LeapStack Secures Nearly RMB 150 Million in Series C Funding to Advance Intelligent Risk Control Ecosystem in Health Insurance

VCBeat has learned that Shanghai Zhanlue Data Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Zhanlue Data”), an insurtech company, recently announced the closing of its Series C financing round, raising nearly RMB 150 million. The round was led by Legend Capital, with participation from Shengjing Jiacheng, GF Qianhe, and Huazhi Capital. Mountain View Capital served as the financial advisor for the transaction.

In recent years, amidst the wave of digital and intelligent transformation in the insurance industry—particularly within the health insurance sector—insurtech companies are actively embracing a more “automated” future. Empowered by technologies such as artificial intelligence and big data, the entire insurance value chain, including product development, pricing, distribution channels, operations, underwriting, and claims processing, is undergoing profound change.

Among these, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is regarded as one of the powerful tools facilitating the digital and intelligent transformation of the insurance industry, owing to its ability to simulate and enhance human-computer interaction, thereby replacing manual labor in high-volume, repetitive, and standardized tasks.

Founded in 2016, Zhanlue Data is a pioneer in the application of “RPA+AI” within China’s health insurance sector. Its core business involves providing enterprise-level big data risk control solutions to commercial insurers and regulatory bodies such as healthcare security administrations and audit departments, through its one-stop intelligent risk control service platform powered by “RPA+AI”.

As of now, Zhanlue Data has established close collaborative relationships with hundreds of industry partners, including China Life Insurance, PICC, Taiping Insurance, CPIC, China United Insurance, Ping An Insurance, Taikang Insurance, Dadi Insurance, Sunshine Insurance, AIA, AXA Insurance, CITIC-Prudential Life Insurance, Everbright Sun Life Insurance, Generali China Life Insurance, Qianhai Life Insurance, Hyundai Property & Casualty Insurance, Hannover Re, China Merchants Bank, ICBC Technology, MSD Pharmaceuticals, BeiGene, CIIC Enterprise Services, Jiangtai Insurance Brokers, Huatai Insurance Brokers, Shuidichou, Qingsongchou, Yidu Tech, WeDoctor, Sipei Health, Yuanxin Technology, Xiaomi Insurance, and the Shanghai Insurance Exchange.

As one of the trends in corporate digital transformation, RPA technology has become a prominent sector attracting global capital in recent years.

According to McKinsey data, the global RPA market size will reach $100 billion in 2025, and with an annual growth rate of 64%, it will become one of the fastest-growing technologies in the field of artificial intelligence.

In April 2021, UiPath, a leading global RPA vendor, listed on the New York Stock Exchange, becoming one of the largest software company IPOs in U.S. history, with its current market capitalization exceeding $26 billion.

UiPath’s impressive performance has once again thrust China’s RPA sector into the spotlight within the venture capital and investment community. According to data from Qimingpian, there were 13 financing deals in China’s RPA field in 2021, double the number in 2020, with total funding exceeding RMB 1 billion.

For the insurance industry, although the domestic health insurance market boasts broad prospects, it suffers from low penetration rates. The sector has long been plagued by high operational costs and significant claims risks, while also lacking directly usable standardized data formats. These challenges have collectively imposed substantial operational pressure on relevant stakeholders.

Moreover, on the one hand, driven by factors such as an aging population and rising healthcare costs, the payment pressure on China’s basic medical insurance fund is intensifying day by day, posing risks of medium- to long-term unsustainability; consequently, cost containment has become a focal point of the new round of healthcare reform. On the other hand, for the rapidly growing commercial health insurance sector, it is equally critical to implement reasonable cost-control measures during scaled expansion to enhance product sustainability.

Therefore, how to help control costs for both basic medical insurance and commercial health insurance has become a key focus for all stakeholders in the industry.

In this context,Zhanlue Data has leveraged “RPA+AI” technologies to build platforms for intelligent health insurance claims processing, intelligent investigations, intelligent government medical insurance audits, intelligent long-term care insurance management, as well as big data-driven anti-money laundering and data governance. These platforms not only provide end-to-end claims and risk control services to commercial insurers, reinsurers, and insurance brokers, but also offer intelligent risk control, fund management, intelligent auditing, data governance, and anti-money laundering services to medical insurance departments, audit institutions, banks, and other entities, thereby supporting evidence-based policy formulation and adjustment.

Taking the claims processing segment of health insurance as an example, traditional claims procedures—including claim notification, information extraction, and adjudication—heavily rely on manual labor, resulting in low efficiency and a high propensity for errors. In contrast, the automated adjudication engine provided by Zhanlue Data integrates with insurers’ custom rules to automatically determine coverage scope and reimbursement amounts, thereby reducing claims processing time, enhancing operational efficiency, and minimizing manual errors.

“‘RPA+AI’ technology has been applied to the entire process of health insurance claims. In stages such as claim reporting, information extraction, claims adjustment, and exclusion of non-covered items, Zhanlue has integrated RPA+AI technology across the full value chain,” said Liu Gejie, founder of Zhanlue Data.

In addition, to address the needs of various stages—including underwriting, claims processing, customer service, and investigations—across different insurance lines such as medical and critical illness coverage, Zhanlue Data has developed machine learning models and a medical knowledge graph. These tools effectively identify risk points in the underwriting and claims processes from a data perspective, enabling precise cost control across core insurance operations. Furthermore, its big data and artificial intelligence technologies provide reverse empowerment for insurance pricing, accurately estimating the risks associated with different combinations of liability clauses in insurance products. This facilitates greater product diversification and expands the scope of insurable customers.

