Apps bring offline services to your doorstep

But this doesn't stop them from attracting investors' attention. Both Momoda and Yaogeili have secured millions of yuan from angel investors. And a number of investors have already lined up to take part in the next round of financing.

The most recent investments lured by Didi Dache and Kuaidi Dache, the two major taxihailing apps in China, were as much as hundreds of millions of US dollars.

"O2O is so hot in China. As soon as you spread the word about your product, investors will come on board," says Ren from Yaogeili.

He said his company will not think about its business model for at least three years.

"We just want to focus on our product first. As long as we gain enough active users, it is easy to make money from it," he says.

Ren cites Alibaba, one of the highest value Internet companies in the world, as an example.

"Alibaba would never have got where it is today, had its investors required it to make a profit from the outset," Ren says.

Rather than short-term gains, what investors care about is that whether or not there is a true demand for the service in the market.

Sun Li, co-founder of Yunjiazheng, an app that helps customers find freelance help, either housekeepers or nannies, has proven its importance to investors by witnessing a 1,000 percent surge in orders in 2014.

Sun Li is a firm believer in the "lazy people economy".

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