Author | Ren Cairu
36Kr learned that the home fitness brand “Mu Xiaoma” recently completed a nearly ten million yuan Pre-A round of financing. The investor is Qingdao Jukang Enterprise Management Co., Ltd. The funds from this round will be mainly used for the self – research of core components such as motors, as well as the R & D and promotion of new products.
Founded in 2023, “Mu Xiaoma” hopes to start from practicality and promote “strength equipment” to enter the real home fitness scenario through the optimization of product form and weighting form. Its first product, the “Vitality Fitness Bench”, was initially launched through crowdfunding on “Youpin of Xiaomi”. Currently, its product matrix has expanded to entry – level and professional fitness benches, fitness accessories, etc., and it has also laid out multiple channels such as Tmall, Douyin, and offline.
Mu Xiaoma’s “Vitality Fitness Bench”
Zhu Yuntao, the founder of Mu Xiaoma, has worked at Haier for many years. He has rich experience in home appliance product design and has witnessed the process of Chinese home appliance brands gradually taking market share from foreign brands.
Looking back at the growth history of large home appliance companies, Zhu Yuntao believes that in addition to the core products such as refrigerators, TVs, washing machines, and air conditioners, the explosion of small home appliances such as soybean milk machines, sweeping robots, and vacuum cleaners has truly supported the market value imagination of leading companies. The home fitness field is similar. The explosion of C – end demand must be accompanied by the continuous iteration and expansion of product categories. “Even today, the well – known products on the market are still treadmills, elliptical trainers, rowing machines, and spinning bikes, but there are still many further needs that have not been met.”
During visits to industry exhibitions, the Mu Xiaoma team found that the proportion of aerobic equipment in the fitness market is relatively low, and strength equipment is the main force. This is in line with common sense from the user’s perspective. Most users who go to the gym aim for strength training. “For this market to explode, strength equipment must enter thousands of households.” Zhu Yuntao told 36Kr.
How can strength equipment enter the home scenario? Intelligence is a definite direction – just like the iteration from fuel – powered cars to new energy vehicles, in home fitness equipment, traditional weight blocks will be replaced by motors, which will generate resistance. “First of all, it will be very compact. Secondly, it has data, can achieve human – machine interaction, and can embed AI algorithms. This is what the future fitness world should be like.”
However, whether it can become a reality for “thousands of households” still depends on price. Aiming to open up the mass market, Mu Xiaoma first targeted the mass – market price segment and then worked backwards on the cost structure. “If the current motors and solutions on the market cannot meet the cost requirements, I’d rather develop them myself first.” Zhu Yuntao said.
As we understand, the main domestic motor suppliers in this field are Benmo Technology and Leichen Electromechanical. Existing home fitness brands that focus on “intelligence” mainly purchase motors externally, resulting in higher costs and prices often reaching the 10,000 – yuan threshold.
Since the beginning of 2024, the Mu Xiaoma team has focused on both the market promotion of existing products and the R & D of resistance – source motors. Currently, its motor has been developed and mass – produced, and the cost has been significantly reduced compared with “external procurement”. The selling price of terminal equipment products can be about 60% of the industry average.
Before the “new narrative” of intelligent home fitness equipment, Mu Xiaoma has also paved a way to be recognized in the past two years with its fitness bench products.
In the R & D of fitness bench products in the past two years, Mu Xiaoma abandoned the common underlying logic of “simplifying commercial equipment” for home fitness equipment. Instead, it redesigned based on the original needs of the home scenario, aiming to solve two major problems – one is how to increase user stickiness and make the equipment truly used; the other is what it can be used for when not in use for fitness.
“Whether it’s the appearance or the materials, our fitness bench itself is made into a very good – looking bench. You can’t see a single steel pipe.” Zhu Yuntao said. In its fitness bench, wood, leather, and rounded corners are the main elements. Besides its one – hour – a – day fitness function, it can also serve as a “household bench”. “I’ve been doing home appliance design for 15 years and know what kind of things will make people feel comfortable at home.”
Mu Xiaoma’s “Vitality Fitness Bench”
Currently, Mu Xiaoma’s main products include the “Vitality Fitness Bench” and the “Free Fitness Bench”. The former is priced at over 2,000 yuan, covers an area of 0.4 square meters, and is positioned for multi – functional home comprehensive strength training. Its users are mainly women and middle – aged and elderly men who exercise regularly. The latter is more popular among professional fitness people, priced at over 5,000 yuan, covers an area of 0.36 square meters, and can provide a resistance of up to 180 kg. In addition, its products also include home sports accessories such as Pilates rings, resistance ropes, dumbbells, and tensioners.
Mu Xiaoma’s “Free Fitness Bench”
According to Zhu Yuntao, in 2024 and 2025, the sales volume of Mu Xiaoma’s fitness bench products was over 20,000 each year. In 2024, about 70% were exported overseas, covering countries and regions such as the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. In 2025, with further promotion in the domestic market, the proportion of the overseas market dropped to about 60%. Its offline channels are also being expanded. In addition to its self – operated “Mu Xiaoma Sports Life Hall” and offline layouts by dealers, they are also entering women’s gyms, Pilates studios, etc.
Overall, Mu Xiaoma is currently in the transition period from “home fitness” to “intelligent fitness”. The users and scale accumulated in the early stage also provide a basis for the team to “reduce costs”.
In the future, Mu Xiaoma will focus on two directions: one is to build the brand, produce a full range of home fitness products, and become a truly well – recognized brand in this field. “When it comes to home appliances, people think of Haier and Midea, but there is currently no such well – recognized brand in the home fitness field.” The other is to improve technology, conduct self – research on motors and control systems, and better integrate AI algorithms into fitness data management and daily training guidance.
