Yuewei Medical Completes Pre-A Funding Round to Advance Integrated Solutions for Severe Coronary Artery Disease Surgery

Recently, Yellwin announced the completion of a multi-million yuan Pre-A round of financing. This round was led by IDG Capital with participation from Yuanhui Chuangyi.

Yellwin was founded in 2021 by the cardiac surgery team of Anzhen Hospital in collaboration with senior technical executives from the domestic and international cardiovascular device industry, and was angel-incubated by Hotang Ventures. The company's projects stem from clinical pain points identified by the founding team through years of frontline experience in coronary heart disease surgical diagnosis and treatment, combined with the current state of cardiovascular devices, particularly in the field of coronary heart disease, in China. The core products not only meet the needs of clinicians but also fill a market gap in related fields of medical devices in China. At the same time, they align with national policy directions, accelerating the localization process of high-end medical devices in China, helping doctors improve clinical outcomes while controlling medical costs.

The new-generation heart stabilizer, femoral arteriovenous extracorporeal circulation catheter, and coronary heart disease scoring system independently developed by the company have completed the R&D phase and entered the type inspection stage. Other core projects of the company, such as the coronary artery bypass graft quality control system, have moved into the experimental production phase, while products like the pulsatile left ventricular assist system are about to complete design finalization.

After 2019, with the extensive coverage of centralized procurement and the impact of the pandemic,The number of coronary heart disease surgeries in China has seen a significant increase, rising from an average of 45,000 cases per year before the pandemic to 100,000 cases per year.。

But the huge supply and demand contradiction between the number of patients and surgeries in China's coronary artery surgery has not been resolved. The gap in surgery volume between China and Europe and America remains significant, considering only the increase in coronary artery surgery patients.China faces an annual surgical procedure shortfall of over 200,000 cases.. Although the clinical capabilities of medical centers in various regions have greatly improved, the differences in the quality of diagnosis and treatment between them remain significant. In addition, the overall breakthrough in the efficacy of coronary heart disease surgery in China has also hit a bottleneck. The minimally invasive rate of coronary artery surgery and the standardized quality control rate still lag far behind those in Europe and America.

The reasons for this are twofold: On one hand, the precision and standardization of the diagnosis and treatment process for coronary heart disease surgery in China are insufficient; on the other hand, most of the surgical instruments for coronary heart disease are copied from Europe and America, lacking domestically produced, innovative instruments that are suited to the characteristics of Chinese patients and can help doctors effectively reduce the difficulty of surgery. Against the backdrop of the increasing severity of coronary heart disease patients and the growing complexity of surgeries, these issues have arisen, affecting the further improvement of overall outcomes for coronary heart disease patients.

Over the past few years, cardiac surgery, especially coronary artery bypass surgery, has been highly demanding in terms of surgical difficulty and hospital comprehensive strength. As a result, most clinical resources have been concentrated in a few top-tier tertiary hospitals in China. This has led to a limited number of manufacturers engaging in the research, development, and production of related medical devices. The field has not been a focus for medical device companies, with both domestic and international firms having minimal presence, leaving it still in a blue ocean stage. However, in the past three years, with the surge in surgical volume, the field of coronary artery bypass surgery is expected to become another hotspot in the medical device sector.

Yellwin, based on the founder team's years of clinical practice, has developed multiple innovative medical devices tailored to the characteristics of Chinese patients and clinical pain points, such as the new generation of fixator products.Modular design can meet various surgical scenarios and effectively reduce the difficulty of surgery., especially in response to the minimally invasive trend in coronary surgery, which has overturned the traditional design concept of minimally invasive stabilizers, fundamentally assisting physicians in achieving complete revascularization under direct vision in minimally invasive procedures.

The quality control system for vascular anastomosis surpasses foreign competitors in key indicators while,Significantly Reduce End-User Prices, the product's market launch will effectively address the issue of insufficient quality control rates in coronary artery surgery in China (the use of equipment for quality control during coronary artery surgery was included in guidelines as early as 2010, but currently, the usage rate of quality control devices in China is only 20%); the coronary heart disease scoring system canSignificantly Enhance the Precision Evaluation Capability for Coronary Heart Disease Patients, providing a powerful tool for preoperative risk assessment, intraoperative surgical planning, and postoperative prognosis estimation.

After the completion of this round of financing, Yellwin will continue to advance subsequent product development, market launch, clinical trials, and other work. In response to the trends of gradual aging among coronary heart disease patients in China, increasing comorbidities, and reduced surgical tolerance, while also considering patients' payment capabilities and specific clinical usage scenarios, Yellwin has developedRapidly Deployable Pulsatile Left Ventricular Assist Device, helping patients with acute heart failure get through the clinical danger period, and providing保驾护航 (escort and protection) diagnostic and treatment equipment for patients undergoing major internal and external surgeries. In addition, the product is implanted through a single femoral artery access, and the consumable part adopts a passive design, effectively reducing the end-user price while enhancing safety and reliability.

Since its establishment, Yellwin has successfully translated the research achievements of multiple clinical doctors into company projects and incubated them into products, such as minimally invasive fixators, vascular anastomosis quality control, and other projects that include the R&D results of several coronary surgery experts. The company follows a strict process for the transformation of scientific research achievements.On the one hand, it realized the rational and legal transfer of achievements and subsequent research and development; on the other hand, it also gave the company a certain platform attribute, exploring a unique achievement incubation model with Yellwin characteristics, which is different from the traditional CDMO model.

