CoHealth Secures Tens of Millions in Series A Funding to Advance Digital POCT Platforms and Digital Therapeutics Navigation

VCBeat has learned that Chengdu Yunxin Yilian Technology Co., Ltd. (“Yunxin”) has secured tens of millions of RMB in Series A financing, led by Puhua Capital and Chengdu Kefu.

According to research by Rock Health, a prominent U.S. digital health investment firm, total digital health funding surpassed $10 billion in 2020, with investments in the third quarter of 2021 alone exceeding $20 billion. In the future, medical diagnosis scenarios will rapidly shift from a “hospital-centric” treatment model to a “health-centric” preventive model. As the “Healthy China 2030” strategy continues to advance and digital therapeutics become more widely adopted and penetrated, the application scenarios for point-of-care testing (POCT) will expand significantly, thereby increasing patient utilization frequency.

Yunxin was established amidst the rising tide of digital health and digital therapeutics. Founded just over a year ago and led by Dr. Ma Xing, a Humboldt Scholar from Germany, Yunxin is a biochip technology company dedicated to the intelligent manufacturing of mobile digital medical diagnostic systems and their accompanying consumables. It also provides digital therapeutics institutions with a complete clinical laboratory data chain that transcends time and space. Through its comprehensive “Digital Navigation” system, Yunxin genuinely helps an increasing number of chronic disease patients achieve disease reversal through digital therapeutics, transitioning from maintenance treatment reliant on pharmacological therapy.

Yunxin specializes in the modular digital detection systems for the Internet of Things (IoT) and the intelligent manufacturing of their proprietary consumable chips, covering biochemical chips, coagulation chips, electrolyte chips, immunoassay chips, multiplex PCR chips, and hematology analysis chips. By building 5G-enabled mobile digital healthcare capabilities, its solutions encompass over 100 laboratory tests available at Grade A tertiary hospitals, driving the transformation of traditional clinical laboratories toward digitization, remote operation, distributed deployment, modularity, and mobility. This provides a professional digital healthcare navigation tool for scenarios such as smart healthcare, internet hospitals, digital clinics, digital pharmacies, proactive health management, and digital therapeutics.

The company has completed pilot-scale production of its photoelectrochemical microfluidic detection system (with supporting electrochemical microfluidic biochips) and organic long-afterglow luminescence system (with supporting long-afterglow detection chips). It is currently applying for over 100 NMPA registration certificates, and its unmanned production line has been established in Chengdu International Bio-town.

Meanwhile, the company is actively investing in operational management within the field of liver disease. Following the completion of its Series A financing, the company has assembled a multidisciplinary team comprising professionals from leading domestic IVD, AI, and pharmaceutical enterprises. In its fatty liver reversal initiative, the company has established a comprehensive layout encompassing scientific education, full-cycle data-driven patient management, and clinical research. It is poised to obtain Class II or even Class III digital therapeutic medical device certification from national authorities in the future. Currently, the company manages over 200 patients per month, achieving fatty liver reversal within 1–3 months, thereby improving various clinical indicators associated with hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and hyperglycemia.

Professor Ma Xing, the company’s founder, is affiliated with Harbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen). His research primarily focuses on self-propelled micro/nanorobots based on mesoporous silica materials as active drug delivery carriers. He has extensive research experience in microfluidic chip technology and bionanopharmaceuticals. Professor Ma has published more than 100 papers in top-tier academic journals, including JACS, ACS Nano, Angewandte Chemie, Nano Letters, Small, and Advanced Materials, with his journal articles cited over 7,400 times.

In 2014, Professor Ma Xing was appointed as a distinguished “Humboldt Fellow” by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Germany. In 2016, he received the Günter Petzow Award for Outstanding Young Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Germany (an award granted to only one recipient annually). In 2020, he was honored with the Guangdong Province May Fourth Youth Medal and the Shenzhen Youth Science and Technology Award.

