Lekai Medical Secures Hundreds of Millions RMB in Series B Funding to Enter Global Neurovascular Intervention Market with Access Products

In August 2021, KAI MEDTECH (hereinafter referred to as “KAI MEDTECH”) completed a Series B financing round amounting to hundreds of millions of RMB.This round of financing was led by Hengxu Capital, with existing shareholders Yangyun Capital and Tigermed-related funds participating in the oversubscribed follow-on investment (Super Pro Rata). WinX Capital served as the exclusive financial advisor in this transaction.Previously, KAI MEDTECH secured investments from multiple funds, including Hillhouse Capital, Yangyun Capital, Tigermed-affiliated Taifu Capital, and Taiyu Investment.

KAI MEDTECH, established in 2019, specializes in the R&D, manufacturing, and sales of neurointerventional medical devices. Its product portfolio comprehensively covers hemorrhagic, ischemic, and access categories. Committed to leveraging neurointervention as its strategic entry point, KAI MEDTECH is driven by the dual engines of “strong independent R&D capabilities + global business development (BD) capabilities for advanced technologies,” along with a closed-loop system integrating R&D, product development, and marketing & sales. The company aims to become a leading innovative technology platform in the field of cerebrovascular disease devices, and indeed across the broader medical device industry.

Since its inception, KAI MEDTECH has been committed to building an international platform for foundational technologies in neurointervention. To date, the company has fully established its catheter, guidewire, and balloon technology platforms, with its stent technology platform nearing completion. The development of these foundational technology platforms has facilitated the rapid R&D and iteration of the company’s new products.In July 2021, the company’s first product—the “Intracranial Distal Access Catheter”—received official marketing approval in just eight months. Eight additional products are expected to obtain regulatory clearance next year.。

From the perspective of its corporate team, the company has successfully established a presence in both China and the United States. Its U.S. operations boast multiple senior R&D engineers and regulatory affairs teams, ensuring that the company’s technologies remain aligned with global state-of-the-art standards. The China team is also primarily composed of professionals from renowned domestic and international industry leaders such as Medtronic, Terumo, Stryker, Johnson & Johnson, Boston Scientific, Edwards Lifesciences, and MicroPort.

The population of stroke patients in China is steadily increasing, with a high mortality rate. In 2019, the number of stroke patients in China reached 14.8 million, including 11.9 million patients with ischemic stroke. The incidence was 2.3 million cases, and it is projected to rise to 2.7 million cases by 2030. According to statistics, at least one out of every five deaths in China is attributed to stroke. The number of stroke-related deaths accounts for approximately one-third of global cerebrovascular disease deaths, ranking as the third leading cause of death.

In terms of market size, China’s neurointerventional market grew from RMB 2.9 billion in 2015 to RMB 6.0 billion in 2019, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20%. It is projected to reach RMB 48.9 billion by 2030, with a CAGR of 21% from 2019 to 2030. By segment, CICC expects the market for high-value consumables in neurointerventional procedures in China to reach a scale of tens of billions of RMB by 2030.

In terms of market participants, the number of competitors in China’s neurointerventional sector is steadily increasing, with competition becoming increasingly intense. However, the reality is that in 2020, the combined market share of several domestic neurointerventional companies—MicroPort Scientific, Peijia Medical, Acotec Scientific, and HeartCare Medical—was only 3.8%, with the total market share of domestic brands remaining below 10%. For key neurointerventional products such as microwires and microcatheters, which pose extremely high technical barriers, foreign companies account for more than 95% of the market share. China’s neurointerventional market remains firmly dominated by imported brands, and domestic enterprises still face a long and challenging road ahead.

From the perspective of market entry strategies, the vast majority of domestic neurointerventional manufacturers have entered the neurointerventional sector with stents, coils, or aspiration catheters that require clinical trials. Leveraging its proprietary foundational technologies, KAI MEDTECH has taken a different path by entering the market with access devices.

As is well known, access products primarily serve a supportive and guiding role in interventional procedures. They are essential consumables for every interventional surgery, with a usage frequency far higher than that of therapeutic devices. However, from a technical perspective, the reality is not that products exempt from clinical trials possess lower technical complexity than those requiring such trials. On the contrary, neurointerventional access products—such as microcatheters and guidewires—present significantly greater technical challenges than therapeutic devices that require clinical evaluation. Nevertheless, the R&D investment in therapeutic devices is not substantially higher than that in access products.

Following the completion of this funding round, KAI MEDTECH will continue to focus on the development of foundational technologies for interventional devices, as well as the introduction and incubation of the latest international products. The company aims to build a multi-product, interdisciplinary, and continuously iterated product pipeline, while establishing a sales network covering leading neurosurgery hospitals and experts across China.