In the future development of the company, Yellwin will continue to screen high-quality achievements that meet clinical needs and have industrialization and commercialization potential. Through the Yellwin model, the company will continuously incubate projects, enrich its product lines, and strive to create an integrated solution for severe coronary heart disease.

Yellwin will obtain multiple product registration certificates successively in 2023-2024, covering a variety of high-value consumables for cardiac surgery, and once again sincerely seeks cooperation opportunities.

Professor Yang Yu, Chief Scientist of YellwinProposed: "Since its establishment, all projects of Yellwin have had three characteristics: ①High Clinical Acceptance——All core projects of the company require no market education, as they are all essential medical devices in the diagnosis and treatment process. Most of them are highly recommended by guidelines and must be used, which gives us a certain advantage in market promotion. ②Blue Ocean Competitiveness——Most of the company's core projects lack effective competitors in China, and even if there are competitors, their market penetration has not formed a barrier, which brings opportunities for the company’s future development; ③Technical Originality——Yellwin always regards technological innovation as its core competitiveness. Several core projects are global firsts, and even in the presence of competing products, the company has carried out technological upgrades or iterations on their basis, building competitive barriers from multiple aspects such as core technology and production processes. This round of financing is an important milestone event in Yellwin's development process. In the future, whether it is for the research and development of core projects or the exploration of new projects, we will adhere to the above development strategy to develop more competitive products."

IDG Capital Partner Liu YikunStated: "Yellwin's core founding team comes from the clinical frontlines of top cardiovascular hospitals in China, with a deep understanding of clinical needs. This kind of medicine-engineering combination, starting from clinical practice, can achieve rapid iteration in alignment with market demands. The company persists in continuous innovation within the cardiovascular field, and its products hold irreplaceable competitiveness in the market for cardiothoracic consumables. Meanwhile, its expansion into innovative cardiovascular device fields presents a potential market exceeding tens of billions. IDG Capital will continue to support the company in pursuing broader innovative explorations in the future."

Mr. Zhang Fan, Founder and Managing Partner of Yuanhui ChuangyiStated: "As a model of 'medical-engineering integration,' the founding team of Yellwin, based on years of clinical practice in cardiovascular diseases, particularly coronary heart disease, focuses on the research and development and production of surgical instruments for coronary heart disease. They have innovatively developed multiple medical devices tailored to the characteristics of Chinese patients and addressing clinical pain points, including a new generation stabilizer, pulsatile left ventricular assist system, vascular anastomosis quality control system, and coronary artery disease scoring system. We look forward to Yellwin using this as a new starting point, with its outstanding team working together to overcome challenges continuously. Combining their rich clinical experience in the diagnosis and treatment of coronary artery disease, they aim to promote cutting-edge innovative technologies and fully apply them in this field. Their goal is to develop multi-matrix high-end products with significant clinical value and iterate and upgrade these products to address the unmet clinical needs in this area. We are delighted to participate in this investment, supporting and accompanying the company's growth, leveraging technology for the benefit of humanity, and reaching more patients."

For many years, IDG Capital has consistently paid close attention to the development of the healthcare sector. In just under five years, IDG Capital has invested in approximately 70 projects within the medical field, focusing on key areas such as biopharmaceuticals, medical device diagnostics, and artificial intelligence. It also keeps an eye on opportunities brought by policy-driven innovative healthcare models. In the biopharmaceutical sector, IDG Capital has not only invested in new drug research and development companies like Kelun Botai, Boya Gene Editing, and Shengsi Biotech but also in upstream and downstream enterprises in the industrial chain, including Baiomics, GenScript Biotech, Southern Model Organisms, and Novotech. In the medical device diagnostics sector, IDG Capital has funded projects like Yuanxin Technology, Huihe Medical, and Kangli Ming. In the artificial intelligence space, IDG Capital has bet on projects like Changmu Valley and Bingzhou Stone. By closely monitoring adjustments in national health insurance policies and potential opportunities arising from healthcare service reforms, IDG Capital has identified standout projects such as Weimai Healthcare and Simpler Healthcare Technology.

Beijing Yuanhui Venture Capital Co., Ltd. (Yuanhui Chuangyi) was established in 2010. With a long-term perspective, it seeks to accompany entrepreneurs with aspirations and innovative enterprises with hard-core technologies to grow together. Guided by the two fundamental principles of "business for good" and "technology benefiting humanity," it influences enterprises to take on social responsibility. Through innovative mechanisms for redistributing commercial returns, it continuously empowers modern educational philanthropy. Over the past 13 years since its establishment, Yuanhui Chuangyi has focused on investments in hard-core technologies, with key investments in upstream life science industries (medical devices/equipment, biological reagents, biomaterials, etc.) and front-end ICT industries (semiconductors, core components, materials, and foundational software). Since 2021, Yuanhui Chuangyi has registered four funds (including one special fund) and invested in more than 30 entrepreneurs. All fund investors have committed to donating 30% of excess returns to charity, while the managers have pledged to donate half of their performance fees to philanthropy.