Shanhu Health Secures Tens of Millions in Pre-A Funding Led by Sequoia China Amid 1000% YoY Q1 Revenue Surge

VCBeat learned at the earliest opportunity,Shanghai Shanhu Health Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Shanhu Health”) has completed a Pre-A financing round of tens of millions of yuan,Backed by Sequoia Capital China. The funds raised in this round will be primarily used by Shanhu Health for new product R&D, market promotion, and accelerating the digital layout of innovative drug clinical trials.

Shanhu Health, established in 2015, is a comprehensive clinical digitalization provider offering integrated online-offline dual-cycle solutions. Headquartered in the Shanghai Zhangjiang Free Trade Zone, the company also maintains R&D centers and offices in Suzhou, Guangzhou, and Hangzhou.

Currently,Shanhu Health boasts a core SaaS product matrix centered on IRT and EDC, along with products and services such as subject compliance management, closed-loop drug supply management, and clinical system implementation.Since its inception, the company has provided digital products and solutions for more than 300 clinical studies of various types both in China and abroad, with services covering over 20 countries and more than 1,000 research centers worldwide.

According to Sullivan’s report, the global CRO market is currently experiencing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 10%, whereas China’s CAGR has reached nearly 30%. As the world’s largest hotbed for pharmaceutical investment, China is undergoing a golden age of biopharmaceutical development. However, new drug development is characterized by high costs and long cycles. Clinical trials are an indispensable step in determining whether early-stage drug development can achieve commercialization, yet the failure rate for clinical studies remains as high as 75%.

As national healthcare reform policies are progressively implemented, the wave of transitioning from generic drugs to innovative drugs has arrived: the design of new drug research is becoming more innovative, and research management is increasingly complex, placing higher demands on digital solution providers.

Furthermore, as the management of human genetic resources and data in China becomes increasingly standardized, the pace at which domestic innovative pharmaceutical companies expand overseas is accelerating, creating rapid development opportunities for high-quality domestic clinical digitalization vendors.

Shanhu Health has seized the development opportunities of the era in a timely manner, having since its inceptionInnovative Drug Clinical Researchprecise market positioning, and has persisted in continuously deepening its product development, having established to dateCentered on its two core SaaS product matrices, IRT and EDC, the company also provides products and services including closed-loop management of drug supply and clinical system implementation.

Liu Yanqing, founder of Shanhu Health, told VCBeat that the clinical digitalization chain is extensive, comprising more than ten sub-products, including IRT (Interactive Response Technology for randomization and drug supply), EDC (Electronic Data Capture), and CTMS (Clinical Trial Management System).Among these, IRT and EDC are the most critical: EDC serves as the foundation for clinical data collection, while IRT acts as the decision-making brain for clinical drug supply and marks the starting point of its lifecycle.

Guo Shanshan, Partner at Sequoia China, stated, “Clinical research is one of the critical links in commercializing new drugs, with a failure rate as high as 75%. Shanhu Health has been deeply engaged in clinical informatics for many years, establishing a high-quality product portfolio and service capabilities that support global clinical trials. The Shanhu team features a multidisciplinary background in computer science, statistics, medicine, and pharmacy, with years of experience in the clinical domains of leading pharmaceutical companies both domestically and internationally. They are professional and possess deep insights into the industry’s pain points.”

Shanhu Health has strategically positioned itself in the innovative drug market, maintaining a focused and in-depth approach to its two most critical sub-products: IRT (Interactive Response Technology) and EDC (Electronic Data Capture). This strategy has enabled the company to rapidly build a strong reputation among leading domestic pharmaceutical enterprises and sustain high customer repurchase rates. Shanhu Health’s clientele includes top-tier pharmaceutical companies such as Hengrui Medicine and Fosun Pharma, as well as benchmark enterprises in new drug R&D in China. The company’s business scope covers dozens of therapeutic areas, including oncology, immunology, diabetes, dermatology, and ophthalmology.

