GuWeishi Completes Series A+ Financing to Focus on Full-Cycle Bone Disease Management and Digital Health Services

VCBeat has learned that Bone Defender Medical Group (“Bone Defender” or the “Company”) recently announced the completion of its A+ round financing, amounting to tens of millions of RMB.

This round of financing was led by WeDoctor Group, with participation from Yuanyi Capital and Haisong Capital. The investment will be used to build the company’s controlling bone disease and chronic disease management centers, with future business deeply focused on providing full-cycle medical and health services for bone diseases and chronic conditions.

Bone Defender, founded in 2016 by a group of renowned Chinese orthopedic experts and professionals, is committed to the mission of “Promoting Bone Health, Enhancing Life Quality,” with a focus on providing full-cycle services for chronic bone diseases.

After five years of development and consolidation, Bone Defender has completed the standardized design of its chronic bone disease treatment programs, grounded in discipline construction and professional management capabilities. It has established a specialized medical quality and safety control system along with a mature talent development mechanism, and implemented a standardized operational management system (SOP) to ensure the platform’s efficient operation.

Meanwhile, Bone Defender has achieved innovative development in internet healthcare and rapidly established a leading competitive advantage. It has partnered with industry associations such as the Chinese Medical Association, the China Promotion Association for Rehabilitation Technology Translation and Development, and the China Association of Traditional Chinese Medicine Information to jointly build expert online service and continuing education platforms. Bone Defender has also collaborated with leading internet healthcare institutions, including JD Health, to co-establish an online orthopedic specialty service platform. This platform supports over 1,000 physicians in providing 24/7 online consultations for bone diseases and delivers public science education through professionally generated content (PGC) on orthopedic expertise.

In the future, Bone Defender will integrate relevant resources to deepen its expertise in the interdisciplinary field of pain management and orthopedics, while accelerating the deployment of chronic bone disease management centers. By adopting an innovative service model of “physical centers + internet hospitals + remote treatment,” it aims to break through physical space limitations, overcome the development bottlenecks of slow growth and low patient retention in surgical specialties, reshape its development landscape, achieve standardized and chain-based expansion, and establish Bone Defender as a leading chain brand for bone disease medical services.

As population aging accelerates, the management of chronic bone diseases—represented by spinal and joint disorders—has become one of the prominent challenges in public health and healthcare management. With economic growth and continuous improvement in living standards, patients are placing greater emphasis on bone health, demonstrating a significantly stronger willingness to seek medical care, and driving a gradual increase in demand for bone disease treatments.

In recent years, relevant national ministries and commissions have successively issued policy documents such as the Outline of the Healthy China 2030 Plan, the Medium- and Long-Term Plan for the Prevention and Control of Chronic Diseases in China (2017–2025), and the Opinions on Supporting Social Forces in Providing Multi-level and Diversified Medical Services. These policies have incorporated “bone health” into long-term health management plans and elevated the prevention and control of chronic bone diseases to the level of national health strategy. The policies explicitly call for strengthening the management of chronic bone diseases among the elderly, encouraging social forces to establish specialized medical institutions such as orthopedic hospitals, advancing the construction of a comprehensive prevention and control system for chronic bone diseases at the primary care level, and implementing the principles of “shifting the focus upstream and decentralizing resources” to reduce and delay the onset of acute bone disease cases.

Previously, Bone Defender received investments from institutions such as Huarui Medical and Data Capital. This time, it has gained recognition from WeDoctor Group, Yuanyi Capital, and Haisong Capital, successfully completing its A+ round of financing. In the future, Bone Defender will focus on providing full-cycle services for chronic bone diseases. Based on the model of “specialized department + specialized disease + specialized experts,” it will continuously improve its internet-based service system for chronic bone diseases, offering patients diversified healthcare access options. It will also actively explore suitable and scalable comprehensive treatment and rehabilitation models for chronic bone diseases, delivering higher-quality and more convenient medical and health services to a broad population of bone disease patients.

Dr. Li Gang, Co-founder and CEO of Bone Defender, stated:

Bone Defender has cultivated deep expertise in the management of chronic bone diseases for many years, gaining a thorough understanding and mastery of the industry’s characteristics within this sector. The company has established standardized and validated frameworks for disciplinary development and operational management, while building a professional team comprising both medical and business management experts. Bone Defender holds a leading position in the industry in terms of investment, operations, and resource integration for bone disease projects.The team’s current core capabilities enable the provision of specialized, full-cycle services for patients with bone diseases, including: early screening and prevention of bone diseases; guidance on early medication and treatment; remote home consultations and family doctor services; diagnosis and treatment at community-level chronic bone disease centers; day-surgery services for bone conditions; rehabilitation therapy; patient follow-up; and personal health record management for bone disease patients.

