Yunkai Yamei Raises $30M in Series B+ Funding, Dubbed 'China's Livongo,' Achieves Full Profitability and Files for IPO

VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) has learned that Zhejiang Yunkai Yamei Pharmaceutical Technology Co., Ltd. (“incarey”) announced the completion of its $30 million Series B+ financing round, exclusively invested by Long Hill Capital, with China Renaissance serving as the exclusive financial advisor for this round.

On August 5, Livongo and Teladoc Health, the two giants of digital health in the United States, announced a merger with a transaction value of $18.5 billion, drawing widespread market attention. Founded in 2008 and successfully listed in 2019, Livongo is a chronic disease management platform that primarily provides solutions for patients with chronic conditions, addressing the cost-control demands of U.S. commercial insurers and employer-sponsored enterprises.

It took Livongo only six years to grow from launching its diabetes management program to achieving a market capitalization exceeding $10 billion. China has the world’s largest population of individuals with chronic diseases, but its unique healthcare and market landscape necessitates a distinct approach to adapting the Livongo model locally. In China, common chronic conditions such as hypertension and diabetes are primarily covered by the national basic medical insurance fund, which amounts to RMB 600 billion, and the majority of medical institutions are capable of providing patient care services.

On the other hand, the mature commercial insurance system in the United States has provided strong support for Livongo’s development, whereas China’s commercial health insurance sector is still in its early stages and accounts for a small share of healthcare payments. The integrated service platform focused on chronic and specialized diseases operated by Yun KaiFocusThe market size of the chronic and special disease sector, dominated by out-of-pocket payments, exceeds RMB 500 billion., fully integrating critical medical resources, patient service capabilities, and digital platforms, and identifying companies that have established mature, replicable business models within the Chinese market environment, thereby implementing localized innovation of the Livongo model in China.

Incarey is committed to building China’s leading comprehensive service platform for chronic and specialized diseases, featuring the country’s most advanced patient-centered pharmaceutical care, medical services, and traffic operation systems for single-disease management.Liu Yunjiang, Founder and CEO of incarey, stated that the proceeds from this financing round will primarily be used to further strengthen the online service system and expand the patient base for its existing disease portfolios, while also extending into more vertical segments of chronic and specialized diseases. Regarding incarey’s successful completion of this financing round, Liu Yunjiang attributed it to the following three reasons:

First, internet-based healthcare and online chronic disease management are supported by national policies and are currently in a phase of robust growth. China currently has thousands of types of chronic and special diseases, with a large and widely dispersed patient population. These patients require substantial medication volumes, mostly paid out-of-pocket, resulting in an existing market size exceeding RMB 500 billion for vertical chronic and special disease segments.

Secondly, leveraging its in-depth understanding of specific disease verticals, incarey has comprehensively built a digital chronic disease management system encompassing medical services, pharmaceutical care, and full-course disease management. By securing core resources such as physician and patient traffic, as well as key products, it has established an online management platform that provides full-course, full-prescription, full-service, and omni-channel support for individual diseases, thereby gaining a significant first-mover advantage. As a result, incarey has earned high recognition from both patients and physicians in areas such as high-value prescription services, medication adherence, patient Days on Therapy (DOT), and the effectiveness of chronic disease management.

Finally, under the leadership of its founding executive team, incarey has fully validated its business model. Its high-gross-margin businesses are expanding rapidly, data from both physicians and patients is growing at a fast pace, and the company has achieved scaled revenue growth and comprehensive profitability.

Chronic and Special Diseases"Chronic and special diseases" is a collective term for chronic conditions and special diseases. The incidence rates vary across different disease types. Due to China's demographic dividend, even diseases with an incidence rate in the per mille range affect tens of millions of patients. There is significant room for improvement in cure rates, treatment rates, and days of therapy (DOT). Patients often require continuous medication and long-term care.

Such patients face difficulties in accessing medical care and attending follow-up visits, lack guidance on medication use, and exhibit poor adherence, which directly compromises treatment efficacy. During the course of treatment, patients often experience a sense of complacency once their symptoms alleviate, leading them to discontinue or delay therapy, thereby missing the optimal window for intervention. Meanwhile, payment mechanisms for chronic and special diseases remain relatively singular, predominantly relying on out-of-pocket expenses, highlighting an urgent need for support from diverse payment channels such as commercial health insurance.

Due to the dispersed distribution of patients across China and persistent information asymmetry, physicians are unable to reach target patient populations effectively, resulting in a lack of continuous follow-up and efficient chronic disease management for patients who return to second- and third-tier cities for follow-up visits. Furthermore, because patients are scattered nationwide, pharmaceutical companies cannot establish patient engagement through traditional physician-facing or retail channels. This hinders effective management of medication usage and adherence, making it impossible to trace the reasons for patient attrition.

incarey is China’s first comprehensive service platform providing in-depth support for specific chronic and specialized disease verticals.Addressing the Pain Points of Patients, Physicians, and Pharmaceutical Companies, providing comprehensive services covering the entire disease course, full prescription lifecycle, and all channels, and achieving better chronic disease management outcomes through sustained support for patients with chronic and special diseases via physician networks, specialist pharmacists, and digital tools and platforms.

