Thorough Future Secures Nearly RMB 100 Million Series A Funding to Advance Smart Hospital Development

Recently, THORUGH FUTURE announced the completion of its Series A financing round, raising nearly RMB 100 million. The round was led by Qiming Venture Partners, with participation from KIP Capital. The proceeds will be allocated to the research and development of new products, upgrading the intelligent pathology model system, platform operation and promotion, and applications for medical device registration certificates.

Since the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and seven other ministries first proposed the construction of "Smart Hospitals" in August 2014, China has clearly defined its goal to continuously advance the integrated development of electronic medical records, smart services, and smart management as the core pillars of smart hospital infrastructure. The country is vigorously developing telemedicine and internet-based diagnosis and treatment, while promoting the research, development, and application of intelligent medical devices such as surgical robots and intelligent auxiliary diagnostic systems. Furthermore, in recent years, with the advancement and application of technologies such as molecular pathology testing and artificial intelligence-assisted pathological diagnosis, clinical medicine has transitioned from the traditional eras of empirical and evidence-based medicine into the era of precision diagnosis and treatment.

As the "gold standard" for disease diagnosis, pathological diagnosis is crucial for diagnosing most diseases, especially cancer. The quality of pathological diagnosis is not only an important indicator of national healthcare quality but also directly affects patient treatment outcomes and the selection of subsequent treatment plans, having a profoundly significant impact on patients' lives and health. However, unfortunately, China's pathology industry faces challenges such as a shortage of talent and uneven distribution of pathological resources. Fortunately, with the help of artificial intelligence technology, it is possible to improve the efficiency of pathological diagnosis and reduce the occurrence of missed diagnoses. Today, smart pathology has become an essential component of building smart hospitals and can effectively meet the current clinical medicine's demand for precise diagnosis and treatment.

Thorough Future is dedicated to integrating advanced technology with healthcare, providing more accurate and efficient diagnostic services for clinical medicine, and offering personalized treatment recommendations for cancer patients. The Thorough Insights intelligent pathology diagnosis platform has played a significant role in improving diagnostic efficiency and the standard of care. This product is applicable to organs with high tumor incidence in the Chinese population, including the stomach, intestines, esophagus, lungs, prostate, breast, endometrium, cervix, and lymph nodes. It achieves a sensitivity of nearly 100% and a specificity of over 80% in identifying malignant tumors. Furthermore, it is compatible with data acquired from different hospitals and digital slide scanners, maintaining stable diagnostic performance. It also automatically performs subtyping of malignant tumors and identifies benign lesions.

THOROUGH FUTURE successfully obtained the Class II medical device registration certificate for its pathological diagnosis image processing software in April 2023. Meanwhile, THOROUGH FUTURE has also achieved comprehensive qualifications in system certifications. Commenting on this, Liu Yanbin, CEO of THOROUGH FUTURE, stated, “This will help accelerate its marketization process. Furthermore, to address the uneven distribution of pathology resources and disparities in pathological diagnostic capabilities across hospitals at different levels, THOROUGH FUTURE not only provides private cloud-based smart pathology diagnosis solutions for tertiary hospitals but also aims to support secondary and lower-tier hospitals through regional diagnostic pathology clouds. This initiative is designed to provide more medical institutions with advanced pathological diagnostic technologies and resources.”

Currently, Thorough Future has collaborated with the Pathology Quality Control Center of the National Health Commission to successfully complete the integration of the Digital Pathology Remote Diagnosis and Quality Control Platform with the Smart Pathology Diagnosis Cloud. As a result of this collaboration, smart pathology diagnosis services will be gradually rolled out to 2,000 end-user hospitals over the next three years, aiming to provide primary care hospitals with smart pathology diagnosis services comparable to those offered by top-tier tertiary (Grade A) hospitals. This initiative will significantly enhance the pathological diagnostic capabilities of primary healthcare institutions, address regional disparities, and enable more patients to benefit from advanced smart pathology technologies.

Meanwhile, THORUGH FUTURE will maintain close collaborations with dozens of top-tier Grade A tertiary hospitals in China, contributing to its long-term development. Dr. Wang Shuhao, CTO of THOROUGH FUTURE, stated, “THOROUGH FUTURE plans to launch a series of innovative products, including large pathology image models, a new generation of global weakly supervised model architectures, a next-generation intelligent pathology diagnosis platform, and a multimodal, multi-organ tumor smart diagnosis and treatment and digital target discovery platform for new drug development. The introduction of these innovative products will further advance the construction of smart hospitals and support the digitalization, informatization, and intelligent transformation of cancer diagnosis.”

