E-Health Now Raises Tens of Millions in Series A Funding, Paving the Way for an IPO as China's Answer to UnitedHealth

Following its recognition as the “2020–2021 Top 100 Future Healthcare Companies · Pengcheng Award · Enterprise of the Year with Potential” on April 16, E-Health Now, a leading enterprise in the health management services sector, has once again announced positive news.

VCBeat has learned that on April 23, 2021, Suzhou Haohai Medical Technology Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of E-Health Now, announced the completion of its Series A financing round, raising tens of millions of RMB. The round was led by Ventech China Asia SICAR, with participation from some existing shareholders.

E-Health Now was established in September 2017, originating from the VIP-X innovation incubation and acceleration project invested by alumni of the University of Pennsylvania. Headquartered in Suzhou, it has offices and teams deployed in multiple locations, including Beijing, Shanghai, Hainan, and the United States.

A few years ago, while Kelly Xu Bingyu, founder and CEO of E-Health Now, was pursuing her MBA at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in the United States, she took note of UnitedHealth Group, a publicly traded company with a market capitalization exceeding $300 billion. As a component of the U.S. S&P 500 Index, UnitedHealth Group has seen its stock price increase more than fifteenfold over the past decade.

Xu Bingyu subsequently conducted in-depth research on UnitedHealth Group. As early as 1973, the U.S. Congress passed legislation allowing commercial insurers to enter into individual contracts with hospitals and physicians to provide healthcare-related services. In 1974, UnitedHealth Group was established, gradually forming a dual-business structure comprising UnitedHealthcare and Optum, which focus on health insurance and health management services, respectively, to leverage synergies. Today, UnitedHealth Group has grown into a corporate giant with annual revenues exceeding $240 billion.

Despite studying abroad, Xu Bingyu has remained deeply concerned about China’s healthcare industry. Against the backdrop of an increasingly burdensome national medical insurance system, reform on the payment side has become an inevitable trend. Meanwhile, accelerating population aging continues to drive growth in the healthcare services sector, while rising income levels and heightened health awareness are fueling demand for higher-quality medical services. Inspired by the UnitedHealth model, Xu Bingyu resolved to introduce this model to China. After earning her MBA, she returned to China and founded E-Health Now.

After three years of exploration and practice, E-Health Now has fully taken national conditions into account and gradually shaped an upgraded UnitedHealth model with Chinese characteristics, which is projected to achieve annual revenues in the hundreds of millions. In 2021, E-Health Now will establish official partnerships with 200 top-tier Grade A tertiary hospitals in China, boast a network of more than 2,000 internationally renowned experts, serve over 50 major domestic commercial insurance companies as contracted clients, and manage the health management service needs of 20 million commercial insurance customers.

Even more impressive is that E-Health Now has not only achieved a tenfold year-over-year growth in sales revenue but has also become one of the few profitable companies in the industry. Following this round of financing, E-Health Now will enter a new historical phase of scaled growth and will continue to invest in the construction and operation of internet hospitals, the establishment of China’s first composite talent system integrating “medicine and insurance,” the expansion of its medical resource network team, and standardized and refined operational management.

Regarding the reasons for consecutively gaining recognition from industry peers and attracting capital interest, Xu Bingyu believes that the following aspects are key:

First, focus on and benefit from the rapidly growing Chinese health insurance and health management market with immense potential.In January 2020, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) and twelve other ministries and commissions issued the “Opinions on Promoting the Development of Commercial Insurance in the Social Services Sector,” proposing to strive for a commercial health insurance market size exceeding RMB 2 trillion by 2025. In September of the same year, the “Notice on Regulating Health Management Services Provided by Insurance Companies” clarified the concept of health management services and stipulated that their cost share within insurance products could reach up to 20%. Consequently, within the vast commercial health insurance market, the health management sector has gained greater room for growth and potential.

Second, innovation capabilities in full-cycle health insurance products and a comprehensive layout of scarce medical resources.On one hand, E-Health Now has integrated top-tier medical resources both domestically and internationally, establishing significant competitive barriers in cross-border operations, compliance, stability, and sustainability. On the other hand, E-Health Now provides health management services to major domestic commercial insurance companies and end customers; with a focus on life insurance, it holds stronger competitive advantages in the full-lifecycle coverage of its product system, as well as in standardized and refined operations.

Third, a validated business model, rapid scalability, and diversified revenue streams.E-Health Now has established a revenue system that integrates B2B and B2C operations. On the B2B side, payers primarily include insurance companies, financial institutions, and large enterprises. Its products and services feature marketing enablement tools centered on health management, as well as high-quality health insurance products and solutions that achieve both strong sales performance and sustainable claims affordability. Additionally, select premium hospitals pay to join E-Health Now’s domestic and international medical network. On the B2C side, through model innovation and lean processes, E-Health Now enables patients to access diagnostic and treatment services aligned with the highest international standards without leaving China, at less than one-tenth the cost of seeking medical care overseas.

Fourth, it boasts impressive revenue growth and profitability within the industry.It is worth noting that despite the rampant COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, E-Health Now still achieved a tenfold increase in revenue, successfully validated its business model, and attained profitability, becoming one of the few profitable companies in the industry.

