MediTrust Health Secures RMB 1 Billion Series B Funding to Rebuild the Pharma-Healthcare-Insurance Ecosystem with Internet Giants

On March 5, VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) learned that MediTrust Health, a leading brand in innovative healthcare payment solutions, officially announced the completion of its Series B financing round totaling RMB 1 billion. The round was co-led by Ant Group, Shanghai Bio-Medicine Industry Fund, and Sinovation Ventures, with Huaxing New Economy Fund and Northern Light Venture Capital as participating investors. Existing investors Boyuan Capital (lead investor in the Series A round), Yuanyi Capital, and SAIF Partners continued to support the company.

This marks MediTrust Health’s fourth consecutive funding round in the more than four years since its establishment. The proceeds from this round will further solidify MediTrust Health’s competitive advantages in the cross-sector payment landscape, strengthen its core business layout centered on innovative healthcare payment solutions, and continue to expand innovative offerings in health insurance, pharmaceutical benefits, chronic disease management, and medical services.

Notably, following this round of financing, MediTrust Health has secured support from platform-level shareholders across the healthcare, health insurance, and internet sectors, forging a cross-perspective capital consensus that opens up greater potential for its future development.

As the pioneer of the “Internet + Healthcare + Pharmaceuticals + Insurance” ecosystem model, MediTrust Health has, since its inception, aimed to bridge patients, pharmaceutical companies, and commercial insurers through innovative medical payment models leveraging the “Internet+.” This approach fosters deep integration between financial instruments and the healthcare sector, realizing the corporate vision of “universal coverage and worry-free payments.”

According to data from the National Health Commission, out-of-pocket expenditures by patients in China currently account for approximately 50% of the total healthcare market size, amounting to around RMB 1.2 trillion. This proportion is even higher in the treatment of major diseases such as cancer and in the adoption of innovative therapies, placing a greater financial burden on patients. Despite the basic coverage provided by public medical insurance and the supplementary role of commercial health insurance, individuals remain vulnerable to poverty caused or exacerbated by serious illnesses.

To help address this issue, MediTrust Health adopts an approach that starts from the payment side (commercial insurance), aggregates the needs of self-paying patients, and connects the upstream and downstream segments of the healthcare value chain, thereby enabling patients to access cutting-edge medications or medical services in a more cost-effective and convenient manner.

From this perspective, MediTrust Health has established a diversified business system encompassing patient services, commercial insurance services, and pharmaceutical company services.

Specifically, “Yao Kang Fu” is an innovative medical payment and patient benefits platform under MediTrust Health. It provides patients with “Internet + healthcare management” services. Through innovative payment models, retail channels, and services, Yao Kang Fu deeply integrates the value chain between chronic disease management and specialty drugs, bringing together pharmaceutical companies, pharmacies, and commercial insurance providers. While addressing long-standing challenges such as difficulties in accessing medications, high drug costs, and lack of efficacy guarantees for patients, it also enables pharmaceutical companies to achieve precise market reach and efficient conversion.

To date, Yaokangfu has become one of the most influential comprehensive pharmaceutical benefit brands in China. According to the data, Yaokangfu has partnered with over 50 pharmaceutical companies, offering the most extensive coverage of high-cost oncology drugs and specialty medications for chronic diseases. Its business network encompasses the largest DTP (Direct-to-Patient) pharmacy network in China, spanning more than 400 cities, benefiting millions of patients, and saving them over RMB 1 billion in medical expenses annually.

It is evident that MediTrust Health, with innovative payment solutions as its cornerstone, continues to build an ecosystem model integrating “Internet + Healthcare + Pharmaceuticals + Insurance.” This approach not only expands the boundaries of traditional medical services, health insurance, and healthcare informatics but also establishes a patient-centered digital disease management system for pharmaceutical companies, insurers, and healthcare providers, significantly improving the accessibility of medicines and high-quality medical services.

Beyond the substantial funding amount, the most notable aspect of this financing round is the increased participation from shareholders across a broader range of sectors.

