There are over 50 million dogs in China. And the vast majority of them spend their days alone while their owners work 10, 12, sometimes 14 hours a day. In cities like Shanghai and Shenzhen, where apartments are small and work hours are long, dogs have nothing to do but sleep, eat, and wait. Some get so bored they start destroying furniture, scratching walls, and developing separation anxiety.
Jacky and his co-founder experienced this firsthand. Between them, they have cats and dogs, and they noticed the same pattern: their pets were lonely, bored, and there was no good way to interact with them remotely. Existing pet cameras let you watch your dog - but watching is passive. You cannot actually play with them.
"There are more pets than children under 5 in Shanghai."
Instead of guessing whether this was a real problem, Jacky took a data-driven approach. He scraped social media platforms like Xiaohongshu (China's Instagram equivalent) for comments about pet boredom. The results were staggering: videos about lonely, bored dogs had millions of likes. Comments sections were filled with owners describing the same frustrations.
Jacky then fed over a million comments into ChatGPT to categorize and analyze the data. The AI helped him identify patterns: the most common complaints, how people currently tried to solve the problem (dog schools, hiring dog walkers, rushing home during lunch breaks), and whether existing solutions were working. The answer was clear - they were not.
This is a masterclass in lean validation. Before writing a single line of code or designing any hardware, Jacky had quantitative proof that millions of pet owners needed a better solution.
The PePeHola S1 is a smart interactive dog ball with a removable soft, chewy cover that dogs can bite on. Inside sits a motorized core that can roll, bounce, and move in different patterns. The ball connects to WiFi and can be controlled remotely from anywhere in the world.
The real innovation is the bone-shaped controller. It looks like a dog bone but functions like a Nintendo gamepad. One big button in the center, four smaller buttons around it, and a built-in speaker so you can talk to your dog while playing. The controller connects to the ball through an app, meaning you can be in Germany while your dog chases the ball around your apartment in Shanghai.
The ball has three modes: Sound Mode (plays sounds to attract the dog), Lighting Mode (visual stimulation), and Crazy Dog Mode (automatic bouncing and movement patterns for when you cannot actively control it).
"90% already have a pet camera."
Smart design decision: no built-in camera. Use what you already own.
PePeHola exhibited at CES 2026 in Las Vegas. CNET's Macy Meyer covered the product on January 10, 2026, highlighting its unique approach to the pet loneliness problem. For a team of twenty-somethings from Shenzhen, getting featured by one of the world's largest tech media outlets was significant validation.
The product is set to launch on Kickstarter in February 2026, with the US as the primary target market. While China has a massive pet market (50M+ dogs), the US pet tech market is more mature and pet owners are already accustomed to buying premium products for their animals.
PePeHola was built through InnoX Academy, an accelerator and VC founded by a co-founder and shareholder of DJI. InnoX exclusively supports hardware startups and only accepts applicants under 30. The accelerator provides access to Shenzhen's factory network, engineering talent, and funding.
What got Jacky accepted was not just his idea, but the fact that he had already built and shipped products before. He had previously created apps, websites, and mini programs on his own. InnoX wants doers, not dreamers. They want to see real action before they invest.
The Shenzhen ecosystem made rapid prototyping possible. The first prototypes were 3D printed locally, tested with dog owners in the community, and iterated on quickly. From idea to Kickstarter-ready product in about 16 months - roughly half the typical hardware development timeline.
Jay, who handles product discovery, came to China from Korea. She studied her bachelor's degree in Harbin (northeast China) for four years before being recruited through InnoX Academy's internal platform. Her previous internship at a pet tech company in Korea made her the perfect fit for PePeHola's cross-cultural ambitions.
Jay's role is critical: since PePeHola is targeting the US market, they need someone who can bridge the gap between what Chinese engineers build and what international consumers want. She gathers opinions from foreigners about the product, helps refine the user experience for non-Chinese markets, and brings a different cultural perspective to product decisions.
Her impression of Shenzhen mirrors what many foreigners experience: the city is clean, the buildings are tall, everything moves fast - but there is nowhere to hang out. As Thomas discovered when he tried to take an InnoX team member to a nice lunch, the answer was McDonald's. In Shenzhen, you work.