Fifth, we have a team with extensive international vision, strong innovative consciousness, and efficient execution capabilities.Xu Bingyu has previously held positions at global institutions such as The Walt Disney Company, Charles River Associates, and Bank of America Merrill Lynch. As the youngest elite professional in international market development in Disney’s history, she spearheaded international joint venture projects worth over $1 billion and established and cultivated the project economics management team for Disney Shanghai. Ms. Xu possesses extensive experience in industry research, innovative cross-border business, and entrepreneurship within the domestic and international healthcare sectors. She maintains a broad network spanning top-tier healthcare systems, multinational pharmaceutical companies, and scientific research, public welfare, and medical institutions. Furthermore, the company has built an international, high-caliber management team with expertise in medicine, sales, and digitalization/intelligence.

Xu Bingyu shared that in-depth market research revealed significant differences between China’s healthcare ecosystem and those of Europe and the United States. For instance, market education and the development stage of China’s health insurance industry lag behind those in foreign countries; China’s medical payment system is primarily dominated by social security, followed by out-of-pocket payments, with commercial insurance playing a supplementary role; furthermore, China’s medical market is still predominantly comprised of public hospitals, whereas in most foreign countries, primary care is mainly provided by non-public medical institutions.

Therefore, E-Health Now’s development trajectory cannot simply replicate that of UnitedHealth Group; its growth path must inevitably embody Chinese characteristics. In light of this, E-Health Now has aligned with China’s national conditions by bridging clinical care and commercial insurance, and continuously enhancing its health management service platform through informatization, digitalization, and intelligent technologies, thereby successfully creating a one-stop health management service platform.

Clinical Side:E-Health Now enables patients to access cutting-edge, high-quality diagnostic and treatment services from abroad without leaving the country, through three core solutions: international consultations, technology introduction, and service networks.

At international consultations, we collaborate with domestic partners and Grade A tertiary hospitals to establish physical international multidisciplinary diagnosis and treatment centers. These centers are uniformly developed and operated in accordance with cutting-edge international disease management standards, achieving a high-quality, highly replicable, and scalable operational model. In terms of resource introduction, we leverage policies such as the special approval for scientific research projects in the Hainan Boao Medical Tourism Pilot Zone to compliantly introduce cutting-edge international technologies and connect with global resources. Regarding our service network, we utilize our internally developed professional technology platform to interconnect centers nationwide, enabling resource and data sharing, and providing patients with one-stop services ranging from remote consultations, testing, and treatment plan implementation to follow-up care.

Currently, E-Health Now boasts an extensive network of overseas experts, covering seven leading international healthcare systems and encompassing nearly 2,000 renowned international specialists across 41 medical specialties. It has officially partnered with 80 top-tier hospitals and departments in China to establish international remote consultation centers, while its green channel for medical care now covers 755 Grade A tertiary hospitals nationwide.

Commercial Insurance Side:E-Health Now collaborates with financial and insurance institutions to help business departments such as individual insurance, bancassurance, and online sales build efficient customer acquisition systems; provides comprehensive health management services to departments including the Health Insurance Division, Health Management Department, and Customer Service Department; and supports product development and actuarial teams in developing new insurance products, co-creating health insurance offerings.

It is understood that E-Health Now has partnered with nearly 40 large financial and insurance institutions, including Taiping, New China Life Insurance, PICC, ICBC-AXA, and Taikang. By the end of 2021, this partnership network is expected to expand to 50 institutions.

Xu Bingyu stated that E-Health Now will adhere to the strategy of “optimizing existing assets while expanding new growth,” further deepen cooperation with China’s top-tier Grade 3A hospitals, achieve comprehensive coverage of 200 leading Grade 3A hospitals, continuously enrich its health insurance service ecosystem, and broaden its collaborative scope with financial and insurance institutions.

Regarding this financing round, Eric Huet, Founder and Managing Partner of Ventech China Asia SICAR, the lead investor in this round, stated that E-Health Now has established a multi-party win-win network covering hospitals, patients, and insurance companies. It is the first company capable of truly delivering high-quality patient referrals to Grade A tertiary hospitals, providing patients with matched premium medical resources and services, and offering comprehensive health management solutions to insurers and policyholders. “Therefore, since its establishment, top-tier medical institutions and insurance companies have proactively joined this network—a feat unattainable by other health management or doctor-patient platforms. We are highly optimistic about the development prospects of health management and insurtech in China, and we believe that E-Health Now will become the undisputed leader in this field.”

It is understood that Ventech China Asia SICAR possesses extensive resources across major financial, insurance, and pharmaceutical companies, and will leverage these resources to support E-Health Now in business development, resource integration, and strategic cooperation. Eric Huet also noted that, given E-Health Now’s early stage of development, additional services will be provided in areas such as human resources, technical support, and brand building. “E-Health Now is growing rapidly, which poses a challenge to its management team. We will strive to provide the company with maximum support to foster mutual growth.”

Ventech China has been established in China for nearly 15 years, managing five funds primarily focused on early-stage investments in high-potential companies within the consumer, enterprise services, internet, and technology sectors. Its institutional investors include Groupe BPCE, Natixis, several French family offices, and owners of prominent French enterprises.