incarey has established an integrated referral system, featuring distinct frameworks for patient education, pharmacist services, and internet hospital services. By creating an online-offline platform connecting doctors and patients, it provides multidisciplinary collaborative diagnosis and treatment along with pathology tracking, enabling patients to access the most professional medical services with minimal time investment.

incarey has established a comprehensive disease management system that covers modules including early consultation, patient triage, pharmacological treatment in the early to middle stages, surgical intervention in the later stages, medication during rehabilitation, and postoperative follow-up. Its professional medical recommendations highly align patients' health conditions with treatment plans, establishing direct touchpoints between pharmaceutical companies' products and patients.Provide patients with one-stop management services for the treatment of chronic and special diseases, offer physicians effective medication follow-up and clinical feedback data, and assist pharmaceutical companies in managing patient medication adherence and expanding product sales, thereby significantly reducing patient attrition.

Meanwhile, incarey actively hosts and participates in academic conferences.Feedback of clinical follow-up data to physicians supports the enhancement of their clinical proficiency and professional academic capabilities.

Currently, incarey’s vertical disease-specific pipeline is primarily focused on rheumatology and orthopedics, neurology, and oncology, with future expansion planned into reproductive medicine. Among these, the company’s successful operation of its orthopedic product portfolio is the most representative.

Osteonecrosis of the femoral head is a specific chronic condition. There are approximately 7 million patients with this condition in China, and they are relatively dispersed geographically. It is characterized by ischemia and cellular necrosis in the femoral head region caused by various etiologies. Osteonecrosis of the femoral head is a pathological process; if not treated promptly in its early stages, it can progress to frank necrosis of the femoral head, leading to osteoarthritis and ultimately resulting in disability due to hip joint dysfunction. To address whole-course management of this condition, incarey has established the "Hip Preservation Therapy Academic Alliance," which covers the entire patient journey. Additionally, it has formed an academic alliance with orthopedic surgeons specializing in Western medicine to facilitate rapid treatment, providing professional medical recommendations to ensure early detection and timely intervention for patients.

incarey has entered a stage of comprehensive profitability, serving four million patients. It has established connections between physicians at leading Grade 3A hospitals and thousands of nurses with patients, actively enhanced academic promotion, convened and participated in expert conferences, and built a comprehensive prescription and service management system for chronic and special diseases, achieving breakthrough progress in all deployed clinical departments.

incarey has partnered with the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine to jointly establish “China Avascular Necrosis of the Femoral Head Alliance”. By establishingIntegrated Referral System, providing patients with multidisciplinary collaborative diagnosis and treatment and case tracking to truly achieve earlier and more specialized intervention for femoral head necrosis.

incarey Partners with Leading Global Healthcare Companies to Establish Oncology Postoperative Care Studios, Providing Patients with Medical Nursing and Comprehensive Product Services.

incarey has established comprehensive strategic partnerships with leading pharmaceutical companies both in China and abroad for their flagship products, jointly building patient management platforms and providing patients with long-term, professional pharmaceutical care services.

In addition to providing services in the fields of pharmaceuticals, pharmacy administration, and medical care, Incarey has also begun collaborating with leading domestic insurance companies this year. By developing innovative product solutions for patients with chronic and special diseases, and leveraging the dual advantages of insurance resources and physician-patient services, Incarey aims to establish a closed-loop ecosystem for chronic and special disease medical services in areas such as payment methods and insurance coverage.

Jiang Xiaodong, Managing Partner at Long Hill Capital, expressed high recognition for the achievements currently attained by incarey: “incarey’s understanding of vertical disease categories, its exploration of patient needs, and the maturity of its digital service system are far ahead in China and have left a deep impression on us. We also consider incarey to be the new-generation digital healthcare platform in China that most closely resembles Livongo. By serving, operating, and managing patients through its digital platform, and leveraging the data accumulated on the platform to provide feedback to physicians and pharmaceutical companies, incarey achieves excellent patient adherence and chronic disease management outcomes, thereby creating a win-win ecosystem for all stakeholders. incarey is also facing a historic opportunity. The market for thousands of types of chronic and special diseases in China represents an out-of-pocket segment with significant pain points. Before incarey’s entry, each vertical chronic and special disease category was a blue ocean; upon entering, incarey rapidly integrated key resources and emerged as a standout player. We are confident in the continuous optimization of incarey’s patient service system and its rapid expansion across multiple disease categories.”

Zhou Xiang, Head of the Financial Advisory Division at China Renaissance, stated, “China Renaissance has witnessed the progressive refinement of Yun Kai’s chronic and special disease service platform, the rapid replication and expansion across disease lines, and the achievement of scalable revenue and profitability. We are deeply impressed by Yun Kai’s professional patient service system, supply chain capabilities, and its exceptional chronic disease management outcomes driven by high per-patient spending and strong adherence. We are pleased to have assisted incarey in completing this financing round and to continue serving the company. We also believe that the company will sustain its rapid growth and become China’s Livongo in the trillion-yuan market for chronic and special disease services.”