PePeHola's next product is the C1 - a smart collar that can detect a dog's emotional state. Think Apple Watch or Oura Ring, but for dogs. The collar monitors stress levels, anxiety, excitement, and boredom through biometric sensors.
Here is the clever part: the collar does not just identify problems - it triggers solutions. When the collar detects that a dog is bored or anxious, it automatically activates the PePeHola ball to start playing. No human intervention needed. The dog gets stimulated exactly when it needs it most.
As Jacky explained: existing GPS collars and health trackers for pets only find the problem. They tell you your dog ran away or is stressed. PePeHola's approach is to find the problem and fix it - automatically. That distinction between diagnosis and treatment is what could set them apart in the growing pet tech market.
When asked for advice for young people who want to build hardware products, Jacky's answer was disarmingly simple: "Go to Shenzhen." That is it. If you want to build hardware, there is no substitute for being in the ecosystem where the factories, engineers, funding, and talent all exist within a few kilometers of each other.
Jay added an important nuance: learning Chinese opens doors that English alone cannot. When you speak Chinese in Shenzhen, people are immediately more willing to help, share contacts, and collaborate. The language is not just a communication tool - it is a trust signal.
24 years old. Building smart pet toys to solve the loneliness problem for millions of dogs left home alone. Used AI to scrape and analyze millions of social media comments to validate the market before building a single prototype. Part of InnoX Academy (founded by a DJI co-founder). Featured at CES 2026 and covered by CNET. Target market: USA.
Originally from Korea. Studied her bachelor's in Harbin, China. Previous pet tech internship experience in Korea. Recruited through InnoX Academy's internal platform. Brings cross-cultural perspective to hardware development in Shenzhen, gathering international user feedback and bridging the gap between Chinese engineering and global markets.
Thomas: So my dog Einstein, he was very happy when I told him that we have you as guests today because he loves to play. He's a Labrador, you know, he's like five years now but he's still like a five months baby. Very, very, very playful.
Jacky: Okay. My dog can't wait to come to China after I was telling the story. So I'm really looking forward to it.
Thomas: Yeah. So you both are very young and we will explain what you do a little bit later. But first, I'm really curious. You're 25, right?
Jay: Yeah. How old are you?
Jacky: 24.
Thomas: 24. Oh, very young. Yeah. We're so old, Michael. We haven't achieved anything in our lives.
Michael: That's true. That's true. You see, this is crazy. Like, the people we talk to here on this podcast are all very young and they already have investments like big VCs and accelerators invested in you because you have a great product.
Thomas: And we are just sitting here and asking questions. But it's not only about great products, but also great people. That's why we are happy to have you here and find out a bit more about you and your vision and your inspiration. So when did it start? We will ask Jacky first because you are one of the founders of PePeHola.
Jacky: Yeah. PePeHola. It's from 2024, October. So me and my co-founder want to do something for the pets because we guys have so many pets.
Jay: Yeah, I have five cats.
Jacky: Yeah, he has three cats and one dog. So we spend a lot of time with our pets and we have a lot of problems, want to fix it. So we want to do some new hardware to fix that problem.
Thomas: Yeah. What was one of the main problems that you had?
Jacky: Yeah, the first one is I spend a lot of time in my workplace and I don't –I just want to play with my pets because they are so lonely at home, but nothing to do. Just sleep and eat and nothing to do. And you know, in Asia, the rooms are so small. They don't have so much space to run, to play. So they are so lonely. We want to fix that problem. We want to do something for it. Yeah. Just like the remote play. We want to control something remotely and to play with it. This is the first problem.
Thomas: Yeah. Although I have to say, just sleeping and eating –that sounds like perfect life to me. I was very jealous when I look at my dog and I was like, oh, you don't have any problems, you don't need to earn any money, but you live the best life.
Thomas: So and now you also, you're part of InnoX. InnoX is an accelerator and VC. We also had other guests from there and it's actually a big thing we have to tell people because InnoX is also quite young. It also started like two years ago. But the founder is actually a co-founder and shareholder of DJI. Everyone knows DJI, right? And he's a professor also and he built InnoX to support people like you –have an idea, but maybe don't have the network, don't have the access to funding, don't know how to start. And they do all of this for you?
Jacky: Yes. But there's also a big problem that a lot of people know that he is a crazy guy. He's a big guy.
