Gancao Doctor completes new funding round to deepen digitalization of traditional Chinese medicine

Hangzhou Gancao Technology Co., Ltd. ("Gancao Doctor"), a prominent Chinese medicine internet-based enterprise, recently announced the completion of a new funding round led by Puhua Capital with participation from Jintou Capital. Notably, the company had secured its first-round financing exclusively from Xingtuo Capital in early 2025.

With two major funding milestones achieved in less than a year, this progress not only reflects sustained capital market confidence in the traditional Chinese medicine sector but also provides strong impetus for the company’s core initiatives in technology R&D, business expansion, and global strategy.

As a pioneer in the internet-based traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) sector, Gancao Doctor has remained firmly committed to the application of AI technology in TCM since its establishment in 2015. Dedicated to empowering the traditional TCM industry through innovation, the company vigorously promotes the modernization and intelligent development of Chinese medicine.

After a decade of dedicated efforts, Gancao Doctor has built a multidisciplinary professional team. Leveraging its deep industry insights and exceptional cross-domain integration capabilities, the company has developed an integrated online-offline business model with synergistic industrial development. Its operations span multiple areas, including the online TCM medical service platform "Gancao Doctor," the medical institution SaaS and supply chain service "Gancao Cloud Manager," the consumer health brand "Ganzhiyi," and self-operated offline TCM clinics named "Gancao TCM Clinic."

Firstly, in terms of business system construction, Gancao Doctor has built a full-chain business model covering online and offline services based on its self-developed TCM AI system "Xuanqi Wendui".

"Xuanqi Wendui" is a diagnostic and Q&A AI assistant specialized in the vertical field of traditional Chinese medicine. Since its launch in 2023, the system has provided strong support for the entire process of diagnosis and treatment—"pre-diagnosis, during diagnosis, and post-diagnosis"—leveraging AI technology. It has won multiple awards, including the 2023 First National Health Commission National Digital Health Innovation Application Competition Artificial Intelligence Award and the Baidu Cloud Intelligence Conference Best Practice Model Award, demonstrating outstanding performance in key indicators such as factual accuracy and depth of case analysis. Currently, "Xuanqi Wendui" has been upgraded to version 4.0 and has spawned two practical mini-programs: "Xuanqi Wendui" for TCM practitioners and "Gan Xiaozhi" for patient groups, further enhancing the precision and convenience of services.

Secondly, the steady growth of online service scale is the business foundation of Gancao Doctor.

Currently, the company's main business platform—the Gancao Doctor APP—has reached 200,000 registered doctors and served over 10 million patients since its launch in 2015. By integrating high-quality TCM resources, the company has successfully built a mature closed-loop service model of "online follow-up consultations - syndrome differentiation and prescription - medicine delivery - health management," achieving efficient delivery of TCM services.

Notably, the Gancao Doctor APP has officially launched in overseas markets and is available for download by global users. Combined with the localized operations of its Paris distribution center, Gancao Doctor will provide TCM health services that better meet the needs of users at home and abroad. This global initiative not only expands the company's business boundaries but also strongly promotes the international dissemination of TCM culture and accelerates the overseas expansion of the TCM industry.

Additionally, Gancao Doctor will use its "Gancao Cloud Manager" SaaS system to help clinics achieve digital management upgrades, continuously optimize clinic operational processes, and significantly improve doctors' diagnostic and treatment capabilities with the system's integrated AI-assisted functions, enabling comprehensive value empowerment for doctors, patients, and clinics.

To further integrate TCM health preservation and nourishment into modern daily life, Gancao Doctor has launched its core strategic brand for TCM industry chain services—the TCM health brand "Ganzhiyi"—focusing on the research, development, and sales of health products.

As a lifestyle brand dedicated to providing comprehensive TCM health preservation solutions for modern urban dwellers, Ganzhiyi not only has its exclusive team of TCM PhD researchers but also actively collaborates with major research institutions and renowned medical experts. It has launched over 100 Chinese-style health products covering categories such as health paste formulas, healthy snacks, ready-to-eat nourishing products, personal care patches, children's health products, and wellness instruments, providing users with a "one-stop" health preservation experience and services.

For offline scenarios, Gancao Doctor is also actively strengthening the construction of its full industry chain by launching the modern smart shared pharmacy "Yuncao Medicine" and the new TCM clinic "Gancao TCM Clinic," which focuses on promoting traditional Chinese medicine culture.

Currently, Gancao Doctor has established 13 self-operated Chinese medicine dispensing service centers across China, with supply chain services covering the entire country. Additionally, the company has set up an overseas dispensing center in Paris, France, continuously expanding the service network of "Yuncao Medicine." Meanwhile, Gancao Doctor has opened 5 self-operated TCM clinics in cities including Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Fuzhou, and Nanning, providing patients with high-quality offline diagnosis and treatment services.

Collaboration between Industry, Academia, and Research, along with industry standard development, serves as a critical foundation for Gancao Doctor’s long-term growth. The company has partnered with Zhejiang Chinese Medical University to establish a "Digital Medical Practice Education Base" and a university-level "Joint Engineering Center for Artificial Intelligence in Traditional Chinese Medicine". Plans are underway to jointly develop a provincial-level "TCM Artificial Intelligence Engineering Center", focusing on key technological breakthroughs and commercialization in areas such as the digitization of classical medical cases and the optimization of AI-assisted syndrome differentiation models. At the same time, the company actively participates in the formulation of international TCM standards, contributing to the promotion of standardized development within the industry.

