Zhiyun raises $144m for chronic disease management platform

This time last year Zhiyun closed a $100 million Series C round. The first tranche featured IDG Capital, LB Investment and Meinian Onehealth Healthcare Holdings, China’s largest medical examination center operator. The second was led by CICC Capital and CEC Shurong Investment Management, with participation from Tasly Pharmaceutical Group, Samsung Ventures China, and Ping An Insurance.

The new funding comprises an extended Series C and a Series D. SIG led the Series C-plus round, with additional contributions coming from CLP Data – a data center subsidiary of Hong Kong’s CLP Group – Samsung Electronics, and Hong Kong financial services group Oriental Patron. SIG, Oriental Patron, Tasly and LB all took part in the Series D. That round was led by China Merchants Bank.

Founded in 2014, Zhiyun’s core business involves providing consultation services on diabetes through its mobile app Zhangshang Tangyi. It allows patients to record and track their health data, which can be accessed by doctors with a view to providing more accurate treatment recommendations. Over time, the company has broadened the scope of its activities, launching a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform that connects patients with hospitals and an e-commerce platform for medication.

Rather than focusing solely on diabetes, it now claims to offer end-to-end management for a wide range of chronic diseases: Zhiyun’s SaaS and auxiliary diagnosis systems improve hospital efficiency; its e-commerce operation speeds up prescription issuance and drug delivery; and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, currently under development, will aid data collection and the provision of personalized treatment plans.

Ming Kuang, the company’s founder and CEO, said in a statement that the new funding will be used to improve data mining capabilities and build the AI platform. Other priories include establishing a diagnosis and treatment resource library. Zhiyun is also keen to work more closely with insurance companies, drug developers and government agencies, as well as hospitals. Moreover, it plans to promote the establishment of industry standards for chronic disease data. CLP Data will assist with the construction of a big data center focused on chronic disease.

At the time of the Series C round, Zhiyun was working with 1,000 hospitals and it expected that figure to reach 5,000 in 2019. There were over 10 million registered users and annual revenue exceeded RMB1 billion in 2018. Kuang added that the number of hospital customers grew 2.5x last year, while the number of patients it serviced increased threefold. The company also returned a profit.

VC investors have backed numerous Chinese start-ups that use technology to deliver greater efficiencies in healthcare data management and diagnoses. They include Miaojiankang, Airdoc, Huiying, Taimei Medical Technology, and Beijing Infervision. There are also various platforms designed to connect doctors and patients and offer online consultations, among them Ping An Good Doctor, WeDoctor, Miaoshou Doctor, Trusted Doctors, and Weimai.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Healthcare
• Expansion
• Technology
• China
• SIG
• Growth capital