Thomas: I mean, DJI is a worldwide recognized brand. So, and in China, even more people know him. So a lot of young people, very talented people like you guys want to go there and want to start their own company, want to start their own product, hardware or software with them. So how was the application process to become part of InnoX?
Jacky: Because they have a camp, like the summer camp and winter camp in InnoX. You can apply on the WeChat or something else like their website. And there are so many students, you know, because InnoX only accept the application of the people under 30.
Thomas: Under 30. Just for young people.
Jacky: Just for young people because they want to do something. Innovation. They think the innovation is belonging to the young people, younger generation.
Thomas: How do they choose people like you when you apply? How do they get the feeling of okay, you have a good idea, you're a good guy, I want to support you?
Jacky: Yeah. But this is not enough, you know, because so many people said they have the idea. They want to earn money or doing something, but actually they are not to do something. They just say it. But for me, I started up a company maybe two years before and just doing the app, app and website and mini programs, something else. I actually did it. And so many people love my product. So maybe this is the reason InnoX choose me.
Thomas: So they want to see real action. It's not just words. You already did something. Not just saying –you need to do it. This is the first step.
Jacky: And the second is, you know, something like the hardware, you have to know hardware. This is the second step. Because InnoX is only support someone who want to do the hardware. Only for the hardware. If you do something like only software, they will not support you.
Thomas: And I think it's very smart because it's the strength of Shenzhen. It's such a close ecosystem between the suppliers, the manufacturers, the software development. I mean for hardware you also need software. And hardware is also a big strength here in Asia. So Jay, you moved here to Shenzhen from Korea. How do you like Shenzhen?
Jay: Actually I was in Harbin for four years because I did my bachelor's in Harbin and because he asked me to hire me.
Thomas: How does this happen? Where did you find her?
Jacky: InnoX. From InnoX. It's like a system of InnoX. There are so many students.
Jay: I mean, I also uploaded my resume in LinkedIn or other platforms. And maybe InnoX see my resume and because I had internship at one of the pet tech company when I was in Korea. So they feel like, oh, she can be really, really good at this team. So InnoX suggest him to hire me. And he asked me.
Thomas: And now you're here in Shenzhen for a couple of months. How is work and life in Shenzhen?
Jay: It's so amazing. I feel like, so clean and there are so many people and the buildings are so high. I love this place.
Thomas: And is it also a lot of pressure?
Jay: Kind of. Because I feel like there is nowhere to go for hangout.
Thomas: Yeah, I have to tell a story. The first time I came here to plan this podcast I met with the people from InnoX and the one who was responsible, I told her, okay, I'm very grateful that you give us the context that you support us. I really want to treat you to a nice lunch. And then I asked her, so where can we go? And then she said, McDonald's. What the heck? Like, I live in Shanghai. Shanghai people will go to French bistro or whatever, have some nice wine for lunch. But then they said, yeah, we are normal. Like, we are only McDonald's people. We eat McDonald's. And I said, oh, okay. This is Shenzhen. Wherever you go, there is only companies. So many buildings and nothing, nowhere to go.
Thomas: So how did you come from the data, from the problem to the hardware product, to the idea?
Jacky: The first is online research like Xiaohongshu, the social media. To search like "my pet is bored" and see how many people say that and see the comment. And we will catch the comment out and bring this data to AI to analyze. How many people have this problem and how do they fix that problem?
Thomas: So how many have this problem?
Jacky: Oh well, so many. Because there have some video say their dog is so bored and they have 2 million likes in their videos, the same problem.
Thomas: So you used basically ChatGPT to analyze?
Jacky: Yeah, ChatGPT to analyze, exactly. ChatGPT is so great. We catch 1 million data or something else. So many data we just break it up and put one by one to the AI and tell them, teach me what is the most important problem. The people say the pet is boring. And they have 100,000 people said they're boring. And 200 people said their dogs are getting sick.
Thomas: Then you said you put it in AI. You have like comments with 2 million likes. People all say, okay, my pet is bored. How does this work with the AI?
Jacky: The data of the social media comments are so many. Like we catch 1 million data. We just break it up and put one by one to the AI and tell them, teach me what is the most important problem.
Thomas: So now you have the cleaned up data. What do you do with the data then? Or how do you come from the data from the problem to the hardware product to the idea?
