Beijing Kangai Completes Tens of Millions RMB Series A Funding Round; Tumor Nutrition Analyzer Receives Regulatory Approval

VCBeat has learned that Beijing Kang’ai, a startup focused on oncology rehabilitation, recently announced the completion of a new round of financing amounting to tens of millions of yuan. Business registration records indicate that Haiyin Capital was the investor in Kang’ai’s Series A round. The funds are slated to support the research and development of a suite of intelligent diagnostic and digital therapeutic products designed to accelerate recovery for cancer patients.

Beijing AiNST specializes in providing oncology rehabilitation solutions for hospitals, including pre-hospitalization risk assessment and prehabilitation, intra-treatment supportive care, and post-treatment transitional rehabilitation. These services aim to enhance patients’ treatment tolerance, mitigate stress responses, reduce the risk of complications such as infections, and provide timely risk prevention and rehabilitative interventions, thereby facilitating cancer patients’ recovery and timely discharge from hospitalization.

In both China and the United States, serial entrepreneurs with a track record of success are often more highly regarded. Notably, Ying Xitang, founder of AiNST (formerly Kang’ai Medical) in Beijing, is a serial entrepreneur with decades of extensive experience in the healthcare sector. His previous venture, Kemei Diagnostics, founded in 1999, was successfully listed on the STAR Market in April 2021.

In 2015, Yingxitang provided a $1 million grant to the Harvard Cancer Center to establish an Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine Oncology Research Program. Over the years, it has sponsored numerous physicians from institutions such as the Cancer Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and the Anhui Provincial Cancer Hospital for advanced training. By comparing clinical practices in cancer treatment and rehabilitation between China and the United States, these physicians have gained firsthand insight into the disparities in oncology care between the two countries.

“The five-year survival rate for cancer patients in the United States has exceeded 60%, whereas in China it has only just reached 30%. In the U.S., multidisciplinary team (MDT) collaboration has become standardized, and post-discharge rehabilitation services are provided by dedicated rehabilitation centers. In contrast, Chinese cancer patients typically undergo surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy at different hospitals; hospital stays are brief, and adequate post-discharge rehabilitative care is often lacking. Although China is vigorously promoting tiered diagnosis and treatment, primary care physicians lack the necessary rehabilitative diagnostic tools and systematic training in rehabilitation therapy, leaving them unable to meet patients’ rehabilitative needs,” stated Ying Xitang.

With the advancement of medical technology in China and the increasing detection of early-stage cancer through health screenings, the number of patients surviving beyond five years post-diagnosis is growing. In the United States, more than 15 million cancer survivors are currently living long-term. Statistical data from China in 2011 showed that 7.49 million individuals diagnosed with cancer within the previous five years were still alive. After completing conventional treatments such as surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, these patients continue to face numerous health issues requiring medical attention. Although China sees over 4 million new cancer cases annually, there are only slightly more than 200,000 oncology hospital beds nationwide. Medical resources are insufficient to meet the needs of newly diagnosed cancer patients, let alone those who have been discharged after completing conventional treatment.

To address side effects and other issues arising in the treatment of cancer patients in China, Beijing AiNST’s Integrated Intelligent Rehabilitation Diagnosis and Treatment Management System aims to resolve these challenges through new technologies such as medical devices and AI-driven big data analytics.

Currently, Beijing AiNST is developing a range of products, including oncology rehabilitation diagnostic devices, software, and digital therapeutic software for intelligent screening. The company has developed an oncology nutrition analyzer and obtained medical device registration certification during the 2020 pandemic period. This was the first oncology nutrition analyzer approved by the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) in China.

This tumor nutrition analyzer can simultaneously collect 123 relevant data points. After data processing, it enables the formulation of personalized nutritional treatment plans for patients, achieving a tenfold increase in efficiency compared to the current traditional Nutrition Support Team (NST) model. The device has secured 68 intellectual property rights and has been deployed in nearly 100 large hospitals across China, yielding favorable outcomes.

As a Series A investor, Wang Yuquan, founder of Haiyin Capital, stated: “Beijing Kang’ai has adapted the model of the Rehabilitation Center at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard University, and integrated artificial intelligence technologies to develop an intelligent rehabilitation management solution. This solution addresses side effects experienced by cancer patients during treatment and in the post-treatment rehabilitation phase, helping to mitigate treatment-related stress responses and reduce complications. It effectively meets the rehabilitation needs of cancer patients in China and aligns with the upgrading of healthcare consumption driven by the country’s economic development and medical advancements.”

Haiyin Capital was founded in 2008 by Wang Yuquan, the renowned founder of Foresight Technology. Specializing in investments in high-tech enterprises in China and abroad, Haiyin Capital has invested in overseas high-tech companies such as Witricity, a leading wireless charging company; Soft Robotics, an advanced manufacturing robotics firm; Hanson Robotics, a developer of emotional robots; 1366 Technologies, a new energy company that significantly reduced the cost of solar power generation; and MC10, an electronic skin sensor company. By fully leveraging its resources in both China and the United States, Haiyin Capital has helped these companies achieve rapid growth.