Congbao Technology Files for IPO: Pioneering the Future of AI-Driven Traditional Chinese Medicine
On March 28, the 2021 Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Artificial Intelligence Industry Summit was held by the West Lake. Congbao TCM announced the completion of its RMB 100 million Series B financing round, led by China Resources Life Sciences. Furthermore, under the guidance of the Monitoring and Statistics Center of the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, the “National TCM Brain Innovation Consortium,” initiated by China Resources Life Sciences Group and jointly established by Tsinghua University, Zhejiang University, Congbao TCM, and other institutions, was successfully launched.
Since its establishment in 2015, TCM Congbao has undergone five years of development, achieving technological evolution from Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSS) to AI-assisted diagnosis, and further to an AI ecosystem. In terms of application scenarios, it has expanded its business model from individual hospitals to include Intelligent TCM Medical Consortia and provincial/municipal-level TCM City Brains, thereby establishing a self-contained, closed-loop system.
By uniting the government, hospitals, primary care physicians, and patients, TCM Congbao is building a future-oriented new medical service system. To date, TCM Congbao has established over 50 intelligent TCM medical consortia, connecting more than 5,000 medical institutions across 18 provinces in China, and has issued over 10 million TCM prescriptions, achieving rapid development in the R&D of TCM AI and the expansion of its application scenarios.
China Resources Life Sciences is China Resources Group’s latest strategic move in the big health sector, following its entry into healthcare through China Resources Medical. China Resources Life Sciences focuses on precision medicine, biotechnology, and digital healthcare. Among these, TCM smart healthcare is a key strategic priority within its digital healthcare portfolio.
From this perspective, the strategic investment in Congbao TCM, a leading enterprise in AI-driven Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), represents a significant step for China Resources Life Sciences in its layout of the AI-TCM sector.
Since its founding in 2015, TCM Congbao has been dedicated to the research, development, and application of AI technologies in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). By operating through an intelligent TCM medical consortium model, the company has established three core business lines: First, it deploys AI systems on regional platforms at the county and municipal levels, creating a medical consortium that spans from villages, towns, and communities to county hospitals, thereby promoting the decentralization of TCM services to grassroots levels. Second, it advances the application of intelligent tools to enhance the TCM diagnostic and treatment capabilities of primary care physicians. Third, it integrates medical services with pharmaceutical supply by establishing regional shared TCM pharmacies and implementing centralized distribution, thereby addressing the shortage of medical resources and medicines at the grassroots level.
In recent years, the status of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has been significantly elevated. With the in-depth development of artificial intelligence technologies, the TCM AI market now has numerous participants. It is reported that the due diligence for this financing project lasted a year and a half. After multiple rounds of screening, China Resources Life Sciences Group ultimately focused its attention on Zhongyi Congbao. Why did China Resources Life Sciences ultimately choose Zhongyi Congbao?
China Resources Life Sciences Group stated that in 2017, TCM Congbao successfully developed China’s first auxiliary diagnosis and treatment robot powered by National Medical Masters, and created China’s first artificial intelligence platform for the inheritance and innovation of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Its leading technological advantages have bolstered TCM Congbao’s market expansion. Currently, TCM Congbao ranks first in the industry in terms of market size, and has received highly positive feedback from customers.
In terms of corporate culture, Zhongyi Congbao is a team driven by passion and dedication to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). The company places significant emphasis on cross-disciplinary integration in talent development, with its R&D team comprising experts from diverse fields including artificial intelligence, TCM, big data, and software engineering.
China Resources Life Sciences is highly optimistic about the prospects of AI in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and the business model of TCM Congbao. It believes that the internationalization of TCM must leverage technological means. TCM Congbao has pioneered this path and demonstrated its feasibility through concrete actions, positioning itself as a strong contender to become the first publicly listed company in the “TCM AI” sector.
Gu Gaosheng, founder of TCM Congbao, analyzed that there are three levels of AI application in medicine: the first is improving efficiency (assisted intelligence), the second is changing behavior (augmented intelligence), and the third is enhancing quality (clinical intelligence). TCM Congbao’s product development follows this logic.
On one hand, Zhongyi Congbao enhances the diagnostic and treatment capabilities of primary care physicians through its TCM AI system, thereby improving clinical outcomes at grassroots hospitals. On the other hand, it leverages AI technology to summarize the consultation experiences of renowned senior TCM practitioners and National TCM Masters, facilitating the inheritance of TCM diagnostic and therapeutic practices while amplifying the social and commercial value of TCM consultation techniques.
