Shanghai Pharma Cloud Health Completes RMB 1.033 Billion Series B Funding Round and Files IPO Prospectus to Upgrade 'Yi Yao' Ecosystem

Shanghai Pharma recently announced that its “Internet+” pharmaceutical commerce technology platform, Shanghai Pharma Health Commerce Co., Ltd. (SPH Health Commerce), officially completed a Series B financing round totaling RMB 1.033 billion on January 18 and achieved in-depth mixed-ownership reform. Shanghai Pharma’s equity stake will be diluted from 72.748% to 47.974%, and SPH Health Commerce will no longer be consolidated into Shanghai Pharma’s financial statements. This transaction marks the first large-scale financing deal in China’s healthcare sector in 2021.

SPH Health Commerce’s Series B financing was led by the Shanghai Biomedical Industry Fund and Jiantou Investment Co., Ltd., with participation from Sinocare, Shanghai International Group (SIG), New Alliance Capital, Fengshi Financial Holdings, and Huadong Industrial. This investor consortium, comprising central and local government industrial funds, strategic investors, and market-oriented funds, has further diversified SPH Health Commerce’s shareholder structure following its deep mixed-ownership reform, combining continuous industrial resource empowerment with market-driven operations.

Concurrent with this round of financing, SPH Health Commerce has completed the full acquisition and integration of Guangzhou BeiJi New Specialty Drugs and Cardinal Health Pharmacy, and has initiated the unified integration of hospital-adjacent pharmacies and the DTP brand across the Shanghai Pharma system. By combining its existing DTP pharmacy network with commercial technology innovation services, SPH Health Commerce will advance the development of a new “Yiyao” series ecosystem. This move further strengthens its innovative drug full-lifecycle services based on specialty pharmacies, as well as its “Internet+” services for general and chronic disease medications based on e-prescriptions and cloud pharmacies, comprehensively enhancing the company’s industry-leading position as a patient-centric “Internet+” pharmaceutical commercial technology platform.

Liu Dawei, President of the Shanghai Biopharmaceutical Industry Fund, stated:“SPH Health Commerce has been deeply engaged for many years in the high-potential sector of ‘Internet+’ prescription drugs, leveraging significant industrial background advantages and first-mover advantages. Through more than five years of exploration and development, SPH Health Commerce has established substantial commercial barriers by capitalizing on existing policies and resources, which is one of the key factors driving our investment decision. In the future, we will continue to deepen our presence in the ‘Internet+’ prescription drug sector together with SPH Health Commerce.”

He Wenjin, General Manager of Jiantou Investment Co., Ltd., stated:“Direct-to-Patient (DTP) delivery of high-value drugs remains a burgeoning sector in China. Backed by the strong support of Shanghai Pharma, SPH Health Commerce boasts significant resource advantages and has grown into one of the industry’s leading competitors. Leveraging its continuously accumulating patient and medication data, SPH Health Commerce has the potential to provide comprehensive ecosystem services to all stakeholders, including patients, pharmaceutical companies, and hospitals.”

Liu Bin, CEO of SPH Health Commerce, stated:“The Series B financing round represents a milestone of paramount significance in the company’s development journey. Standing at a new starting point marked by deep mixed-ownership reform, we will exert comprehensive efforts across strategy, capital, and operations to further solidify our strategic positioning as an ‘Internet+’ pharmaceutical commerce technology platform. We aim to strengthen our resource moat across the upstream and downstream segments of the industry chain. With ‘DTP (Direct-to-Patient) Professional Pharmacies’ and ‘Internet+ Cloud Services’ as our two core business pillars, we will drive deep integration of online and offline channels to advance the creation of a new ‘Yiyao’ ecosystem. This initiative will provide valuable and accessible full-lifecycle services for the vigorous development of innovative drugs, while pioneering a ‘new Chinese model of separation between medical practice and pharmaceutical dispensing’ for the ‘Internet+’ development of medications targeting common and chronic diseases.”

Shanghai Biopharmaceutical Fund is a municipal-level industrial fund approved by the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government and initiated by Shanghai Industrial (Group) Co., Ltd., with a total target assets under management of RMB 50 billion. Leveraging Shanghai’s comprehensive advantages in biopharmaceutical development and relying on industrial resources, the fund aims to build an innovative investment platform for the biopharmaceutical sector that is “based in Shanghai and Hong Kong, integrated with the Yangtze River Delta, and oriented toward the global market.” The fund will seize the unique opportunities arising from the combination of “market-oriented operations, industrial empowerment, and policy guidance.” By integrating financial capital with industrial resources and combining domestic and overseas operations, it will focus on key areas aligned with Shanghai’s biopharmaceutical industry development strategy, including biologics, innovative chemical drugs, contract research and services, medical devices and diagnostics, as well as innovative business models in the healthcare sector.

Jiantou Investment is the direct equity investment arm of China Jianyin Investment (CJI), a large-scale comprehensive investment group wholly owned by Central Huijin Investment Ltd. Leveraging its robust investment framework and advanced investment models, CJI has gained deep insights into the growth drivers underlying China’s economic transformation. Under its direct equity investment segment, CJI operates multiple equity investment platforms, including Jiantou Investment, Jiantou Huawen, and Jiantou Hong Kong, which actively invest in sectors such as industrial manufacturing, cultural consumption, information technology, and elderly care and health. In the elderly care and health sector, Jiantou Investment has successfully invested in several projects, including Sinocare Inc. and Ping An Good Doctor.

Shanghai Pharma Health Commerce Co., Ltd. was established on March 18, 2015. It is an “Internet+” pharmaceutical commercial technology platform under Shanghai Pharmaceuticals. Its major shareholders include Shanghai Pharmaceuticals, Shanghai Bio-medicine Industry Fund, China Jianyin Investment, JD.com, Sinocare, Shanghai International Group, New Alliance Capital, Fengshi Financial, Dongxing Investment, IDG, and the Shanghai Charity Foundation.