Zhongke Ruiyi Completes Tens of Millions of RMB Pre-A Financing to Build Neurology 'New Infrastructure'

VCBeat has learned that Zhongke Ruiyi recently announced the completion of a tens-of-millions-yuan Pre-A financing round, led by BlueRun Ventures China and participated in by Zhiyuan Venture Capital, Ningbo Youding, and existing shareholder Changjian Investment. The funds raised will be primarily used for product research and development, clinical registration of medical devices, and market promotion.

According to available information, Zhongke Ruiyi is an innovative, fast-growing medical technology enterprise established through the commercialization of scientific research achievements from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Leveraging frontier neuroscience accomplishments that have received the National Science and Technology Progress Award, the company integrates industry-academia-research capabilities in cross-disciplinary medical-engineering R&D, providing intelligent technological solutions for the comprehensive screening, diagnosis, treatment, and research of neurological disorders.

Currently, Zhongke Ruiyi has established four core product lines centered on two key areas: quantitative assessment of neurological function and intervention-based reconstruction of brain function. These encompass more than ten specialized pipelines tailored to specific needs and scenarios. Such solutions will serve as foundational infrastructure for neurology departments in hospitals at all levels, assisting physicians in more objectively evaluating, screening, diagnosing, and treating patients with neurological disorders.

Cao Wei, Partner at BlueRun Ventures China, the Lead InvestorIt is stated that there is immense demand and clearly defined pain points across the screening, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of neurological disorders. Leveraging years of accumulated expertise in intelligent human-computer interaction from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, along with clinical professional experience from leading centers such as Peking Union Medical College Hospital and Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Zhongke Ruiyi has launched a quantitative assessment system targeting core brain functions, including motor and cognitive capabilities. This system holds the potential to become the “new infrastructure” in the field of neuroscience.

Cao Gang, Partner at Zhiyuan Ventures and Executive Vice President of the Beijing Academy of Artificial IntelligenceStated: BAAI has long been committed to promoting the translation of scientific achievements and practical application by outstanding scientists in the field of artificial intelligence. Zhongke Ruiyi, leveraging over a decade of data and technological accumulation from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and multiple top-tier hospitals, applies core technologies such as intelligent perception and big data mining to scenarios including screening, assessment, and assisted diagnosis of neurological disorders, representing a highly valuable application direction.

The diagnosis of human diseases is often based on the description of physiological functions. For example, anemia can be diagnosed by measuring the red blood cell count and hemoglobin concentration in the blood.

As population aging progresses, a series of neurological disorders—including cerebrovascular disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease—have become the leading causes threatening human health and resulting in disability and death. The unique characteristics of the nervous system render the description of neural function complex and challenging; consequently, achieving accurate diagnosis and effective intervention for neurological diseases remains a major challenge in modern clinical medicine.

Currently, clinical evaluation of neurological function and disease diagnosis primarily rely on physicians’ subjective judgments based on medical history taking, visual inspection, semi-quantitative scales, and their own clinical experience. The lack of quantitative metrics and holistic assessment in current methods introduces significant uncertainty into both clinical diagnosis and research of neurological disorders.

In this context, Zhongke Ruiyi has developed a quantitative assessment solution targeting core brain neurological functions, such as motor and cognitive capabilities. By leveraging multimodal intelligent human-computer interaction technology, the solution precisely captures subjects’ behavioral performance during classic neurological function tests and conducts quantitative analysis, thereby achieving the goal of quantitative evaluation.

The product’s functionalities span multiple dimensions of clinical neurological assessment, including whole-body motor function evaluation represented by 3D gait analysis, fine motor function evaluation represented by hand function, oculomotor function assessment, and digital quantitative evaluation across the entire cognitive domain. Such standardized, quantitative solutions are poised to become the gold standard for brain function assessment, ushering clinical neurological examinations and functional evaluations into a new generation.