Over the next five years, the company will continue to deepen its management services for chronic bone diseases, rapidly deploy regional chronic bone disease management centers, and establish an innovative chain hospital development model characterized by “physical centers + internet hospitals + remote treatment.” The Bone Defender chronic bone disease project delivers significant social benefits. It helps further refine the grassroots medical service system proposed by the government, which integrates “treatment, rehabilitation, nursing, re-examination, and follow-up.” The project facilitates a shift from treating existing diseases to preventive care, moves intervention upstream, decentralizes focus to primary care levels, and implements specialized treatment for specific conditions. It aims to gradually reduce the proportion of chronic disease patients visiting large tertiary hospitals, thereby forming a vertically integrated tiered diagnosis and treatment model featuring coordination between upper- and lower-level institutions and separate management of acute and chronic cases. This will help establish an orderly healthcare-seeking pattern and improve the efficiency of medical services. Furthermore, through the promotion of the chronic bone disease center project, the overall per capita expenditure from the basic medical insurance fund will be reduced, thereby alleviating the financial burden on the medical insurance fund.

Bone Defender, in collaboration with its strategic partners—including WeDoctor Group and JD Health Group—will implement innovative healthcare management under government leadership. The initiative aims to establish the project as a “Demonstration Project for Comprehensive Prevention and Control of Chronic Bone Diseases,” explore suitable and scalable models for the integrated prevention and control of chronic bone conditions, and foster a new paradigm of health practice characterized by government leadership and public participation and shared benefits. This effort will provide patients with higher-quality, more accessible services, promoting healthier bones and better lives.

Mr. Zhang Xiaochun, Co-founder and Vice Chairman of WeDoctor Group, stated:

The primary contradiction in the current healthcare service system lies in how to better connect and allocate medical resources, shifting the focus more from “treating diseases” to “managing health.” The development of digital healthcare, particularly in the prevention, detection, monitoring, intervention, and treatment of chronic diseases, is increasingly centered on scenarios such as online consultations, home-based treatment, and community services. This represents the integration of a new scenario following the digital migration of medical resources.

Through its innovative service model of “physical centers + internet hospital + remote treatment,” Bone Defender has established a full-cycle, multi-scenario, one-stop health service system for the diagnosis and treatment of bone diseases, marking a breakthrough in the specialty field. WeDoctor Group highly endorses Bone Defender’s development strategy in the orthopedic specialty sector. We believe that Bone Defender’s management team possesses a deep understanding of the market and strong strategic execution capabilities, enabling them to effectively implement the aforementioned strategy and pioneer an innovative path aligned with market demands. As a pioneer of internet healthcare in China, WeDoctor continues to drive innovation in healthcare service delivery, patient experience, and healthcare payment solutions through digital technologies. This investment in Bone Defender represents WeDoctor’s significant strategic move in integrating online and offline models within the chronic bone disease specialty sector. We look forward to partnering with Bone Defender to provide integrated digital health services that encompass medical consultation, disease management, and overall health management.

Mr. Yang Ruirong, Founding Partner of Yuanyi Capital, stated: 

China’s healthcare industry is facing significant and urgent challenges, including an aging population, difficulties in accessing medical care, high treatment costs, and inefficient distribution channels. As an innovative enterprise specializing in orthopedic medical services, Bone Defender focuses on healthcare solutions for bone diseases. With continuous innovation in its business model and enhanced operational capabilities, the company is now well-positioned to transition from a leading asset-light model to a chain-based orthopedic institution model. Its business scope can extend to scenarios such as internet healthcare and home-based treatment, thereby breaking through development bottlenecks while providing patients with more diverse and convenient pathways to care. Leveraging big data accumulation and advances in artificial intelligence, Bone Defender is poised to deliver novel solutions in digital health and digital therapeutics for bone disease treatment, unlocking greater commercial value. We believe that Bone Defender has broad prospects for growth in the specialized field of orthopedics. Yuanyi Capital will further support Bone Defender’s development by facilitating medical resource allocation, integrating upstream and downstream industry chains, and advancing digital healthcare initiatives.

Mr. Chen Liguang, CEO of Haisong Capital, stated:

We believe that with the intensifying aging of the population, the scale of the orthopedic medical market will continue to grow in the future, especially in the fields of bone diseases, pain management, and rehabilitation. The total market size for medical services is expected to exceed RMB 430 billion in 2023, offering substantial market potential. Companies focusing on the vertical niche of orthopedic specialties will usher in significant development opportunities.