Mr. Liu Yanbin stated, “THOROUGH FUTURE is committed to enhancing the efficiency and quality of pathological diagnosis through the application of digital and intelligent technologies, thereby meeting the growing patient demand for precision diagnosis and treatment. By collaborating closely with top-tier Grade 3A hospitals, THOROUGH FUTURE will continue to launch innovative products, support the development of smart hospitals, and provide more accurate and efficient diagnostic services for clinical medicine.”

Dr. Wang Shuhao stated, “Technological innovation is the soul of THORUGH FUTURE. We will continue to maintain close collaboration with top-tier hospitals in China, pooling wisdom and strength to advance the development of smart hospitals. THOROUGH FUTURE will remain deeply committed to the field of pathology, applying and developing cutting-edge artificial intelligence technologies, including large language models, while continuously refining new products and services to benefit more patients.”

At the conclusion of the interview, Yanbin Liu, CEO of THORUGH FUTURE, and Dr. Shuhao Wang, CTO, extended their sincere gratitude to Qiming Venture Partners, KIP Capital, and the shareholders who have long supported the company’s development: “We thank Qiming Venture Partners and KIP Capital for their trust and support in THOROUGH FUTURE, and we appreciate the continued recognition and assistance from our shareholders, including Hongdao Capital, Kuai Chuang Ying, Puhua Capital, Turing Ventures, Panlin Capital, Silver Australia Capital, and RY Investment. THOROUGH FUTURE will remain committed to the deep integration of cutting-edge technology with modern medicine, continue to lead the development of smart pathology, and drive progress in the global healthcare industry!”

Mr. Mao Shuo, Executive Director of Qiming Venture Partners, the lead investor in this round, stated: “Thorough Future is an innovative company leading the development of smart pathology, having created the world’s most advanced products, particularly in multi-organ tissue pathology. By integrating artificial intelligence technology with medical expertise, Thorough Future provides healthcare institutions with comprehensive smart pathology solutions, delivering a better treatment experience for patients. As an investor, we deeply appreciate Thorough Future’s sense of mission and innovative drive. We believe that Thorough Future will continue to lead the advancement of smart pathology, bringing more innovation and transformation to the healthcare industry and making significant contributions to global health.”

Dr. Lee Byung-min from KIP Capital, an investor in this round, stated: “Against the backdrop of today’s globalization, the healthcare industry is undergoing rapid transformation and innovation. THOROUGH FUTURE’s products and solutions boast high compatibility, enabling them to adapt to diverse medical environments and needs across different countries and regions. This allows THOROUGH FUTURE’s intelligent pathology diagnosis platform to be widely adopted globally, providing advanced pathological diagnostic technologies and resource support to healthcare institutions in various regions. We will work closely with THOROUGH FUTURE, leveraging our global resources and network to help the company expand its international business and drive the global healthcare industry to new heights.”

Qiming Venture Partners, established in 2006, has successively set up offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Suzhou, Hong Kong, Seattle, Boston, and the San Francisco Bay Area. Currently, Qiming Venture Partners manages 11 US dollar funds and 7 RMB funds, with total assets under management reaching $9.5 billion. Since its inception, the firm has focused on investing in outstanding early-stage and growth-stage companies in the Technology and Consumer (T&C) and Healthcare sectors. To date, Qiming Venture Partners has invested in more than 530 high-growth innovative enterprises, among which over 200 have exited through listings on major exchanges—including the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), NASDAQ, Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX), Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE), and Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE)—as well as through mergers and acquisitions. More than 70 of these portfolio companies have become industry-recognized unicorns and super unicorns.

KIP Capital (Korea Investment Partners) is an Asian venture capital firm. Since its establishment in Seoul, South Korea, in 1986, it has maintained a steady investment pace and gradually grown into a venture capital institution based in Asia with investment reach extending to multiple regions worldwide. KIP focuses on the development of various emerging sectors, particularly biopharmaceuticals/big health, mass consumption/IoT, and advanced technology/AI. Its portfolio companies are distributed across Asia, Europe, and the Americas, with over 900 investments made to date, including more than 200 companies listed on secondary markets in various countries and regions. KIP’s extensive investment experience has been validated by the market. Currently, KIP manages seven RMB-denominated funds in mainland China, with total assets under management exceeding RMB 3 billion. This brings KIP’s cumulative assets under management to over USD 5 billion, with all liquidated funds having achieved profitability.