Tencent leads $100m round for Chinese medical service platform

Founded in 2010, Guahao covers over 900 hospitals nationwide and about 120,000 doctors have used the platform to make patient appointments with over 37 online registered users.

Upon completion of the funding, Guahao will launch a mobile platform - Weiyi - to connect patients and doctors that is expected to be accessible through Tencent's QQ and WeChat accounts. The app will help users find hospitals and doctors, schedule appointments, make online payments and obtain medical reports.

Guahou will continue to operate independently after Tencent's investment. "We will continue to work with every business partner within our supply chain," Jieyuan Liao, founder and CEO of Guahao, said in a statement.

Last month, Tencent invested US$70 million in Dingxiangyuan (DXY.com), a Chinese networking and information-sharing site for healthcare professionals.

Earlier this year, Yunfeng Capital and Alibaba Group, Tencent's rival, bought a 54.3% stake in pharmaceutical data provider CITIC 21CN, a Hong Kong-listed subsidiary of Chinese conglomerate CITIC Group, for HK$1.33 billion ($171 million).

Online healthcare services are also popular among VC investors. In August, Spring Rain Software, a Chinese mobile healthcare app developer, raised $50 million in Series C funding from China International Capital Corp, Rushan Investment Management and Temasek Holdings' Pavilion Capital.

Other transactions include Lightspeed China Partners $1 million commitment to Kanchufang, an online healthcare information operator, in April, and Shanghai International Group Venture Capital (SIGVC) providing a RMB300 million ($48 million) Series A round for online drug store J1.com.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Healthcare
• Venture
• China
• Venture
• healthcare
• TMT
• Tencent