First, the participation of leading enterprises from the internet, health insurance, and healthcare sectors in this round of investment demonstrates strong investor recognition of MediTrust Health’s unique “Internet + Healthcare + Pharmaceuticals + Insurance” ecosystem service model. Furthermore, from the perspective of future corporate development, this diversified shareholder structure will bring greater possibilities and opportunities to MediTrust Health.

For instance, the introduction of Ant Group will help MediTrust Health expand the boundaries of its internet healthcare products and services, accelerating the layout of its digital healthcare business. Meanwhile, bringing in multiple strategic investors, including the Shanghai Biopharmaceutical Industry Fund, will help empower MediTrust Health with industrial resources and support market-oriented operations, thereby achieving synergistic effects.

Ji Gang, Vice President of Ant Group, stated: “MediTrust Health anchors its strategy in innovative payment solutions, aggregating the needs of self-paying patients on the consumer side while effectively integrating and connecting pharmaceutical companies, pharmacies, insurance providers, and hospitals on the supply side, thereby forming a commercial closed loop among ‘pharmaceuticals, healthcare, and insurance.’ As a strategic investor, we recognize the strategic value of the company’s deep commitment to the field of innovative payment and will continue to support its rapid development. Together, we strive to alleviate medical payment challenges for users and provide higher-quality coverage.”

Zhang Xiaodong, CEO of MediTrust Health, stated, “In the future, MediTrust Health will continue to leverage the advantageous resources of its shareholders. Starting from the payer perspective, we will empower pharmaceutical companies, pharmacies, insurance companies, and healthcare institutions to fully integrate industry stakeholders and achieve end-to-end connectivity across the entire healthcare scenario. This will consolidate our absolute leading position in the payer-driven ‘Internet + Healthcare + Pharmaceuticals + Insurance’ closed-loop ecosystem, while continuously contributing to the development of new digital infrastructure for the internet-based pharmaceutical and healthcare industry.”

Liu Dawei, President of the Shanghai Biopharmaceutical Fund, stated, “With the release of new dividends from the incremental market driven by the ‘Internet + Healthcare + Pharmaceuticals + Insurance’ model, we remain bullish on MediTrust Health’s position as a pioneer and leader in this sector. We value its vast target market, clear value proposition, robust business growth, and excellent management team. We hope that MediTrust Health will continue to innovate and, through ongoing innovative medical payment solutions, jointly practice value-based healthcare and promote national health.”

Addressing future market development opportunities, Kai-Fu Lee, Chairman and CEO of Sinovation Ventures, stated, “MediTrust Health has become the largest partner and payer in the pharmaceutical insurance sector within the health insurance industry, having successively launched multiple innovative services such as financial installment plans for high-cost drugs and efficacy-based insurance. Currently, MediTrust Health holds significant advantages in the closed-loop chain integrating pharmaceuticals and insurance.”

Riding the favorable winds, MediTrust Health is undoubtedly positioned at a critical juncture of rapid growth in China’s health insurance market.

In February 2020, the State Council issued the “Guiding Opinions on Deepening the Reform of the Medical Security System,” further clarifying the need to accelerate the establishment of a multi-tiered medical security system and to promote reforms in payment methods and the supply side of pharmaceutical and medical services.

Driven by this policy, China’s healthcare delivery, medication use, and payment systems are undergoing accelerated optimization, evolving toward a multi-tiered medical security framework. Notably, the rapid penetration of digital technologies is reshaping this user-centric medical security system.

In particular, at the meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China held in March last year, it was proposed that China should accelerate the development of new infrastructure, such as 5G networks and data centers. Since then, “new infrastructure” has once again become a buzzword in China’s economy. Catalyzed by the COVID-19 pandemic, digital health has emerged as a key component of “new infrastructure,” with internet healthcare and innovative healthcare payment models frequently highlighted.

