Hao Yun Bang, a Leading Reproductive Specialty Chain, Secures New Funding Led by Songhe Capital to Strengthen Medical Capabilities

On February 4, VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) learned that Haoyunbang, a chain of specialized reproductive clinics focusing on infertility, has completed a new round of financing led by Sinovest Capital. The funds raised in this round will be used to further enhance its specialized reproductive medical capabilities, build management systems for more specific disease categories, and attract and develop talent for its professional medical team.

Notably, this marks another round of financing for Haoyunbang following its investment from Zero2IPO Asset Management in June 2020. Prior to this, Haoyunbang had secured a total of five rounds of funding from investors including Gene Capital and Boxing Capital.

Founded in 2014, Haoyunbang is a chain of specialized reproductive healthcare institutions that integrates online internet platforms with offline physical services. It has been deeply engaged in the field of assisted reproduction, focusing on helping users achieve pregnancy.

The reproductive health sector is a medical niche that has garnered significant market attention. Survey results released by the China Population Association indicate that there are over 40 to 50 million individuals in China affected by infertility. Driven by multiple factors—including environmental conditions, work-related stress, and delayed childbearing—the prevalence rate continues to rise, fueling sustained growth in the overall market size of the reproductive health industry.

Regarding the details of this round of financing, VCBeat conducted an exclusive interview with Huang Sen, founder of Haoyunbang, to analyze from multiple perspectives why Haoyunbang continues to attract investor interest.

Due to licensing restrictions, there are still few institutions in China providing assisted reproductive technology (ART) services. Challenges persist, including difficulties in coordinating tiered diagnosis and treatment among large centers, as well as limited patient volumes and inferior technical capabilities at smaller centers. Consequently, limited medical resources remain underutilized, resulting in a significant market gap. In public hospitals, services are delivered through standardized, assembly-line processes with “coarse” protocol design, lacking personalized clinical pathways tailored to individual patients, which leads to a poor patient experience.

In response to these challenges, Haoyunbang is committed to integrating expert resources in the field of reproductive health and leveraging its self-established specialized reproductive clinics to systematically connect the various resources and stages across the infertility care continuum, thereby providing professional, rigorous, reassuring, and reliable fertility solutions for women experiencing difficulty conceiving or carrying a pregnancy to term.

As the offline medical entity brand of Haoyunbang, Huasheng Medical adheres to the medical philosophy of “MDT (Multidisciplinary Team)” and the service concept of “integrating management with treatment.” It continuously refines its medical service system and team around dimensions such as “improving the success rate of preconception preparation or clinical treatment,” “shortening the treatment cycle and disease course,” “reducing anxiety and trauma,” and “providing customers with a better experience.” Huasheng Medical boasts a top-tier physician group composed of 70 experts from various subspecialties in the field of reproductive medicine. It has independently established seven medical institutions in cities including Beijing and Guangzhou, partnered with 20 Grade A tertiary hospitals, and built its own IVF center in Thailand, thereby creating a complete closed loop for reproductive healthcare services.

Haoyunbang’s advantages as an internet platform are also evident. Its online platform is the largest in China within the niche sector of infertility and sterility, currently serving over 11 million users and covering more than 10,000 specialist physicians in the field of reproductive medicine. “The internet addresses not only branding and traffic issues,” Huang Sen told VCBeat. Haoyunbang leverages its internet-based systems to connect medical services and data across various outpatient entities and partner institutions, thereby establishing a comprehensive healthcare service system. Furthermore, it integrates pre-hospital, in-hospital, and post-hospital medical services for patients, enabling deep disease course management throughout the entire diagnosis and treatment journey.

In addition, Haoyunbang’s independently developed Huasheng Cloud SaaS system ensures the standardization and replicability of medical services across its chain of outpatient clinics, including the configuration and integration of the underlying supply chain for these affiliated healthcare institutions.

“Achieving higher success rates or shorter diagnosis and treatment times requires not only advanced medical concepts but also robust medical capabilities as a foundation,” stated Huang Sen. Over the past two years, Haoyunbang has consistently focused on strengthening its medical capabilities, encompassing both comprehensive, high-quality basic diagnostic and therapeutic services and specialized expertise in key distinctive disciplines.

