After the Restart of the Five Sets of Standards for STAR Market, the First Medical Device Company’s IPO Soared 200% at Opening!

On February 5, 2026, InSight Lifetech (Stock Code: 688712), China's leading company in precision PCI (Percutaneous Coronary Intervention), successfully listed on the STAR Market at a price of 17.52 yuan per share. It became the third company under the reinstated fifth set of standards of the STAR Market, and the first medical device company in China to successfully go public.

After the opening, the share price of InSight Lifetech once surged over 200%. As of press time, the real-time share price of InSight Lifetech is 48.69 yuan, with an increase of 177.91%, corresponding to a total market value of 20.304 billion yuan.

As a technology-driven medical enterprise with innovation at its core, InSight Lifetech's first key product, the Fractional Flow Reserve (FFR) measurement system, was the first to gain market access in 2020. It is China’s first domestically produced direct FFR measurement product approved by the National Medical Products Administration.

Thereafter, the company also entered the interventional treatment process for cardiovascular diseases, and in 2022, it received approval for China's first self-innovated 60MHz high-definition and high-speed domestically produced IVUS, further expanding its revenue-generating capabilities.

InSight Lifetech Product Pipeline (Data Source: InSight Lifetech Prospectus)

The rapid development of startups is not without capital assistance. In 2016, domestically produced cardiovascular devices began to show their potential, and the newly established InSight Lifetech had already recognized the potential of precision PCI, during which it received 16 million yuan in Pre-A round funding from Taiyu Investment.

Six years later, InSight Lifetech completed six rounds of financing successively, gaining support from well-known investment institutions such as Sequoia China, Hotang Ventures, EF Capital, Huagai Capital, and Qiming Venture Partners. A competitive barrier of "core innovative products + top-tier capital ecosystem" has gradually taken shape.

Compared with product development and financing in the primary market, the IPO path of InSight Lifetech has been quite bumpy. It submitted a prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in August 2021 but returned empty-handed. Then, it filed for the STAR Market in early 2023, only to have its IPO review stall due to tightened scrutiny.

However, the core technology, product pipeline, and operational sales capabilities of InSight Lifetech have improved significantly compared to the past. From January to June 2025, InSight Lifetech achieved a total profit of 45.5127 million yuan, marking its first turnaround from losses to profitability.

Operating Data of InSight Lifetech (Source: InSight Lifetech Prospectus)

InSight Lifetech's precise PCI track is a "value洼地" in China, with significant clinical value but low penetration.

According to Frost & Sullivan, in 2021, the penetration rates of direct FFR measurement in coronary angiography (CAG) were 18.7%, 12.3%, 8.4%, and 0.9% (direct FFR/CAG) in the United States, Japan, Europe, and China, respectively. The penetration rates in percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) procedures were 68.8%, 45.5%, 19.6%, and 3.4% (direct FFR/PCI), respectively.

The huge development space and potential have attracted numerous startups to enter the market. Between 2015 and 2020, no fewer than ten companies in China entered the precision PCI field with FFR-related products, turning what was once a blue ocean into a particularly crowded space.

InSight Lifetech is one of the frontrunners in its field. In the specific scenario of direct FFR measurement, it obtained the first Class III NMPA approval for this application in 2020. The following year, it captured a significant number of orders from multinational companies, increasing its market share in China to nearly one-third. It also achieved commercial success in over ten overseas countries, including Belgium, Germany, and Italy.

Breaking Down InSight Lifetech's Winning Strategy: On one hand, it differentiated itself by choosing a unique track, avoiding the AI trend and the then-popular CT-FFR, thereby gaining a first-mover advantage in direct FFR measurement; on the other hand, it differentiated through technology choices, capturing the market with strong capabilities.

Unlike other companies' FFR, InSight Lifetech adopts the CathMEMSTM packaging technology, which enables the direct measurement of FFR by packaging MEMS pressure sensors onto rapid-exchange microcatheters. Based on its self-developed Constant Resistance Ratio (cRR) technology, it has launched an FFR system with cRR functionality (FFR-cRR).