As a specialized orthopedic platform with a well-established business structure in China and leading comprehensive capabilities, Bone Defender boasts an excellent management team, robust expert technical expertise, a standardized operational management system, advanced therapeutic technologies, and a sound upstream-downstream industrial ecosystem, demonstrating significant development potential. One of the criteria Haisong Capital uses to screen investment targets is its emphasis on industry innovation, business distinctiveness, and product uniqueness in practice. We believe that Bone Defender is poised to achieve leapfrog development and long-term sustainable growth by leveraging its core advantages and innovative industrial layout. Haisong Capital remains optimistic about the company’s prospects within the industry and will continue to inject resources to strongly support its future development.

Mr. Ye Weigang, Founding Managing Partner of DT Capital Partners, stated:

Data Capital has consecutively invested in Bone Defender during its Angel and Pre-A rounds. The company’s founding team has achieved outstanding results in the terminal operation of bone disease medical services. Leveraging years of deep expertise in orthopedic discipline development and specialized operations, Bone Defender has become a leading professional operator in chronic bone disease management in China. Moving forward, the company will focus on the synergistic development of innovative chain-based diagnosis and treatment for chronic bone diseases and digital health, aiming to build a unique medical service ecosystem under the Bone Defender brand. This strategic cooperation with WeDoctor Group, Yuanyi Capital, and Haisong Capital will provide strong support for Bone Defender’s future growth, enabling rapid corporate expansion. We are confident in Bone Defender’s future prospects and will continue to offer long-term support.

WeDoctor is China’s largest digital healthcare service platform. Headquartered in Hangzhou, China, it was founded in 2010 by a team led by Mr. Liao Jieyuan. Since its inception, WeDoctor has adhered to its mission of “Your Health, We Care,” striving to empower all participants across the healthcare value chain—including healthcare providers, payers, and supply chain stakeholders—through technology and innovation-driven solutions. By deeply integrating online and offline medical resources, WeDoctor delivers integrated, multi-scenario healthcare and wellness services to hundreds of millions of users, thereby enhancing the accessibility, effectiveness, and affordability of medical care and improving the overall efficiency of China’s healthcare system.

As of December 31, 2020, WeDoctor had connected with more than 7,800 hospitals across China, including over 95% of the country’s Grade A tertiary hospitals; it operated 27 internet hospitals, 17 of which were integrated with medical insurance settlement systems, ranking first nationwide in both the number of internet hospitals and the number with medical insurance integration; and it linked more than 270,000 registered physicians and 220 million registered users.

Yuan Yi Capital is an early-stage venture capital fund focused on the digital health technology sector. Deeply engaged in the early startup phase, Yuan Yi Capital has made forward-looking investments in three key infrastructure areas of digital health: efficient access, innovative payment models, and efficiency enhancement. Its mission is to support the transformation and upgrading of China’s healthcare system—serving a population of 1.4 billion—by reducing costs, improving efficiency, enhancing quality, and controlling expenditures.

Currently, the multiple RMB and USD funds managed by Yuanyi Capital have invested in more than 50 leading companies in the digital health sector, including those specializing in medical devices and equipment with core technologies and innovative business models, mobile health and services, precision diagnostics, and health insurance technology.

Oceanpine Capital is a specialized, institutional investment management firm dedicated to long-term and value investing. As an investment institution focused on hard-core technology sectors, Oceanpine Capital primarily invests in high-tech and healthcare enterprises driven by innovative technologies, with a particular emphasis on companies possessing breakthrough and revolutionary hard-core technologies. Its portfolio companies are mainly fast-growing private enterprises, though it also invests in listed companies with significant growth potential.

Haisong Capital’s professional team comprises successful entrepreneurs, founders, investors, investment bankers, and senior executives from large corporations. Leveraging the executive team’s 20+ years of entrepreneurial experience across various industries, their deep-rooted investment management practices in the Chinese local market, international operational management expertise, as well as extensive industry knowledge and industrial resources, and complemented by continuous and in-depth industry research, Haisong Capital adheres to principled yet innovative strategies, fosters critical thinking and debate, and grows together with its portfolio companies.

Data Capital is a third-party professional investment firm specializing in early-stage and growth-stage private equity investments. Established in 2010, the firm currently manages multiple RMB and USD-denominated funds. Through years of dedicated effort, Data Capital has gradually built its investment expertise in next-generation information technology and healthcare, cultivating a steady and prudent investment style.

DT Capital boasts a professional and outstanding investment team that has invested in nearly 150 early-stage and early-growth companies across sectors such as chip design, big data and artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, the Internet of Things (IoT), autonomous driving, healthcare, and consumer services. The firm has facilitated IPOs and M&A exits for dozens of its portfolio companies. Beyond providing financial support, DT Capital is committed to partnering with exceptional Chinese entrepreneurs to cultivate world-class enterprises rooted in China, thereby contributing to the development of the nation’s technology industry.