For instance, the integration of internet technology into the health insurance industry does not merely shift processes online; it effectively addresses the challenge of low-frequency communication between insurers and customers. This has brought about a triple transformation in user experience, distribution channels, and marketing, returning insurance to its essential purpose. From the customer’s perspective, purchasing health insurance now provides long-term health promotion and improvement, shifting the insurer’s role from a post-event “payer” to a tangible service provider and companion. Consequently, digital health holds a broader value proposition.

In line with the trend of new digital infrastructure in healthcare, MediTrust Health has quietly established a presence in the internet hospital sector. Its subsidiary, Kangfu Internet Hospital (also known as Hainan MediTrust Internet Hospital), received its practice license in November 2020, becoming the first independently established internet hospital in the Boao Lecheng International Medical Tourism Pilot Zone in Hainan.

It is reported that the internet hospital will be based in Boao Lecheng, leveraging the inherent advantages of digitalization and intelligence to connect with global new drugs, therapies, and medical devices for the benefit of domestic patients. Furthermore, building on MediTrust Health’s leadership position in pharmaceuticals and commercial insurance, it will further strengthen the development of healthcare service infrastructure.

Furthermore, from a global perspective, digital health is on the verge of an explosive growth phase. According to the VCBeat Industry Database, in the first half of 2020 alone, the global digital health industry completed 309 financing rounds totaling RMB 44.5 billion, making it the second most active sector within the broader healthcare landscape, surpassed only by biopharmaceuticals.

From this perspective, policy and capital are accelerating the transformation of digital health into the “new infrastructure” of the healthcare industry. The participation of companies and institutions such as Ant Group, the Shanghai Biopharmaceutical Industry Fund, and Sinovation Ventures will undoubtedly help MediTrust Health become a significant force in this wave.

Technological advancements and the evolution of business models have had a significant positive impact on the development of health insurance. However, the core logic underlying this trend is that industry participants must drive the continuous transformation of healthcare services toward value-based care.

In other words, health insurance players must adopt value-based healthcare as their guiding principle. By diversifying funding sources, providing insurance coverage, integrating service delivery, and strengthening industry consolidation, they should deeply engage in the “tri-partite coordination” among medical care, health insurance, and pharmaceuticals. In doing so, they will serve as a catalyst for deepening healthcare reform and, while mitigating medical cost risks, help drive the transformation of the healthcare model from a disease-centered approach to a health-centered one.

Only with a profound understanding of this point can innovative healthcare payment models truly hold practical value and significance. The technological framework and business model currently established by MediTrust Health are continuously expanding in accordance with this logic.

For instance, from the patient’s perspective, MediTrust Health aggregates their medical service and medication needs, leverages volume-based procurement to enable users to access high-quality drugs at lower prices, and meets a broader range of user needs through innovative financial and service products.

From the perspective of pharmaceutical companies, MediTrust Health has effectively achieved broader accessibility and more efficient sales turnover, particularly for specialty drugs and new medications.

Finally, from the perspective of participating insurance and financial institutions, MediTrust Health has helped them obtain long-awaited, credible clinical data, as well as closed-loop patient services and comprehensive follow-up data, thereby significantly accelerating product innovation in the healthcare sector.

These initiatives represent concrete measures by MediTrust Health to drive the transformation of medical services toward value-based healthcare, and they are the fundamental reasons why the company has earned the trust of users and partners, as well as sustained confidence from capital institutions, within just over three years.

Of course, securing financing is not only a strong affirmation of past achievements but also a testament to the boundless expectations for the future.

As advocated in the white paper “Value-Based Healthcare in China,” the future path of value-based healthcare for commercial health insurance should also center on population health, focusing on improving patients’ medical outcomes and health status. By strengthening the construction of health and medical service systems, enhancing data and technological capabilities, and deepening collaboration with basic medical insurance, commercial health insurers can significantly expand their service coverage, thereby driving the development of the commercial health insurance sector.

In other words, businesses must always prioritize user value throughout their development. Specifically, in the healthcare and wellness industry, this means improving medical efficiency, making healthcare more affordable and accessible, and enhancing the quality of care, thereby enabling people to lead healthy and fulfilling lives. Only in this way can the industry achieve healthy and sustainable growth.