Zhonghu IoT Files for IPO: Profitable Within One Year, Indoor Positioning Solutions Deployed in Over 60 Tier-3A Hospitals
In ancient times, people lacked knowledge of directions and navigated solely by observing the sun, moon, and stars; during the Warring States period, the emergence of the sinan (south-pointing spoon) enabled humans to take the initiative in orientation; in modern society, the advent of satellite positioning and indoor positioning technologies has thoroughly resolved the question of “Where am I?”
Among various industries, hospital patients have the most urgent need for positioning and navigation technology. In hospitals, even with floor plans, directional signage, and multiple information desks, the high volume of patient inquiries still cannot be fully met, leading to instances of patients getting lost. Frequent requests for assistance from patients also consume significant staff time, resulting in substantial resource waste.
Driven by urgent and rigid demands, indoor positioning has garnered significant attention. Furthermore, the accelerated upgrading of smart hospital construction in the current market has further spurred the demand for in-hospital navigation functionalities.
As early as March 5, 2019, the National Health Commission included indoor positioning and navigation as a mandatory requirement in the “Graded Evaluation Standard System for Smart Hospital Services (Trial)”; on May 21, 2020, the National Health Commission’s “Notice on Further Improving the Appointment-Based Diagnosis and Treatment System and Strengthening the Construction of Smart Hospitals” also emphasized that hospitals at Level II and above must provide online indoor navigation services.
It is against this backdrop that Zhonghu IoT (Guangzhou) Co., Ltd. was established, with the aim of building an IoT-based smart hospital positioning platform leveraging indoor positioning technology and high-precision indoor 3D mapping technology. Coincidentally, Zhonghu IoT was founded just before the release of the 2019 document.
Zhonghu IoT was established on March 4, 2019, focusing on the development of foundational infrastructure technologies for hospital-wide medical Internet of Things (IoT) and the development and deployment of medical IoT application systems across various scenarios. Although the company is relatively young, the Zhonghu team has been deeply engaged in the field of indoor positioning for over a decade. As a technology-driven enterprise, R&D personnel constitute approximately 40% of Zhonghu IoT’s workforce, with engineers accounting for 90%.
Success hinges on the word “focus.” Zhonghu IoT is dedicated to the healthcare sector, enabling its team to gain a thorough understanding of hospital information systems, swiftly address and respond to user needs, and iteratively improve its products. This specialization also facilitates professional and seamless communication when integrating with various hospital information systems, thereby shortening the communication cycle.
Ms. Bian Guohua, CEO of Zhonghu IoT, introduced that indoor positioning technology is a foundational technology, but it demands higher technical standards and precision compared to outdoor satellite positioning.
Outdoors, satellite positioning technology is virtually unrivaled. Its principle involves calculating distance by measuring the time it takes for signals transmitted from satellites to reach and be reflected by an object. To precisely determine an object’s location, signals from at least three satellites are required, employing differential algorithms to perform cross-positioning for people and vehicles. However, once indoors, satellite systems become ineffective, as they cannot identify the target floor or department.
“Over the past decade or more, the founding team of Zhonghu has been continuously exploring and experimenting in the field of indoor positioning. ‘We have tried many methods, including indoor Wi-Fi signals, but none could adequately address the accuracy and cursor stability issues in indoor positioning,’ introduced Bian Guohua.”
Through hundreds of thousands of application tests in user scenarios, Zhonghu IoT has now established a robust "technical barrier." Currently, Zhonghu IoT’s proprietary core technologies include an indoor 3D high-precision mapping engine, an indoor high-precision positioning engine, and a pathfinding engine; as well as tag technologies applied across various scenarios (such as wristbands, employee ID badges, and asset tags), indoor low-power long-range data transmission via LoRa technology, and IoT communication base stations. Additionally, eight national invention patents held by Zhonghu IoT have entered the substantive examination phase.
“Transforming technology into application-level products suitable for diverse environments, while also meeting the standards of engineering project delivery and maintaining a high cost-performance competitive advantage, indeed presents many challenges,” said Bian Guohua. In response to malicious competition in the market, Zhonghu IoT’s strategy is to continuously refine its products, ensure excellent engineering delivery and after-sales service, and build brand reputation through word-of-mouth sales. By adopting the “slow is fast” market approach, the company aims to win on quality. Within just one and a half years of establishment, Zhonghu’s products have been deployed in over 70 hospitals, including more than 60 top-tier tertiary Grade A hospitals.
Zhongxun Intelligent In-Hospital Navigation System is the core product of Zhonghu IoT.
At the product level, Zhongxun Navigation integrates hospital campus maps into major mapping platforms such as Amap (Gaode Map) for unified display, creating a seamless connection between indoor and outdoor navigation. Tailored to the unique environment of hospitals, Zhonghu IoT deploys Beacon PAD antenna array products in hospital outpatient lobbies to ensure precise positioning and an optimal navigation experience around atrium escalators and elevators. Additionally, Zhongxun Navigation enables seamless handover between GPS and Bluetooth positioning when navigating across different buildings within the hospital campus, supporting smartphone-based AR real-scene navigation and 720-degree panoramic VR navigation.
At the delivery level, Zhonghu IoT has established a fully standardized delivery process. For hospitals across different regions and with various building types, it can consistently deliver products with uniform positioning accuracy and navigation experience within the standard project timeline.
Furthermore, Bian Guohua cited two hospitals recently delivered by Zhonghu IoT as examples to illustrate how different hospital building structures impact the actual deployment of products.
Due to Chongqing’s unique topography, the various buildings of Chongqing Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital are situated at different elevations on the hillside. Consequently, a single horizontal plane may correspond to the first floor for some buildings, while serving as the second or even third floor for others. “This necessitates specialized technical solutions to enable seamless floor transitions during cross-building navigation within the hospital campus.”
Another example is the Huzhou Central Hospital in Zhejiang Province, which was recently launched and delivered. As a completely new facility, its entire first floor has been opened up into a vast, unobstructed space. “Achieving precise indoor positioning within such a large, open area requires specialized technical approaches. Each hospital presents unique, customized scenario requirements. Our deployment cases cover most regions across China, enabling us to provide optimal solutions for hospitals under diverse geographical and structural conditions.”
Currently, Zhonghu IoT has established two business lines: first, it provides hospital users with comprehensive scenario-based IoT applications, such as in-hospital navigation systems, emergency green channel patient tracking and flow management systems, equipment location and efficiency analysis systems, special patient monitoring and care systems, and the Zhongcha smart asset inventory system; second, in collaboration with partners, it bundles mapping, positioning systems, IoT hardware, and engineering delivery services, integrating them into hospital operational systems.
Bian Guohua introduced that in the coming period, Zhonghu IoT will carry out technical iterations and upgrades of its existing solutions—including the in-hospital navigation system, the emergency green-channel patient positioning and flow tracking system, the equipment positioning and efficiency analysis system, the special-patient positioning and care system, and the Zhongcha intelligent asset inventory system—ensure successful project delivery, and continue to expand its market influence. Looking ahead, Zhonghu IoT will deepen hospital adoption through comprehensive end-to-end IoT-enabled smart healthcare solutions, create additional revenue streams, and strive to become a leading domestic provider of end-to-end IoT smart healthcare solutions, with the goal of building smart hospitals.