Local company explores new ways to tap 100 billion yuan market

Pudow, a local water purifying device startup, has big plans to expand in the Chinese market, Shanghai Daily learned on Thursday.

Founded in 2011, Shanghai-based Pudow once focused on enterprise clients like Apple and Huawei. It now intends to establish distribution channels covering 300 cities nationwide within three years as it looks to tap new buyers.

The Chinese water purifying device market is worth some 100 billion (US$14.9 billion) annually, with growing demand coming from health care and consumer segments, according to analysts.

About 80 percent of diseases are associated with unclean drinking water, which implies strong market potential for makers of purifying devices, said Ma Yingjun, chief executive of Pudow.

Looking ahead, Pudow intends to offer its high-technology water purifying systems to kindergartens. In the long term, Pudow hopes to sell devices directly to families.

At present, Pudow mainly offers devices for the enterprise and organization market. In addition to several big tech names, the company's clients include banks and hospitals.