Investors rush to grab a slice of Chinese plastic surgery app So-Young on Nasdaq debut

So-Young International, a Chinese marketplace and social networking app for cosmetic surgery, soared in its Nasdaq trading debut on Thursday as investors rushed to grab a slice of Chinese people’s growing desire to go under the knife to look good.

Shares of the five-year-old So-Young surged as much as 44 per cent during the first day of trading, before settling at US$18.2 by the market close, 32 per cent higher than an initial price of $13.8. The company now has a market value of $1.8 billion.

So-Young started in Beijing in 2014 as a marketplace app that connect clinics with patients and as a community for people interested in cosmetic procedures to share their knowledge and experience. Users can post texts, photos and videos of their experience, watch explanatory videos and live-streaming content featuring clinics and doctors. They can connect and interact with other users or doctors for advice or consultation, and when ready, purchase procedures on the platform.

So-Young’s strong debut reflects keen interest in China’s booming plastic surgery market, driven by higher disposable income and growing demand from people to surgically enhance their looks. China is one of the fastest-growing medical aesthetic services markets in the world, ranked second in terms of market size in 2017 behind the US. China is expected to become the largest market in the world by 2021, according to a report by Frost & Sullivan commissioned by So-Young, with total industry revenue expected to reach 360.1 billion yuan (US$53.5 billion) by 2023.

Attitudes in the country towards artificial beauty are changing, particularly among the so-called Generation Z of youths under the age of 24, creating a big new market when they become financially mature.

“The younger generation – those born after 1995 – is no stranger to the concept of cosmetic surgery,” Jin Xing, 40, founder and CEO of SoYoung, said in an earlier interview. “They can’t afford it now, but when they have a job or qualify for a credit card that allows for instalments, they will be unstoppable.”