"Dedication to Authenticity and Pragmatism" has always been the core operating philosophy of Gancao Doctor. In terms of drug quality control, the company has established a comprehensive quality management system that strictly monitors the entire process—from the cultivation of authentic medicinal materials and the selection of cooperative pharmaceutical manufacturers to the preparation and dispensing of formulations—treating drug quality as the lifeline of the enterprise. In terms of integrity-based operations, the company adheres to the principle of "being honest as an enterprise, genuine as individuals, and pragmatic in action." Through initiatives such as regular live broadcasts from transparent workshops and offline inspections of trusted pharmacies, Gancao Doctor consistently communicates its relentless pursuit of quality and commitment to ethical business practices.

With a global vision, Gancao Doctor is actively expanding its international presence. Beyond China, the company has successfully registered the traditional Chinese medicine product Yupingfeng San in the Netherlands and Belgium. It is also deeply involved in ISO/TC249 international standard discussions, has established a cooperative relationship with the European Pharmacopoeia, and is participating in the second phase of the China-New Zealand Traditional Chinese Medicine Center. These efforts contribute to Building a Healthy China and promoting the global reach of TCM, showcasing Gancao Doctor’s innovative approach.

There is no doubt that, through the joint efforts of all stakeholders across the industry chain, traditional Chinese medicine is breaking through conventional medical boundaries and stepping onto the global stage with a more diverse and dynamic image.

Looking ahead, bolstered by two rounds of funding, Gancao Doctor will remain committed to its mission of "promoting traditional medicine and benefiting the public". The company will increase investment in core TCM AI technology R&D, health product innovation, consumer market expansion, and global layout. It will continue to provide high-quality, accessible TCM services to a broader audience, supporting the high-quality development and internationalization of the traditional Chinese medicine industry.

Xu Bin, Director of Puhua Capital, stated: "The traditional Chinese medicine industry is of enormous scale and continues to experience rapid growth. However, the digitalization, modernization, and standardization of the TCM supply chain, medical scenarios, and industrial chain still lag behind many other sectors of the modern healthcare system, leaving significant room for improvement. Gancao Doctor has established a mature, self-built, and nationwide traceable Chinese herbal medicine supply chain, full-formulation processing facilities, smart pharmacies, and industry-leading AI tools for TCM. These comprehensively modernize TCM diagnosis and treatment scenarios, enhance standardization across the herbal medicine industry, and reduce costs while improving efficiency. This has positioned the company as a domestic leader in business scale, sustained growth rate, number of contracted doctors and clinics, ecosystem completeness, and patient visits."

"Leveraging Puhua Capital's extensive experience and resource advantages in healthcare and consumer industries, we look forward to deepening collaboration with Gancao Doctor. We aim to support the company in accelerating its development under China's 'Healthy China' strategic framework, expanding its integrated service and product matrix that combines 'serious medical treatment with at-home chronic disease management and wellness lifestyles,' deeply participate in the formulation of international TCM standards, and lead the global expansion of TCM health services and products."

Wu Xiuli, Chairman of Jintou Capital, stated: "Traditional Chinese medicine is a treasure of Chinese civilization. Gancao Doctor has long been committed to exploring how to deeply integrate advanced technologies such as AI and big data with the vast resources of proven classical prescriptions and clinical data, enabling the inheritance of TCM to evolve with the times. The company is already at the forefront of this effort domestically, which strongly aligns with Jintou Capital’s current focus on data industry operations, artificial intelligence development, and digital transformation."

"Furthermore, Gancao Doctor has built a comprehensive ecosystem that includes herbal medicine traceability and digital clinics, empowering the entire system with a proprietary TCM AI large model. It is actively driving a strategic transition from 'medical services' to 'medical services + consumer health,' strengthening its presence in the consumer-side integrated health market. We look forward to in-depth strategic collaboration in the future and are confident that this partnership will inject strong momentum into the digitalization and modernization of the TCM industry."

Liu Zehui, Founding Partner of Xingtuo Capital, commented: "Over the years, Gancao Doctor has continued to strengthen its operations in online TCM diagnosis and treatment, TCM supply chain services, chain clinics, and health products, forming a leading scale and ecological advantage in the industry. The company possesses extensive resources of TCM practitioners across the country and has accumulated a large amount of effective clinical data. Using this data, it has developed the industry’s first TCM Q&A AI large model, 'Xuanqi Wendui,' which supports the development of the TCM industry from multiple dimensions such as TCM learning, consultation, and treatment. Through relevant diversification and multi-format operations, the company has established a relatively complete ecosystem for the TCM health industry, capable of providing high-quality, full-process TCM services to patients. It is poised to become a leading global enterprise in the TCM industry. The founding team combines backgrounds in both Western and traditional Chinese medicine, has collaborated for nearly ten years, complements each other’s strengths, and has a reasonable plan and a clear vision for the company’s development."

"We firmly believe in the future of the TCM industry and the growth prospects of Gancao Doctor. We will also provide continuous support for the company’s development. We are committed to growing together with the company and, under strong national policy encouragement and support, leveraging technology and industrial capabilities to contribute to the promotion of traditional Chinese medicine and the cultural heritage of the Chinese nation."