In terms of building its talent team, Haoyunbang appointed Professor Wang Aiming, former Director of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and founder of the Reproductive Center at the Navy General Hospital, as its Chief Medical Officer in 2019. He is fully responsible for establishing and enhancing the foundational medical capability system, leading the team to refine the training framework for basic diagnostic and therapeutic competencies, and improving the medical quality control system. Additionally, Haoyunbang has engaged Professor Guan Jing, a top expert in reproductive surgery known as the “Mother of Fallopian Tubes in China,” as its Chief Consultant in Reproductive Surgery. She is fully responsible for building and strengthening reproductive surgical capabilities and has established a training system that encompasses many outstanding reproductive surgeons and physicians.

In addition, Haoyunbang is strengthening in-depth collaborations with more outstanding experts across various regions and recruiting additional high-caliber specialists. “The sudden outbreak of the epidemic last year posed a test for every enterprise. Haoyunbang remained firmly committed to its strategic direction in 2020: steadfastly enhancing the medical capabilities of its chain institutions. Through our efforts over the past year, we have clearly perceived improvements in the company’s medical capabilities, and our business model has undergone a fundamental upgrade. This fills us with confidence in the future and in the industry,” said Huang Sen.

As the lead investor in this funding round, Ms. Yang Jin, Partner at Sinoway Capital, believes that Haoyunbang has achieved “two leading positions.”

First, its integrated online-to-offline (O2O) closed-loop model is industry-leading. Haoyunbang originated as the earliest online community for infertility patients, focusing on providing a communication platform for patients and mid-career specialists. Its robust online professional patient service community has exerted significant influence within the industry, consistently maintaining a leading position. “Haoyunbang’s founder, Huang Sen, and his core team have long upheld a commitment to professional and compassionate care, earning substantial trust from patients and laying a solid foundation for the company’s expansion from online to offline services in 2017.” By 2020, Haoyunbang had established specialized outpatient clinics for reproductive disorders with service management, day-surgery centers, and dedicated reproductive medicine centers, thereby completing the closed loop of online and offline services.

Second, its management model is industry-leading. One of Haoyunbang’s three core competitive advantages stems from the strong replicability of its middle- and back-office operations, a significant barrier that many private healthcare institutions and projects we have observed encounter during expansion. It is well understood that organizational upgrading, operational efficiency, and quality control constitute the fundamental foundation for rapid corporate growth. Furthermore, Haoyunbang is dedicated to disease-specific management focused on eugenics, healthy childbirth, and infertility treatment, which distinguishes it from most other infertility-related initiatives. “Infertility treatment should not be limited to in vitro fertilization (IVF).” Founder Mr. Huang Sen upholds highly sound medical values, shaped by his professional medical education at Peking University and reinforced by the trust and support of a robust team of experts. Values, a professional team, and systemic capabilities are three indispensable pillars, and this triad represents the core rationale behind Sinovation Ventures’ investment in Haoyunbang.

Founded in 2007 and headquartered in Shenzhen, with branches in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, Songhe Capital manages RMB 18 billion in assets. Its core team boasts over 20 years of experience in technology investment. With extensive practical expertise in venture capital, Songhe Capital (Songhe Venture Capital Co., Ltd.) focuses on innovative technologies and emphasizes platform development. Hard-tech investment has always been in Songhe Capital’s DNA; its core team has conducted long-term, in-depth exploration and strategic positioning in national strategic emerging industries such as artificial intelligence, intelligent manufacturing, precision medicine, new materials, and new energy. The Songhe Medical Fund demonstrates leading investment capabilities in molecular diagnostics, innovative drugs, and healthcare services. It serves as a strategic investor in a portfolio of high-quality projects, including BGI Medicine, MGI Tech, Sansure Biotech, Pumen Technology, Pocket Sugar Doctor, Jiajian Medicine, Genetron Health, Kunyuan Gene, Yaoshibang, Nanjing Lanyu, and Kangwei Century.