A pretty penny: plastic surgery marketplace in China gets funding

Sexier lips, smaller hips? Thicker hair, skin more fair? Teeth that are whiter, a stomach that’s tighter? Hips more round, or boobs that abound?

Would your appearance and your fleeting time on this Earth be made better by some cosmetic surgery? For an increasing number of people, the answer is yes. It’s been taking off in China, too, for the past few years. One startup seeking to make a pretty penny from all this is China-based Yuemei, which is an online marketplace for cosmetic surgery procedures.

Investors are spotting the opportunity too. Yuemei has just secured an unspecified amount of series A funding, according to a report today from Sina Tech.

Yuemei has over 1,100 registered practitioners in its marketplace, scattered across mainland China. The site aims to be the starting point for patients, male or female, seeking plastic surgeons, with local listings, prices, and a profile page for each doctor that resembles a personal social media homepage. From there, users can begin a consultation. The site makes money from its listings, rather like eBay does.

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Aside from the aggregated lists of surgeons, the site is filled with before and after photos from Yuemei users who’ve had a procedure, such as this nose job or this boob job (NSFW).

The main problem for this startup – and for the Chinese cosmetic enhancements industry in general – is that China’s consumers largely don’t trust local surgeons in terms of quality. That’s why Chinese tourists are venturing to neighboring South Korea, well known for its plastic surgery chops, for such procedures. The Chosun Ilbo says that Chinese people spent KRW 65 billion (US$61.5 million) on plastic surgery in South Korea last year, which was up 85 percent on the figure for 2012.