Currently, Zhongke Ruiyi’s core products have been adopted by more than 100 leading Grade A tertiary hospitals in China, including Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, and Xuanwu Hospital of Capital Medical University, earning widespread recognition from clinical experts. Meanwhile, the medical device registration process is steadily advancing, with an expected approval of 4–5 medical device registration certificates by the second quarter of next year.

Innovation and upgrading of clinical diagnosis and treatment methods are often rigorous and lengthy processes. From the identification of clinical needs, to the validation of technical solutions, and finally to multi-round clinical verification and widespread application of products, every stage relies heavily on the in-depth involvement and strong advocacy of authoritative medical experts.

“Throughout our product development process, we have always prioritized addressing critical clinical pain points. By fully respecting and understanding clinical scenarios, we select the most appropriate technical solutions to ultimately deliver products that truly resolve clinical challenges,” said Professor Fan Xiangmin, CEO of Zhongke Ruiyi and a professor at the Institute of Software, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

On August 28, 2021, Zhongke Ruiyi, in collaboration with 13 leading neurology hospitals—including Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, The Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Wuhan Union Hospital, Fujian Provincial Hospital, The Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou Medical University, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, and Beijing Tsinghua Changgung Hospital—jointly launched the multicenter clinical trial titled “Study on the Normal Reference Ranges of Quantitative Parameters for Motor and Cognitive Functions in the Chinese Population.” This initiative aims to establish normative data for quantitative assessments of neurological functions in the Chinese population, thereby providing standardized parameters to support the auxiliary diagnosis and quantitative functional evaluation of neurological disorders.

It is reported that the establishment of normal reference ranges for quantitative parameters of two core neurological functions—motor and cognitive—is a first in China’s neuroscience field. The trial is currently progressing smoothly, with more than half of the planned participants already enrolled. It is expected to be completed by the end of this year, at which time the technical specifications for data collection in quantitative assessment of neurological functions and the population-based normal reference ranges for relevant assessment metrics will be publicly released. The promulgation of this standard is expected to enable standardized evaluation of neurological functions, akin to complete blood count and electrocardiography, in the future.

To date, Zhongke Ruiyi has collaborated with multiple leading medical centers across China to participate in the application process for a series of national-level major research projects, including the “Brain Science and Brain-Inspired Intelligence” initiative (China Brain Project), “Proactive Health and Technological Responses to Aging,” and “Next-Generation Artificial Intelligence.” Moving forward, the company will further join forces with top-tier centers and renowned experts, guided by clinical needs, to leverage digital technologies in driving innovation and upgrading diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for neurological disorders.

Both core founders of Zhongke Ruiyi are renowned experts and scholars in the field of human-computer interaction in China.Chief Scientist of Zhongke Ruiyi, Professor Tian Feng from the Institute of Software, Chinese Academy of SciencesAs the Chief Scientist, spearheadedCountry"13th Five-Year Plan"PeriodFirst Batchin the field of human-computer interactionKey R&D Program Project, and served asDeputy Director of the Technical Committee on Human-Computer Interaction, China Computer Federation; Deputy Director of the Technical Committee on Intelligent Interaction, Chinese Association for Artificial IntelligenceHolds significant academic appointments and is a renowned expert in the field of human-computer interaction in China.

Professor Fan Xiangmin, CEO of Zhongke Ruiyi, is a renowned young scientist in the field of human-computer interaction both domestically and internationally,Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Pittsburgh, USA; Beijing “Science and Technology Star”; and Chair of the China Chapter of the ACM Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction (ACM SIGCHI). In addition,The team at Zhongke Ruiyi has been dedicated for many years to the interdisciplinary integration of human-computer interaction, artificial intelligence, and neuroscience, boasting profound technical expertise and forward-looking industry insights.

Currently, Zhongke Ruiyi has assembled a diversified R&D and commercialization team, comprising technical talent with international backgrounds from top universities in the United States, the United Kingdom, Norway, and other countries, as well as industry experts from leading domestic and international pharmaceutical and medical device companies such as CSPC Pharmaceutical Group, Medtronic, and Eisai. We are confident that this “dream team” will ride the wind and waves, pioneering technological innovations from 0 to 1 in the field of neuroscience.