Currently, Zhongyi Congbao has developed a suite of AI-driven solutions, including specialized disease management systems, intelligent consultation room systems, smart pharmacy systems, intelligent follow-up systems, a research and heritage interaction platform, and a TCM-enabled rehabilitation platform. These solutions cover more than 20 specialty areas, including internal medicine, surgery, gynecology, and pediatrics, with data closed-loop integration established across all systems.
Leading technological advantages have enabled TCM Congbao to move fast, while its practical commercialization capabilities are the key to ensuring it goes far.
Gu Gaosheng analyzes that the level of informatization in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in China lags far behind that of Western medicine. In response, Zhongyi Congbao has proposed the concepts of the “Intelligent TCM Medical Consortium” and the “TCM City Brain.” Abandoning the outdated approach of building systems individually, it directly establishes regional TCM medical consortia at the county and city levels. This creates a comprehensive, high-level integrated TCM healthcare and pharmaceutical service within a given region, thereby maximizing the scope for TCM practice and enhancing profitability.
Gu Gaosheng stated that with the Chinese government’s increasing emphasis on traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and the rapid advancement of AI technology, the window of opportunity for the development of TCM AI has arrived. Against this backdrop, TCM Congbao will closely align with the “14th Five-Year Plan,” prudently allocate the proceeds from this financing round, continue to increase investment in product research and development, and intensify its market expansion efforts.
During the Two Sessions, the term “Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)” was frequently mentioned by deputies and committee members. On March 12, 2021, Xinhua News Agency released the full text of the Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021–2025) for National Economic and Social Development and the Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035. The Outline provided a detailed deployment for the development of TCM, identifying six key areas of focus.
Gu Gaosheng believes that 2021 is not only a period of rapid growth for the development of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), but also an opportunity for Zhongyi Congbao to reach a new level.
Over the past five years, TCM Congbao has assembled a team of talents dedicated to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) culture, consistently deepening its expertise in the TCM AI sector. The company has established its TCM Intelligent Medical Consortium System in county-level and prefecture-level cities across third- and fourth-tier regions. Its product has evolved from an auxiliary clinical decision support system into a regional centralized big data platform, with application scenarios expanding from individual hospitals and county-level medical consortia to prefecture-level, provincial, and even national-level “TCM Brain” systems.
Over the next five years, TCM Congbao will redefine smart Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) based on the top-level design of the “National TCM Brain.” TCM Congbao will fully support the National TCM Brain Innovation Consortium, leveraging the technological and resource strengths of partners such as China Resources Life Sciences Group, Tsinghua University, and Zhejiang University to establish a world-class medical R&D center. This initiative will empower the “National TCM Brain” with six major application scenarios: intelligent clinical practice, intelligent pharmaceuticals, intelligent education, intelligent management, intelligent wellness, and intelligent manufacturing. The strategy aims to align with provincial and national TCM brain systems to facilitate the state’s integrated intelligent supervision of TCM, while also enabling county-level TCM intelligent medical consortia to achieve full coverage at the county level and integrate the entire TCM industry chain.
Gu Gaosheng revealed that TCM Congbao plans to cover 200 county-level cities across China in 2021, providing intelligent TCM medical consortium services to a population of 60 million. In terms of specialized disease system development, TCM Congbao will intensify its R&D efforts, shorten the development cycle for specialized robots, and expand its robot product lineup to 50 models. The company aims to establish a shared, open ecosystem platform by 2025 to provide foundational infrastructure services to the industry. From a long-term perspective, TCM Congbao plans to complete its initial public offering (IPO) within three years, striving to become the “first AI-driven TCM stock.”
“Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is an industry that rewards meticulous, long-term effort. No system is born perfect; the achievements of TCM Congbao at this stage are the result of continuous experimentation and quiet dedication over the past five years. The original intention behind founding Congbao was ‘to make accessing medical care easier for everyone.’ As an expert in TCM artificial intelligence, TCM Congbao is committed to addressing the challenges and pain points in the inheritance, diagnosis and treatment, and industrialization of traditional Chinese medicine. By contributing my share to the welfare of TCM and enabling more people to access affordable and effective healthcare, I feel that I have done something meaningful,” shared Gu Gaosheng.