VCBeat has learned that since its establishment, Zhanlue Data has completed multiple rounds of investment. Its shareholders include Gaorong Capital, Fumu Asset Management, DCM, Puhua Capital, Danhua Capital, Lingfeng Capital, FinVolution Group, Weicheng Capital, 360 Shuke, Huazhi Capital, GF Qianhe, and others.

When discussing the reasons for attracting capital favor, Liu Gejie emphasized the word "comprehensive." This includes technical capabilities, team configuration, and brand influence.

First, let’s look at the technology.

RPA+AI technology is one of Zhanlue Data’s competitive advantages. However, in Liu Gejie’s view, “While the technology itself is important, it is not the most critical factor. The key lies in identifying suitable application scenarios and continuously refining them as the business grows.”

“Although Zhanlue Data is approaching its sixth anniversary, it has only achieved preliminary application of the RPA+AI technical concept and framework in specific scenarios. There remains significant room for growth, which will require time to refine,” added Liu Gejie.

Next, let’s take a look at the core team of Zhanlue Data.

Zhanlue Data’s core founding team hails from leading Silicon Valley technology companies and comprises senior technology experts, seasoned insurance industry specialists, and medical professionals. The team possesses extensive expertise in artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing, and insurance risk control and underwriting operations.

Discussing future business layout, Liu Gejie stated that Zhanlue Data will continue to deepen its presence in the Asia-Pacific insurance market while establishing a strong foothold in the vast domestic market.

VCBeat has learned that as early as late 2018, Zhanlue Data established its international headquarters in Hong Kong. In 2020, it was successfully selected for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government’s Recommended List of Innovative and Entrepreneurial Enterprises, as well as the FinTech Incubation Program under the Hong Kong Cyberport Incubation Scheme.

Starting with the Hong Kong market, Zhanlue International has been exploring the implementation of RPA+AI in the Asia-Pacific insurance market for three years. It has successfully deployed its risk control models and RPA+AI framework among commercial insurers and healthcare regulatory authorities in Hong Kong, China, as well as in Singapore, Vietnam, and Thailand.

“In the next phase, Zhanlue Data will continue to strengthen its presence in the Asia-Pacific market, particularly in Southeast Asia, where its business operations have already yielded initial results. The company aims to steadily enhance its capabilities in building a world-class insurance technology RPA+AI platform, developing risk control models, and improving operational services,” Liu Gejie told VCBeat.

Qi Fei, Executive Director of Legend CapitalHe stated, “The payment system is a critical component of the healthcare ecosystem. As various healthcare reform policies advance, commercial health insurance will play an increasingly important role in the overall medical payment framework. In recent years, with the emergence of new insurance products such as million-yuan medical insurance and Huimin Bao (city-specific supplementary medical insurance), commercial health insurance will penetrate deeper into more specialized medical scenarios. Zhanlue Data has accumulated extensive and professional experience over many years of serving both basic medical insurance and commercial insurance, particularly in intelligent analysis and processing of medical information and risk control auditing. Its deep understanding of medical scenarios and AI-driven algorithms for medical data analysis have positioned it as an industry leader. We also hope to continue helping companies identify more health insurance scenarios and opportunities, serving as a bridge between insurance companies and innovative pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers.”

Liu Haofei, Founding Partner of Shengjing Jiacheng Fund of Fundsstated: “Shengjing Jiacheng had already set its sights on Zhanlue Data as early as 2018. As a startup team with a comprehensive background in Silicon Valley technology, healthcare, and insurance, Zhanlue Data has carved out its own blue ocean in insurance payments and cost containment, leveraging its robust capabilities and deep insights into the operational needs of insurance clients. The team’s steady and pragmatic approach has driven significant growth for the company in recent years. The trend of population aging necessitates that China’s healthcare sector not only pursue technological innovation but also enhance its digital management capabilities. By integrating RPA and AI technologies, Zhanlue Data empowers the entire process of digital operations in insurance, providing support to commercial insurers, public medical insurance agencies, and service providers, thereby creating unique value.”

Legend Capital, established in April 2001, is a fund management company under Legend Holdings that focuses on early-stage venture capital and growth-stage private equity investments. The firm has consistently emphasized the deep integration of the healthcare industry with technology. In recent years, it has continued to increase its investments in the “Healthcare/Insurance + AI” sector. In addition to Zhanlue Data, an AI-driven insurance risk control company, Legend Capital has invested in BioMap, StoneWise Technology, Xbiome, Deepwise Medical, Lunit, Tongxin Yilian, Dyingjia, Baiyang Intelligence, and GeneThink.

Shengjing Jiacheng Fund, established in 2010, operates through two core segments: direct investment and fund-of-funds. With assets under management totaling approximately RMB 13 billion, the firm has invested in over 60 top-tier venture capital firms across China, the United States, and Israel, covering more than 2,500 global innovation and entrepreneurship projects. Its portfolio has yielded 189 publicly listed companies. In 2019, it set a record of “three direct-invest IPOs in nine days.” It further achieved remarkable milestones with “22 IPOs in a single quarter” in Q3 2020 and “24 IPOs in a single quarter” in Q2 2021, cementing its position as a leading global top-tier limited partner for innovation in China.