Since its establishment, Shanhu Health has provided digital products and solutions for more than 300 clinical studies of various types both in China and abroad. Since 2019, Shanhu Health has assisted multiple leading Chinese pharmaceutical companies in conducting clinical trials globally. To date, it has supported over 20 international multi-center studies, with services covering more than 20 countries, over 1,000 research centers, and more than 10,000 professional users in clinical research, while serving hundreds of thousands of trial participants.

Since the commercial launch of its first product in early 2017, Shanhu Health has maintained an average annual growth rate of over 200%. In Q1 2021, its revenue increased more than tenfold year-on-year, with impressive SaaS metrics including Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR), repurchase rate, and gross margin.

“Precision” and “Excellence”: The Core Philosophy Upheld by Shanhu Health in Product Development

“Targeting” refers to Shanhu Health’s focus on the innovative drug market.

“Shanhu Health’s expert team has accumulated an average of over 10 years of deep expertise in the clinical research of innovative drugs. This extensive industry experience enables our team to gain a deeper understanding of the genuine needs of pharmaceutical companies developing innovative drugs, as well as the policy environment, laws and regulations, and regulatory barriers within this sector. It also provides insight into the challenges and pitfalls these companies may encounter throughout the entire process, from the initiation of innovative drug research to its final commercialization,” stated Liu Yanqing. She emphasized that only by thoroughly understanding customers’ real needs and pain points can we develop targeted solutions accordingly.

“Refinement” refers to Shanhu Health’s continuous in-depth development of each of its products.

Shanhu Health did not intend to rapidly develop a wide array of digital products in its early stages. In Liu Yanqing’s view, the value of digital solution products lies not in quantity but in quality; what truly matters is ensuring that customers can effectively utilize them. Therefore, Shanhu Health’s product development strategy focuses on continuous in-depth refinement of each product before pursuing horizontal expansion.

“The data integration we envision is not about having a multitude of products, but rather about offering ‘refined’ ones. We develop only a select few products, yet ensure they are truly usable by clients; this is what constitutes valuable data integration for our customers,” said Liu Yanqing.

While defining market positioning and product pathways, Shanhu Health also helps pharmaceutical clients “go global,” facilitating the smooth conduct of global clinical trials overseas.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Shanhu Health demonstrated outstanding performance in the vaccine sector by providing clinical research services in China for Pfizer’s vaccine, the first to receive EMA approval globally. Currently, among the 16 COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials underway in China, digital solutions provided by Shanhu Health are facilitating the global expansion of nearly half of these projects.

Shanhu Health’s international positioning is built upon its globally oriented, multidisciplinary talent pool. The core team at Shanhu Health not only includes senior executives from major multinational corporations such as Roche, IQVIA, AstraZeneca, and IBM, but also comprises outstanding professionals from renowned domestic and international institutions, including the University of Manchester (UK), University of Yamanashi (Japan), St. John’s University (USA), Wuhan University, and Soochow University. This core team represents a composite talent pool with diverse academic backgrounds spanning computer science, medicine, pharmacy, and other disciplines.

Liu Yanqing, founder of Shanhu Health, holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science and a master’s degree in medical engineering. He previously served as a clinical system architect at EPS, a top-tier Japanese CRO company, and later joined Roche’s Global R&D Center, where he was responsible for the digital transformation of clinical systems. Through these roles, he has developed profound insights and cutting-edge practical expertise in the digitization and informatization of clinical operations.

Co-founder Sun Jialin graduated from Wuhan University with a degree in Clinical Medicine. He previously served as Regional Head of the Medical Development Department at Hengrui Medicine, and as Project Manager and Therapeutic Area Lead at Roche’s Global R&D Center. Co-founder Tang Shuwen graduated from St. John’s University in the United States with a degree in Pharmacy. She has worked at Roche and IQVIA, accumulating over ten years of experience in clinical project operations.

The three founders have joined forces, leveraging their respective strengths and achieving complementary advantages. Together with the company’s outstanding team members, they constitute the driving force behind Shanhu Health’s rapid forward development.