Chinese healthcare solutions provider Weimai has raised $100 million in its latest round of fundraising, giving it more firepower to expand in a burgeoning market that uses internet technology to support the provision of health services.
The latest funding round, which came nine months after its $30 million series B round in September, was led by IDG Capital and involved commitment from existing shareholders like Cenova Ventures, Matrix Partners, Vision Capital, Source Code Capital, Weimai said in a microblog post on Thursday.
The proceeds will be used to expand Weimai’s network of partnerships with hospitals, clinics and service providers, and to invest in internet technology, healthcare big data and artificial intelligence, the company’s founder Qiu Jialin said in the post.
Weimai is one of the many online providers of healthcare solutions aiming to solve China’s long-standing healthcare challenges by harnessing the country's growing digital economy. It is part of Internet Plus Healthcare, a masterplan for Beijing to modernise its healthcare system and develop an efficient network to optimise medical resources and reduce service costs.
However, as with many of its peers, the four year-old startup faces a battle to distinguish itself from Ping An Good Doctor and WeDoctor, arguably the two best-known online healthcare providers in China.
Ping An Good Doctor is the only publicly listed Chinese online healthcare portal, having completed its Hong Kong listing last year, while WeDoctor is the largest privately held online portal with an estimated market value of $5.5 billion as of last year.
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Qiu, in an interview with local media earlier this year, said Weimai tries to differentiate itself by providing more services like data management and online payment processing and by focusing on third and fourth-tier cities.
Similar to Ping An Good Doctor and WeDoctor, Weimai sees online registration and consultation as its core product. Yet it has invested significantly in building its own healthcare database for its users, as well as facilitating payment for services like prescriptions.
And while Ping An Good Doctor and WeDoctor focus on connecting patients with hospitals, Weimai emphasises the connection between patients and doctors. Its less hospital-centric strategy aligns with its goal to create long-standing relationships between patients and family doctors, instead of providing one-off medical consultation services.
Its business slogan – Everyone has a personal healthcare database; Every family has a family doctor; Every city has internet-based hospitals – reflects its ambition to become a one-stop healthcare solution provider for individuals, medical practitioners and healthcare institutions.
The company’s network covers over 70 cities, more than 1,000 hospitals and clinics, and 10 million patients.