The value of FFR-cRR lies in its ability to measure without the use of vasodilators, thus simplifying the clinical operation of coronary functional assessment. It can be used for patients who are intolerant to vasodilators, effectively expanding the applicable scope of FFR.

In addition, since cRR has been proven by multiple international large-scale clinical studies to be equivalent to FFR in diagnosing myocardial ischemia and guiding PCI treatment strategies, and has been listed as a Class IA recommendation in the European '2018 ESC/EACTS Myocardial Revascularization Guidelines,' InSight Lifetech has the confidence to quickly enter overseas markets.

After the formation of FFR, InSight Lifetech took a giant leap forward by launching a new generation of IVUS, directly moving from the "diagnosis" of cardiovascular diseases to more challenging and riskier "treatment" scenarios. Through this process, InSight Lifetech has not only established a functionally continuous ecosystem for the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases but also significantly raised the market ceiling it can reach.

Similar to the strategy chosen for tackling FFR, InSight Lifetech has doubled down on IVUS with a focus on "differentiation" and "product strength."

Previously, most IVUS products in China were 40MHz, which had strong penetration but were limited in imaging clarity and speed. Seizing this opportunity, InSight Lifetech differentiated itself in clarity and developed China's first self-innovated 60MHz high-definition and high-speed domestically produced IVUS product.

The reason why imaging equipment constantly pursues clarity is that higher resolution contains richer information. Therefore, after upgrading the resolution to 60Hz, the new-generation IVUS can clearly display plaque characteristics (such as type, size, shape, distribution, stability) without compromising penetration. It can also detect minor lesions (such as early atherosclerotic plaques, tiny tears or dissections in the blood vessel wall, etc.), assist doctors in accurately measuring parameters like vessel diameter and lesion length, thereby selecting stents of appropriate size and type, and deriving the most suitable interventional treatment strategy for patients, reducing the occurrence of surgical complications.

Holding the new generation of IVUS, InSight Lifetech has successfully entered the treatment segment of precision PCI, a market with greater room for imagination.

The prospectus data shows that in 2021, the penetration rate of IVUS in PCI in Japan exceeded 90%, while the penetration rate of IVUS in PCI in China increased rapidly from about 8.5% in 2020 to about 15.4% in 2021, achieving nearly double growth within a year. Regarding IVUS consumables, the usage volume in China is expected to be approximately 322,800 units, 368,100 units, and 553,700 units for the years 2022-2024, respectively, also showing a significantly rising trend.

Overall, thanks to the accumulation of relevant clinical evidence, high recommendations in clinical guidelines and consensus documents, continuous market education leading to improved concepts among Chinese operators, product technology iteration, and the substitution with domestically produced alternatives, the penetration rate of IVUS in China is rapidly increasing. It is estimated that the overall market size of IVUS in China will grow from approximately 1.76 billion yuan in 2024 to about 5.11 billion yuan in 2030, with a compound annual growth rate of approximately 19.4%, granting InSight Lifetech immense growth potential.

China Intravascular Ultrasound (IVUS) Market, 2018-2030E (Data Source: InSight Lifetech Prospectus)

In addition to the two core products, FFR and IVUS, Insight Lifetech has also completed the layout in vascular access products, shockwave balloon treatment systems, and electrophysiology solutions.

In the vision of InSight Lifetech, the intravascular functional and imaging medical device industry should not only provide high-performance products to medical institutions but also assist doctors in formulating integrated diagnosis and treatment solutions, ultimately reducing patient treatment costs and improving treatment efficiency.

Therefore, after its IPO, InSight Lifetech plans to further increase its investment in technology development and independent innovation. It aims to form a precise PCI solution centered around an intravascular imaging platform, an intravascular functional platform, and a one-stop integrated platform. While simplifying the operators' procedural workflow and optimizing clinical diagnosis and treatment plans, the company seeks to achieve a scaled increase in the penetration rate of precise PCI.

Revenue Composition of InSight Lifetech (Source: InSight Lifetech Prospectus)

Although InSight Lifetech's past strategies once helped it gain a first-mover advantage in various niche markets, the dual changes in policy and market conditions may now lead to vastly different futures for the company’s diverse product lines.