For this financing round,Liu An, Chairman of KAI MEDTECHStatement: We extend our gratitude to Hengxu Capital and our existing shareholders for their trust and continued support, as well as to the Kaicheng Capital team for their professional and dedicated assistance in industry research and corporate promotion. Since its inception, KAI MEDTECH has adhered to a technology-driven strategy that emphasizes both internal capability building and external growth, with a strong focus on foundational R&D. Through years of committed investment and technological accumulation, the company is poised to launch a series of innovative and differentiated neurointerventional products in the coming years, positioning itself to stand out amidst the growing trend of domestic substitution in this field.

Lu Yongtao, Chairman of Hengxu CapitalIt is noted that the neurointerventional sector has witnessed rapid development in recent years, yet it remains a highly competitive landscape. The most significant strength of KAI MEDTECH lies not only in its exceptional founders and core R&D team, as well as its global layout in R&D, technology introduction, and registration/sales, but more importantly in its core guiding philosophy for corporate development: focusing on the development and accumulation of foundational technologies to enable rapid and continuous iteration of its product pipeline. Hengxu Capital believes that in the fierce competition within the neurointerventional field, the ultimate winners will undoubtedly be R&D-driven enterprises with profound “internal capabilities.” We remain firmly bullish on KAI MEDTECH’s upcoming series of new products and its long-term vision of becoming an innovative medical device platform.

Wang Sheng, Founder of Yangyun CapitalYangyun Capital has consecutively invested in KAI MEDTECH for three rounds, starting from its Series A financing, and exercised its Super Pro Rata rights. This decision was driven by our strong confidence in the neurointerventional market, particularly in Liu An, Josh, and KAI MEDTECH’s international team, as well as its independently innovated neurointerventional product portfolio. Over the past few years, leveraging its global perspective, KAI MEDTECH has built a robust foundation in research, development, and manufacturing. We firmly believe that KAI MEDTECH will reach new heights and deliver more high-quality domestically produced medical devices to patients nationwide.

Dr. Zou Guowen, Founder of WinX CapitalStatement: We are honored to serve as the exclusive financial advisor to KAI MEDTECH. As an active participant in the high-growth neurointerventional sector, KAI MEDTECH, under the leadership of its founder and core team, leverages robust R&D capabilities and global technical resources. The company possesses rare foundational R&D strength and product iteration capabilities within the industry. Furthermore, its extensive nationwide sales network, combined with leading international expansion capabilities, has laid a solid foundation for future global sales and regulatory compliance. We believe that KAI MEDTECH will emerge as one of the top players following the current period of intense competition and consolidation in China’s neurointerventional field.

Hengxu Capital (AMAC Registration No.: P1070270) is the private equity investment platform under SAIC Motor Corporation Limited (600104.SH). Leveraging the overall strengths of SAIC Motor, the company aims to maximize investor returns by strategically investing in emerging industries such as advanced manufacturing, healthcare, frontier technologies, and mass consumption, thereby contributing to the development of SAIC Motor’s innovative industrial chain and the enhancement of its mobility ecosystem. Hengxu Capital’s healthcare portfolio includes numerous outstanding enterprises such as Aier Medical, Anzhiyin Biotechnology, Changfeng Pharmaceutical, Demei Medical, Diker Medical, Gaocheng Biotechnology, Meili Weiye, Ribobio, Yuhong Pharmaceutical, Weizhizhuo Biotechnology, and UTC.

Sunmed Capital is a venture capital firm dedicated to investing in early-stage innovative medical device companies. Its management team comprises seasoned professionals with deep expertise in the domestic and international medical device industries. To date, Sunmed Capital has invested in numerous high-quality enterprises. Always considering itself an integral part of its portfolio companies, Sunmed Capital works closely with founders to provide substantial empowerment and foster mutual growth, aiming to deliver superior products to patients and healthcare providers across China at the earliest opportunity.

WinX Capital is a leading investment bank in China’s healthcare sector. Five members of its founding team hold Ph.D. degrees in Global Finance from the PBC School of Finance at Tsinghua University, while its frontline team boasts an average of over 10 years of experience in management, investment, and M&A, with cumulative transaction values exceeding RMB 30 billion. Headquartered in Beijing and Shanghai, WinX Capital serves more than 3,000 active institutional investors and industrial groups. In 2020, it was ranked among the “Top 5 Most Promising Emerging Investment Banks in China” by 36Kr’s WISE Awards, and named one of the “Top 4 Best Financial Advisory Firms in Healthcare” for 2020 by Qiming Technology & Xinsheng Chuangfu.