Professor Ma Xing aims to leverage CloudChip’s globally leading “Digital Health Navigation” technology over the next decade to transform the traditional “drug-selling model” of chronic disease management into a truly health-centric preventive care model. This vision has attracted Song Tao, a post-80s professional with strong marketing and management expertise from Mindray Medical, to join the team.

According to Song Tao, with the continuous deepening of China’s healthcare reform and the implementation of the tiered diagnosis and treatment policy, primary care communities and internet hospitals will increasingly meet people’s growing health needs in the future, rather than individuals seeking hospital care only after falling ill.

Taking fatty liver disease as an example, there are over 300 million patients with this condition in China. Conventional Western medications cannot cure fatty liver disease. More than 30,000 hepatologists in China primarily focus on infectious diseases such as hepatitis B and hepatitis C; for fatty liver disease, they can only advise patients to maintain a healthy diet and increase physical activity. Due to the lack of effective monitoring and management, the vast majority of patients find it difficult to improve or even reverse their condition. Over time, fatty liver disease progressively contributes to the high prevalence of the "three highs" (hypertension, hyperglycemia, and hyperlipidemia). The intelligent mobile detection and comprehensive reversal management service for fatty liver disease, developed by Yunxin, can effectively transform the current situation.

Professor Ma Xing and Song Tao, one deeply engaged in medical technology and the other in the healthcare market, have joined forces as co-founders to lead Yunxin in achieving “business model innovation driven by medical technology.” In 2021, Yunxin’s hardware product applications are expected to receive regulatory approvals sequentially. In 2022, the company will continue to increase its investments in both hardware and software-based digital therapeutics, looking forward to collaborating with more professional healthcare investment institutions to jointly contribute to the Healthy China 2030 initiative.

PuHua Capital, established in 2004, has adhered to the principle of “Harboring a Universal Heart, Engaging in Substantive Endeavors” since its inception, focusing exclusively on venture capital. With “Health + Happiness” as its primary investment theme, PuHua Capital continues to concentrate on four key sectors: new technology, healthcare and medicine, new consumption, and new energy. Its investment philosophy is characterized by focus and depth, diligence and prudence, as well as candor and longevity.

After years of persistent efforts, Puhua Capital has invested in over 300 outstanding startups and achieved phased capital returns as more than 30 of these companies grew. Selected investment cases include Broncus Therapeutics, Guobang Pharma, Genor Biopharma, Nanjing Micro-Tech, Quanyuantang, Beden Medical, Haoyunbang, Wiseye Ophthalmology, Minsheng Lide, and Ruiyan Nano, among others.

Chengdu Science and Technology Service Group (formerly Chengdu Technology Transfer Group) was established in July 2012 with a registered capital of RMB 1 billion. It is a state-owned platform company dedicated to promoting the transfer and commercialization of scientific and technological achievements, under the administrative supervision of the Chengdu Municipal Science and Technology Bureau. Leveraging the “Sci-Tech Service Steward” as its core sci-tech service platform, the Group adopts a “Service + Investment” model to vigorously develop sci-tech financial services, startup incubation services, and comprehensive sci-tech services.

Chengdu Science and Technology Service Group has supported more than 150 science and technology projects; made direct investments exceeding RMB 700 million; guided over RMB 3 billion in social capital investment; facilitated the listing of nine portfolio companies on the National Equities Exchange and Quotations (NEEQ); enabled two companies to go public on the ChiNext or STAR Market; and assisted four companies in applying for listings on the STAR Market. Selected investment portfolios include: Chengdu XGIMI Technology Co., Ltd., Chengdu DataUnion Technology Co., Ltd., Chengdu Laborps Technology Co., Ltd., Sichuan Zhiyuan New Energy Technology Co., Ltd., Chengdu InnoTech Transfer Technology Service Co., Ltd., Sichuan Precision Medicine Industry Innovation Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Tianfu Science Park, and others.