Tupai Medical Secures Nearly RMB 150 Million in Series A Financing to Advance High-End Ophthalmic Devices and Core Optoelectronic Components

VCBeat has learned that TowardPi (Beijing) Medical Technology Co., Ltd. (formerly known as Beijing TowardPi Imaging Technology Co., Ltd.) completed its Series A and Series A+ financing rounds in the second half of 2020, raising nearly RMB 150 million. Both rounds were led by Tsinghua Holdings Jinxin Capital, with existing shareholders Shuimu Ventures, Tsinghua Holdings Ginkgo Capital, and Tus-Star Ventures continuing to increase their investments, and Zhongguancun Frontier Fund participating as a co-investor.

TowardPi Medical originated from the commercialization of cutting-edge technological achievements at Tsinghua University. It was founded by a group of Tsinghua alumni from diverse technical disciplines and jointly incubated by the Beijing Tsinghua Industrial R&D Institute and the Global Health Industry Innovation Center (GHIC). Established in October 2017, the company is dedicated to the independent research, development, and manufacturing of high-end ophthalmic medical equipment and core optoelectronic components.

TowardPi “Beiming·Kun” 400,000 A-scan/s Swept-Source OCT

The company’s commercialized product portfolio consists of multiple “ultra-high-speed ophthalmic swept-source OCT” systems.

Among them, the “Beiming·Kun” series products achieve a scanning speed of 400,000 scans per second, more than doubling the existing industry record. This enables ultra-widefield OCT angiography (OCTA) to be completed in an extremely short time, making it the world’s first commercially available 400,000-scan-per-second swept-source OCT product.

The “Yaoguang·Star” series products achieve a maximum scanning depth of 14 mm, enabling seamless, panoramic imaging from the corneal apex to the posterior lens capsule and part of the vitreous body for all patients. This imaging depth exceeds twice the maximum 6 mm depth of current fundus OCT systems and is even slightly superior to that of specialized anterior segment OCT devices (13 mm).

Wide-field OCTA imaging of patients with fundus ischemia (left) Panoramic anterior segment tomography (right)

It is understood that, in addition to the aforementioned product lines, TowardPi possesses multiple high-end ophthalmic medical equipment product lines, all of which are poised to enter the product registration phase.

Over the past six months, TowardPi has engaged in product and academic research collaborations with numerous renowned Grade-A tertiary hospitals across China, earning unanimous acclaim from authoritative experts and scholars in ophthalmology, while continuously generating new innovative technological achievements.

At the end of 2020, TowardPi’s first-generation “Yaoguang·Star” product obtained its registration certificate and was launched on the market, with mass production already underway. Within just over a month of obtaining the certificate, sales had already reached several million yuan.

In just three years since its inception, how has this team, emerging from a Tsinghua University laboratory, managed to transform technology into products at an astonishing pace and leap directly from its origins to a globally leading standard?

In response, Wang Yingqi, CEO of TowardPi and a graduate of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Tsinghua University, stated, “The rapid progress achieved by the TowardPi team, with technological outcomes growing exponentially, is attributable to our solid foundation in core optoelectronic technologies—truly a case of ‘accumulating strength over time for a breakthrough.’ Although ophthalmic medical devices vary in form and function, they are all derived from underlying optoelectronic technologies. Optoelectronics serves as a platform technology for ophthalmic medical devices.”

Currently, apart from a few optoelectronic giants such as Carl Zeiss, most ophthalmic medical equipment suppliers both in China and abroad adopt system integration solutions. Consequently, they are unable to break through the limitations imposed by device-level supply chains on technical parameters and functional requirements, nor can they independently develop truly groundbreaking products. The TowardPi team possesses a first-class foundation in optoelectronic technology, with its core members originating from the Department of Electronic Engineering at Tsinghua University. Prior to the company’s establishment, the team had already been deeply engaged in the optoelectronic industry chain for over a decade. By integrating cutting-edge underlying optoelectronic technologies and applying them to the field of ophthalmic medical equipment, TowardPi has been able to rapidly develop high-end devices with technical specifications that surpass imported products and reach a unique global standard.

Wang Yingqi revealed that the technical prowess of TowardPi’s team extends far beyond this. A series of new products, with performance parameters reaching a new order of magnitude, have already been approved and incorporated into the R&D pipeline, including a new heavyweight high-end ophthalmic medical device. “We will continue to bring new technologies, new inventions, and new surprises to the ophthalmic healthcare industry,” said Wang Yingqi.

TowardPi’s ability to generate such a substantial volume of R&D achievements in a short period is strongly underpinned by its robust technical team. It is reported that TowardPi currently employs numerous senior technical alumni from Tsinghua University, specializing in diverse fields such as Electronics, Biomedical Engineering, and Precision Instruments, who oversee ten specialized technical groups within the Technical Department. The company’s team of highly educated professionals, including master’s and doctoral degree holders from renowned universities both domestically and internationally, has grown to dozens of members and continues to expand rapidly. Furthermore, prestigious academic and research institutions, including Tsinghua University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, are continuously providing TowardPi with new technological reserves.

According to Wang Yingqi, the primary use of this financing is to upgrade existing GMP production lines, improve process standards, continue to tackle key challenges in optimizing core components, and support the research and development, clinical trials, and registration of numerous new products.

Qingkong Jinxin Capital, the lead investor in TowardPi’s Series A and A+ financing rounds, stated: “The ophthalmic medical industry, where TowardPi operates, has experienced rapid development in recent years. Qingkong Jinxin closely monitors the progress of top-tier domestic teams in this field. We value TowardPi’s strong independent R&D capabilities in foundational technologies. The company boasts solid expertise in optoelectronics and comprehensive hardware technical strengths. Meanwhile, its algorithm team has made rapid strides in both traditional algorithms and artificial intelligence. The swept-source OCT products for ophthalmology, which have obtained regulatory approval and are commercially available, demonstrate the company’s excellent productization capabilities. Within just three years, TowardPi’s growth pace, particularly its technological advancements, has consistently exceeded our expectations. We look forward to TowardPi developing more high-quality new products, becoming a vital force in the global ophthalmic medical device market, and meeting emerging clinical needs.”

Wang Yingqi stated: TowardPi’s goal is not merely to become a commercially successful company, nor is it content with simply serving as an import substitute. TowardPi aims to become a world-class platform for translating innovations in ophthalmic medical engineering into clinical applications.

“Over the past few years, our team has worked day and night, rising to challenges and overcoming numerous technical hurdles in products and core components. Today, TowardPi possesses the technical capability to customize and develop innovative products aligned with clinical needs. Looking ahead, we aspire for TowardPi to become a hub for the emergence of new technologies and inventions in China’s ophthalmic medical field. The TowardPi technical team comprises not only engineers but also inventors and pioneers of the future. We are committed to creating more original technologies originating from China, making continuous new contributions to the ophthalmic healthcare industry.”