Shuyao Tech Secures Tens of Millions in Series A Funding to Advance Hospital-Centric Digital Clinical Trial Platform

Recently, Shuyao Technology, a provider of an integrated digital clinical trial platform for research institutions, announced the completion of its first round of financing, amounting to tens of millions of yuan. The round was led by GSR Ventures, with participation from ZhenFund and Sequoia China, while Yuanyi Capital served as the exclusive financial advisor. The funds raised will be primarily used for the iterative development of its ICT@Site integrated digital clinical trial platform for research institutions, as well as for market promotion and talent acquisition.

ShuYao Tech is a technology-driven innovative enterprise dedicated to enhancing the value of clinical research. Centered on hospitals, it provides one-stop, end-to-end digital comprehensive solutions for clinical trials. By leveraging advanced digital technologies such as microservices-based cloud-native architecture, big data, and AI, ShuYao Tech empowers medical institutions to achieve their goals of one-stop digitalized clinical trials, while offering sponsors a high-quality, cost-effective, and efficient value-added service platform.

He Guoping, Founder of Shuyao TechnologyStatement: We extend our deepest gratitude to GSR Ventures, ZhenFund, and Sequoia China for their recognition and strong support of our company and team. ShuYao is committed to addressing the critical supply-and-demand pain points in the evolving landscape of clinical trials, striving to build a one-stop innovative digital solution for institutional clinical trials that aligns with future development trends. By leveraging digital technologies to provide precise services to all participants across the clinical trial industry chain, we aim to reshape the ecosystem for collaborative win-win outcomes, enhance the comprehensive value of clinical research, accelerate the market launch of new drugs, and ultimately bring hope to more patients.

In November 2021, the Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE) released the Annual Report on the Status of New Drug Registration Clinical Trials in China (2020). The number of new drug clinical trials increased significantly in 2020, with a total of 2,602 trials registered, representing an overall increase of 9.1% compared to 2019. Domestic sponsors accounted for more than 70% of these trials. Alongside the substantial rise in the number of clinical trials, economic and time costs associated with clinical research have been climbing year by year due to factors such as increasingly stringent regulatory policies for clinical trial applications and drug approval reviews, as well as rising patient recruitment costs. There is an urgent need for digital and intelligent technologies to reduce costs and enhance efficiency in the industry.

Amid the pandemic, hospitals serving as clinical trial sites face dual pressures of declining disciplinary development and revenue. They urgently seek empowerment through digital and intelligent technologies to undertake more clinical trial projects, enhance the quality of clinical research and disciplinary standards, increase hospital revenue, and achieve long-term solutions to operational and developmental challenges.

Driven by shifts in industry supply and demand, hospitals have a strong need for digital clinical trial platforms. Shuyao Technology has developed ICT@Site, an integrated, hospital-centric institutional digital clinical trial platform that intelligently connects all stakeholders across the drug clinical trial value chain. The platform helps hospitals achieve comprehensive development in talent and disciplines while generating robust economic value; enables pharmaceutical companies to improve the efficiency and quality of clinical trials and reduce R&D costs; and provides participants with high-quality, end-to-end clinical research services, thereby creating a win-win scenario and delivering significant socioeconomic value.

Zhu Xiaohu, Managing Partner at GSR VenturesStatement: The digital transformation of CXO (Contract Research/Manufacturing Organizations) has long been a prime track in the biopharmaceutical sector, characterized by substantial industry scale and significant commercial value. However, the market has historically focused on sponsor needs, leading to intense homogenized competition. ShuYao Technology has identified key industry pain points and pioneered a blue-ocean market in this niche by centering its innovation around hospitals as critical resources for clinical research. Leveraging its core strengths, ShuYao integrates digitalization and AI technologies into the entire lifecycle of hospital-based clinical research management, empowering hospitals and reducing both the costs and timelines of biopharmaceutical R&D. We anticipate that ShuYao Technology will deliver greater value to all stakeholders in clinical research and introduce new models to drive innovative development in the biopharmaceutical industry.

Yin Le, Partner at ZhenFundIt is stated that in recent years, with the state’s encouragement of innovative drug R&D and the global expansion of originator drugs, the supply-demand dynamics and focal points of clinical research have shifted, with value- and quality-oriented approaches garnering attention from global regulatory authorities. Shuyao Technology provides a one-stop, end-to-end digital solution for clinical trials, driving supply-side reforms and fully adapting to industry changes and demands. Led by Mr. He Guoping, the Shuyao team has cultivated extensive expertise in medical digitalization for many years, possessing profound insights into the pharmaceutical industry and rich practical experience. This enables the team to rapidly translate complex business models into deliverable industrial frameworks, thereby achieving swift commercial and social value.

Zhai Jia, Managing Director of Sequoia ChinaIt was stated that clinical drug trials have long been plagued by the pain points of being labor-intensive and inefficient. Leveraging its profound expertise in digital technologies, the Shuyao team has developed a new-generation, full-stack intelligent solution for clinical trials. On one hand, this solution helps hospitals establish scientific and efficient trial management capabilities and attract high-quality trial projects by utilizing a flexible and highly secure product architecture. On the other hand, it enables sponsors to obtain timely and accurate trial data while reducing costs and improving efficiency. We hope that Shuyao can create tangible industrial value for the intelligent infrastructure of hospitals in China and for the research and development of innovative drugs.