Jacky: So the first step is collecting the data and the next is finding what is the real problem and finding the guy who have the problem. Actually have the problem. Just talk with him. The important thing is understand how did they solve this problem right now and if this method is enough for them.
Thomas: So you did the product market fit. How do people solve these problems?
Jacky: Just the first one is the dog school. The second one is to hire someone into your house to play with the dogs. And the third one is when they are working hard, in the lunchtime they just coming home as soon as possible. But it still is a problem for their customer, for our customer, because they think it is ma fan –troublesome.
Thomas: So then how did you come to the idea for a product?
Jacky: So, next step is you have to know which hardware you needed. Like our motor, because we are a ball and running around. For ball –because the ball is the most selling on the Amazon. Best seller for dog toy.
Thomas: It's interesting how you did the market research. So you go on social media, check for the problems and then you see how they solve it and what is actually on the market, like the most common toy. And then you said, we will make it better.
Jacky: We need some technology because we're in Shenzhen because we actually do a lot of design for these products. This is a cover and you can put it open.
Thomas: Okay. So what we have now, here we have a ball with a cover that you can take off and the cover is elastic. So dogs can chew on it. And then you have the ball inside. And then we also have the remote control. And the remote control you take to work with you, wherever you go, even if you go out of your country.
Jacky: Oh, really? Yeah. Using WiFi. The ball and the controller are still using the WiFi to connect. Then they are connected through an app. So I use this controller to control the ball. The ball can be in China, I can be in Germany.
Thomas: But why do you need a controller? Why don't you control through the app directly?
Jacky: Yeah, because we think so many people have their pet camera. If you have the camera, so I don't want to do a new camera for you. You can use your own. Otherwise you will have two phones for checking the video.
Thomas: 90% of customers have their own pet camera. So that's smart –they're watching their pets and we can interact with pets like this.
Jacky: Yeah. We want to save the money for our customer. You don't have to buy cameras. Doesn't make sense. It's not part of the scope of our product.
Thomas: The controller looks like a bone. And then we have like one big button, it's like on a Nintendo. And then you have four small buttons. And there's also some speaker inside.
Jacky: Yeah. There is like sound mode, lighting mode, and crazy dog mode. Crazy dog mode is like automatic jumping and bouncing.
Thomas: So Jay, what is your task?
Jay: My task is because we are targeting America but they just know only like Chinese market. So I'm trying to gather some other foreigners' opinion about this product to make this one better.
Thomas: Yes. So you do the product discovery.
Thomas: And also it's not just that you have the idea. You also get some sizable funding. You have investors who said they want to invest in your company. So how did that go?
Jacky: I think the VC thinks the money is better than your idea. You have to tell him how can I bring the money back to you? Whatever I can say is I need to do better and better products for our customers. This is very important.
Thomas: So this is our next product, right?
Jacky: So this is our next product named C1. It's like a smart collar that can detect what they are doing, how they feel. If you guys have the collar and they understand the emotion of your dog because they feel extra excited or bored or something else, the ball coming up and play with them automatically.
Thomas: Wow, this is great. This is a big market. We wrote about it in our Asiabits AI newsletter. There's also a collar that sold really, really well in the US –they sold like US$3 million in three months. And they can feel like the anxiety level, stress level, also the vitals, heart rate. It's like Apple Watch or the Oura Ring for dogs.
Jacky: Yeah. Because you know, there have so many collars for dogs. But they are not selling good. I think one of the problem is they just find the problem. They not fix the problem. The PePeHola S1, this ball is fix the problem. The collar finds –they can know what they are doing and how their emotion is.
Thomas: So if you have one advice for young people under 30 who want to do something similar, what would it be?
Jacky: If you want to do the hardware, you have to go to Shenzhen. That's it.
Jay: Honestly, I feel like at least they need to speak Chinese. Because Chinese people, their English is not really perfect as much as I expected. And if I can speak Chinese really well they were really like, oh, you can speak Chinese. Oh, you're a foreigner. It is so open.
Thomas: It's an opener, right? So the one takeaway from this episode is come to Shenzhen. Come to Shenzhen and look for yourself. Jacky and Jay, thank you so much. Very, very interesting. Wish you good luck. And if people want to buy it, we will put the Kickstarter link into the description and people can check it out and support you.
Jacky: Thank you. We will be also one of your first customers. Thank you so much.
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