup artist. He became nationally famous in 1994 for styling Liu Xiaoqing in the hit TV series 'Wu Zetian'. During his time on film sets and in photo studios, he noticed that the market lacked high-end cosmetics tailored to Chinese facial structures and skin tones, while high-end department store counters were dominated by foreign brands like Lancôme and Estée Lauder. Around 2000, he established a makeup training school, followed by founding his eponymous brand Mao Geping with his wife Wang Liqun, leveraging his personal reputation as a makeup artist to pioneer the high-end counter route.
Milestones
1994
Inception Turning Point
Mao Geping served as the makeup artist for the TV series 'Wu Zetian' starring Liu Xiaoqing. His makeup styling, which transformed characters from young maidens to elderly empresses, created a sensation across China, making him a celebrity makeup artist. This experience became the brand's most valuable personal credit endorsement and made the couple realize the market gap for high-end domestic cosmetics.
2000
Establishment PMF
Mao Geping and his wife Wang Liqun founded the predecessor of Mao Geping Cosmetics Co., Ltd., and simultaneously opened the Hangzhou Mao Geping Image Design Art School. By using makeup training to build professional credibility and then funneling trainees back into counter sales, they established a tripartite early business model of school + brand + counter, launching the eponymous cosmetics line in high-end department stores the same year.
2016
Expansion Failure
Mao Geping submitted its A-share prospectus to the China Securities Regulatory Commission for the first time. Despite waiting for years, the company failed to secure a hearing as A-share listing reviews for high-margin cosmetic brands tightened. The company missed the 2016–2019 financing and listing window for domestic beauty brands, lengthening the exit path for early institutional investors and marking the start of its label as an 'IPO nail house'.
2021
Repeated Sprints Failure
The company updated its prospectus twice to target the Shanghai Stock Exchange Main Board, recording revenues of 1.577 billion RMB in 2021, 1.682 billion RMB in 2022, and 2.886 billion RMB in 2023. Although its gross margin consistently remained above 80%, it repeatedly failed to pass the review. In 2023, the company ultimately withdrew its A-share application, marking three failed attempts over seven years and forcing a pivot to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. This period, spanning from 2021 to 2023, exposed compliance questions arising from single-brand reliance and personal IP binding.
2024
Listing Turning Point
Mao Geping pivoted to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and successfully listed, becoming the first domestic high-end beauty stock. The public offering was oversubscribed by hundreds of times, and the stock surged over 76% on its first day of trading. Raising approximately 2.3 billion HKD at the issue price, the family's net worth soared to the tens of billions, bringing a seven-year IPO marathon to a close in Hong Kong and setting a record for subscription enthusiasm among new consumer IPOs in HK that year.
2025
Post-Listing Growth
Following its public listing, the company disclosed a 2024 revenue of approximately 3.885 billion RMB (up about 35% year-on-year) and a gross margin rising above 84%, surpassing almost all consumer goods categories below Kweichow Moutai and establishing a valuation benchmark in the Hong Kong beauty sector. Meanwhile, the company publicly announced it was seeking overseas cosmetic brand acquisition targets to fill gaps in fragrance and skincare, shifting from single-brand premiumization to a multi-brand group structure.
Turning Points
- The 2016 failure of its initial A-share filing forced the company to shift its focus from quick cash-out to refining in-store counter cash flow.
- The voluntary withdrawal of its A-share application in 2023 and swift pivot to Hong Kong shifted the strategy from regulatory maneuvering to aligning with overseas capital market windows.
- The 76% surge on the first day of its Hong Kong listing in 2024 opened up financing channels, prompting plans for acquisitions and international expansion.
Failures & Pitfalls
- Three failed attempts to go public on the A-share market over seven years earned the company the industry label of 'IPO nail house', causing it to miss the golden window for domestic beauty listings and financing.
- High reliance on Mao Geping's personal IP means fluctuations in the founder's makeup video popularity directly impact brand momentum, and a secondary brand has yet to gain traction.
- The high-end, heavy-asset department store counter model expands slowly, with single-counter output hit by declining department store foot traffic, and its online transition started later than brands like Florasis and Perfect Diary.
关键成功要素
- Celebrity makeup artist case endorsements transformed personal skill credibility into brand premium, allowing high-end pricing to hold firm from day one.
- Deep cultivation of high-end department store counters for twenty years built experience barriers through makeup trial services and professional consultants, replicating the channel loyalty of foreign giants.
- Training schools and the brand cross-subsidize each other, nurturing a nationwide professional makeup artist network that forms a talent and reputation flywheel.
- Gross margins consistently exceeding 80% utilize high-end skincare lines to raise average customer transaction values, building a second growth curve beyond makeup.
- A persistent, resilient listing strategy: after three failed A-share attempts, it decisively switched to Hong Kong, capturing the consumer market recovery window in HK in 2024.
Lessons
- Founder IP is both a scarce asset and a concentrated risk; while it drives cold starts early on, it must be depersonalized later.
- High-end positioning should be slow rather than compromised; maintaining gross margins provides the capital to endure until listing windows open.
- Listing strategies must include backup plans; switching to Hong Kong when A-share policy windows shift avoids seven years of wasted effort.
- Channel loyalty outweighs traffic myths; repeat purchases driven by counter experiences are more resilient against economic cycles than livestreaming traffic bursts.
- Single-category high-end brands must use acquisitions to plug weaknesses after going stock-market public, otherwise growth ceilings are hit rapidly.
Core Data
- revenue2021：1.577 billion RMB (publicly disclosed data, independent review not verified)
- revenue2023：2.886 billion RMB (publicly disclosed data, independent review not verified)
- revenue2024：Approx. 3.885 billion RMB (publicly disclosed data, independent review not verified)
- grossmargin：Approx. 84% to 85% (publicly disclosed data, independent review not verified)
- ipofundraise：Approx. 2.3 billion HKD (publicly disclosed data, independent review not verified)
- firstdaysurge：Closed up approx. 76% on the first day of listing (publicly disclosed data, independent review not verified)
- foundernetworth：Family net worth exceeded 10 billion HKD post-listing (publicly disclosed data, independent review not verified)
- ashareattempts：Three unsuccessful A-share filings between 2016 and 2023 (publicly disclosed data, independent review not verified)
Competitors / Peers
Mao Geping's direct benchmarks are the makeup lines of high-end foreign brands such as Lancôme, Estée Lauder, and Dior, as well as domestic competitors including premium-positioned Florasis, mass-market high-value Perfect Diary parent Yatsen Holding, Proya, and Bettany. Unlike Florasis, which scales rapidly through oriental aesthetic content marketing, Mao Geping stews its high-end audience slowly through counter makeup trials and professional makeup artist word-of-mouth. Compared to Proya's mass skincare main track, Mao Geping features higher average order values but narrower categories; its post-listing acquisitions and skincare line expansions are specifically designed to complete the full-category matrix that competitors laid out long ago.
Sources
- https://www.36kr.com/p/2181900073383939
- https://www.jiemian.com/article/10642406.html
- https://www.jiemian.com/article/10685849.html
- https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20241211A03CWG00
- https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_27161536
- https://www.stcn.com/article/detail/1449083.html
- https://www.digitaling.com/articles/1296154.html
- https://pdf.dfcfw.com/pdf/H3_AP202412051641186923_1.pdf?1733392741000.pdf=