For InSight Lifetech, direct FFR measurement is currently the most stable track, but also the track with the most limited development prospects.

On the one hand, the current evaluation of vascular disease is already crowded with various FFRs. InSight Lifetech, with its previously accumulated market share, is able to generate considerable revenue, but it is difficult to gain additional market share again with an economic strategy.

On the other hand, although FFR products have achieved medical insurance coverage in most regions of China, there are still issues with the lack of uniformity in diagnostic and treatment items and charging standards, resulting in a relatively limited increase in penetration rates.

Therefore, the unit price and sales volume of directly measuring FFR may not change significantly in the short term. It is expected that Insight Lifetech will maintain annual sales revenue of 80 to 100 million yuan in the coming years, with little chance of breaking through this range.

More variables in IVUS.

Thanks to the inclusion of IVUS imaging catheters in the provincial coronary IVUS alliance procurement in August 2023, which was gradually implemented by provinces across China starting in May 2024, InSight Lifetech achieved explosive growth during the periods of January-June 2024 and 2025 through a "trade-off of price for volume," eventually turning losses into profits.

Sales of InSight Lifetech's Main Businesses During the Reporting Period (Data Source: InSight Lifetech Prospectus)

But similar to FFR, once more IVUS devices are approved to enter the market, the resulting competition will further squeeze InSight Lifetech's profits and interfere with its efforts to expand into new domestic markets in China.

Fortunately, according to the data in the prospectus, InSight Lifetech's IVUS sales are still in the scale expansion phase, and its market advantage can be maintained for at least several years. In addition, InSight Lifetech has already made multi-faceted preparations for upcoming competition and identified several potential competitive advantages.

First, there are innovative businesses in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, such as vascular access and shockwave balloons. These sectors are closely related to InSight Lifetech's existing precision PCI business, with rapid technological updates and iterations. InSight Lifetech has the opportunity to quickly enter the market through technological breakthroughs, creating sustainable consumables revenue, while also building an integrated precision PCI solution to further enhance the product's competitive barriers.

Going global with its devices may also become an important source of growth for InSight Lifetech. Currently, InSight Lifetech has achieved sales in 30 countries and regions, including Belgium, Germany, and Italy, through an agency model. From January to June 2025, it generated revenue of 46.4271 million yuan, accounting for 17.94% of total revenue. Both the amount and proportion have been continuously increasing over the years.

Facing the numerous uncertainties in the current medical device market, the investment institutions of InSight Lifetech seem to have never doubted this company's innovation capabilities and market potential.

Sequoia China, as the largest institutional shareholder of InSight Lifetech, had its Managing Director, Cao Yibo, state: "InSight Lifetech is a key strategic layout in Sequoia China's deep cultivation of the cardiovascular precision diagnosis and treatment sector. As a partner who led the company’s Series B financing in 2018 and continued to support subsequent financing rounds, we believe that true domestic substitution should not stop at replication but focus on surpassing. Through the first domestically approved 60MHz high-definition and high-speed IVUS product and the domestically produced direct FFR measurement system, InSight Lifetech has demonstrated that Chinese companies are fully capable of reshaping the market landscape by surpassing through technological innovation on a higher competitive stage."

Huagai Capital also stated: "From the innovative sprouts rooted in China to becoming a new-generation leading force in the export of high-performance medical devices, the company's decade-long journey embodies ‘improving life and health through innovation and quality.’ As shareholders, we have been fortunate to witness and support this arduous yet brilliant journey. The IPO is a milestone, but more importantly, a new starting point. We have every reason to believe that with its deep expertise in the field of cardiovascular precision intervention and the fresh momentum brought by this listing, InSight Lifetech will surely embark on a new chapter of high-quality development, creating greater value for patients, clinical practices, and Healthy China."

Capable of achieving counter-cyclical growth amidst the downturn in the medical device industry, InSight Lifetech has already demonstrated its capabilities to a certain extent. Now, with the support of the secondary market, InSight Lifetech may have the ability to break away from its previous single-point operational strategy, offering an integrated precision PCI solution to save more lives of patients with cardiovascular diseases.