Bingjing Intelligence Completes Tens of Millions RMB Angel Round to Pioneer Next-Gen Intra-Cardiac Ultrasound

VCBeat has learned at the earliest opportunity that,Suzhou ICE Intelligent Healthcare Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “ICE”) has completed an angel-round financing of tens of millions of yuan. The round was led by Yuanyi Capital, with participation from Yinglian Health Fund. The raised funds will be allocated to the R&D of the company’s HD-ICE (next-generation intracardiac echocardiography) product, platform development, recruitment of multidisciplinary talent, and future capacity expansion.

ICE, established in 2021, targets the structural heart disease and electrophysiology markets with its next-generation HD-ICE product, featuring high-definition imaging and superior maneuverability. This innovation aims to fill the domestic gap in China and enhance the efficacy and safety of cardiac interventional procedures.

The development of interventional procedures has spurred a series of innovative therapeutic and imaging devices. In 2021, the number of TAVR (Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement) procedures in China (including transfemoral and transapical approaches, excluding clinical trials) exceeded 6,500 cases; the volume of TEER (Transcatheter Edge-to-Edge Repair) procedures was approximately 350 cases; left atrial appendage occlusion procedures totaled around 14,000 cases; and congenital heart disease interventions amounted to roughly 75,000 cases. The volume of electrophysiology procedures was approximately 200,000 cases.

For the tens of millions of patients with structural heart disease and arrhythmias in China, the current rate of interventional treatment remains low, partly due to the lack of real-time intraoperative guidance and reliance on physicians’ individual experience, which limits procedural accessibility. The emergence of ICE provides real-time intraoperative guidance for interventional treatments in structural heart disease and electrophysiology, enhancing procedural efficacy and safety, thereby facilitating the decentralization of these procedures to primary healthcare institutions.

Previously, cardiologists primarily performed cardiac interventional procedures under the guidance of DSA (digital subtraction angiography) or transesophageal echocardiography.

DSA fails to clearly visualize the internal structural anatomy of the heart, requiring physicians to rely primarily on experience for procedural guidance. Additionally, both patients and medical staff are exposed to radiation; therefore, DSA is not a suitable modality for intraoperative guidance. Although transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) can clearly depict the endocardium, valves, blood flow, intracardiac masses, and abnormal structures, it entails prolonged equipment preparation time, requires general anesthesia during the procedure, imposes certain demands on patient tolerance, and necessitates coordination of resources across multiple hospital departments, including imaging and interventional teams. Consequently, TEE also presents significant practical limitations.

Neither is a suitable guidance device for structural heart disease or electrophysiology procedures, thereby limiting the implementation of both techniques.

In contrast,ICE is introduced into the cardiac chambers via the patient’s vasculature, requiring only local anesthesia. This approach avoids interference with ultrasound signals from tissues such as the skin, thoracic cage, and lungs, thereby yielding high-clarity imaging.According to Zhang Jihong, founder of ICE, the penetration rate of intracardiac echocardiography (ICE) in electrophysiology procedure guidance has exceeded 50% globally. In China, however, the penetration rate is approximately 10%. The domestic market is currently dominated by imported products, which are priced at a premium, indicating significant potential for substitution with domestically produced alternatives.

ICE is the product of multidisciplinary integration spanning clinical medicine, medical imaging, and passive consumables, making its research and development far from easy. ICE has assembled an internal multidisciplinary team with expertise in medical imaging, passive consumables, marketing, and other fields. The core team members all possess many years of industry experience and have a profound understanding of R&D, production, and sales. Within less than a year since its establishment, ICE has completed multiple iterations of its core technologies.

HD-ICE, developed by ICE, is the next-generation ICE product. According to Zhang Jihong, founder of ICE Medical,Next-generation ICE products should possess three key features: first, high definition and high resolution; second, high maneuverability precision; and third, simultaneous applicability in both structural heart disease and electrophysiology procedures.Currently, ICE products available on the market and those under development by certain companies are primarily used in the field of electrophysiological interventions, and they fail to adequately visualize blood flow and spectra in the treatment of structural heart disease.

ICE has launched the industry’s first next-generation acoustic energy conversion system, which enhances signal acquisition and transmission efficiency while improving image clarity. Additionally, the company has developed China’s first dedicated manipulation system for cardiac interventions, enabling precise 360-degree control. ICE also employs a professional cardiac image processing system utilizing the latest soft beamforming algorithms to achieve faster imaging speeds, thereby supporting applications in both structural heart disease and electrophysiology to meet diverse clinical needs.

As a domestically produced ICE system, ICE Intelligent Healthcare’s HD-ICE offers significant cost advantages and is poised to improve the accessibility of intracardiac echocardiography.

In the future, ICE will continue to focus on intracardiac interventional imaging, building a platform-based ultrasound product line to address localization and cost challenges. Meanwhile, it will persistently overcome new technical hurdles and develop cutting-edge 3D and 4D intracardiac echocardiography (ICE) products, “giving physicians an extra pair of keen eyes.”

Regarding this round of financing,Yuan Yi Capital stated“With the expansion and penetration of intracardiac interventional procedures, ICE, as the optimal intraoperative imaging tool, is facing excellent development opportunities and rapid market growth. The core members of the ICE Intelligent team all have more than 10 years of experience in marketing, clinical practice, and R&D in related fields. The team is well-structured, with complementary capabilities and strong execution, and has established in-depth collaborations with top domestic and international experts in key technical areas. The product pipeline in the field of intraoperative cardiac ultrasound is highly expandable. By simplifying and standardizing complex surgeries, it continuously improves the quality and accessibility of intracardiac interventional therapy. Yuanyi Capital is optimistic about the company’s gradual establishment of a full-process solution ranging from screening and diagnosis to intraoperative monitoring and surgical treatment, promoting the continuous in-depth expansion of clinical applications.”

Yinglian Health Fund stated: “Intracardiac echocardiography (ICE) can partially replace intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography, offering significant benefits to both patients and physicians. It has been widely adopted internationally, and sales of benchmark products are growing rapidly in China, indicating substantial potential for market substitution. Intracardiac echocardiography spans multiple disciplines, including materials, consumables, and imaging, presenting high barriers in research and development as well as production. With years of experience in ultrasound, clinical applications, and consumables, the ICE team is well-positioned to overcome these barriers and become a leading enterprise in this field in China.”

Yuan Yi Capital, established in 2016, is an early-stage venture capital fund focused on the digital health technology sector. It targets companies in their early stages that possess core technologies and innovative business models in the fields of medical devices and equipment, precision diagnostics, mobile healthcare and services, and health insurance technology. In recent years, its key investments include MedXin Health (commercial health insurance technology), Shukun Technology (AI-based medical imaging), RealShine Technology (digital dental solutions), Mingyi Zhonghe (primary care), Beideng Medical (B2B trading platform for medical devices), and Basecare (early cancer screening based on gene sequencing).

Yinglian Health Fund was established in early 2019, with cornerstone investors drawn from leading pharmaceutical companies in the industry. Research-driven, the fund deeply explores global investment opportunities in frontier innovative drugs, medical technologies, and devices. It co-incubates companies alongside top scientists, principal investigators (PIs), and clinical translation teams to address the challenge of bringing source innovation from concept to reality (from 0 to 1).