Shenzhen Soundwise Secures Tens of Millions in Strategic Funding from Meinian Onehealth to Advance AI-Powered Ultrasound Solutions

VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) learned at the earliest opportunity that,Shanghai Shenzhi Information Technology Co., Ltd., a leading AI ultrasound company, has completed a strategic financing round worth tens of millions of yuan, exclusively invested by Meinian Onehealth.It is reported that the proceeds from this round of financing will primarily be allocated to two areas.On one hand, Shenzhi will continue to strengthen its R&D capabilities and plan product forms to explore new application areas for its products. On the other hand, Shenzhi will continuously improve product quality to empower the deployment of its products at the grassroots level.

Amid the pandemic, global private equity has been impacted, yet Shenzhi has secured another round of financing in less than six months. This not only reflects investors’ recognition of the intelligent ultrasound diagnostics sector but also affirms Shenzhi’s core technological strengths.

“This investment represents the high recognition by giants in the health checkup industry of the ultrasound AI solutions provided by Shenzhi Technology.”“Dr. Yu Bo, Head of Healthcare Investments at Ziniu Fund, the angel-round investor in Shenzhi Technology, stated.”

As an investor in this round of financing for Shenzhi,Yu Rong, Chairman of Meinian OnehealthShared the investment rationale for Shenzhi: “Shenzhi Technology is an innovative, high-growth AI company in the high-tech sector that we closely monitor. By strategically investing in Shenzhi Technology and leveraging Meinian Onehealth’s massive data traffic, we will fully utilize its technological advantages in ultrasound AI and its comprehensive intelligent solutions to achieve intelligent innovation and application in preventive medicine scenarios.”

In the future, Meinian Onehealth will continue to engage in in-depth collaboration and joint development with Shenzhi in areas such as scientific research, application, and interpretation. By integrating new technologies into its infrastructure, Meinian Onehealth will empower the operational management of real-world product usage scenarios and continuously drive the rapid development of both Shenzhi and the broader health industry.

In February 2020, the U.S. FDA approved Capture Health’s first AI-based ultrasound imaging assistance system, bringing new opportunities to the ultrasound imaging sector. Shanghai Shenzhi Information Technology Co., Ltd. boarded this high-speed train of ultrasound imaging development. Leveraging its robust R&D and industrialization capabilities in AI-driven ultrasound, it became the first company in China to achieve dynamic medical ultrasound analysis.

Zhang Zhuo, Partner at Shenzhi Technology, told VCBeat: “I used to wonder whether a perfect ultrasound diagnosis stems from the physician’s extensive experience or from technology.”

In fact, Zhang Zhuo’s profound insights into the ultrasound sector align with the many challenges currently facing the field.

First, among the 50 million physicians worldwide, only 2% have mastered the skills required for ultrasound scanning, indicating that ultrasound technology has a high barrier to entry.

Secondly, ultrasound should be an accessible diagnostic tool; however, due to a lack of training and experience, the diagnostic capabilities of primary care physicians in China remain inadequate.

Finally, sonographers need to acquire dynamic images from multiple planes for real-time diagnosis, and the entire process—from image acquisition to diagnostic interpretation—relies heavily on physician experience.

Decades of clinical experience in ultrasound imaging have endowed Zhang Zhuo with keen insights into the pain points of the ultrasound market, enabling Shenzhi Technology to successfully find the key to addressing these challenges—empowering ultrasound with AI.

In 2018, Shenzhi Technology was officially established with the incubation support of Sdtek, a leading domestic handheld ultrasound enterprise. The company focuses on the intelligentization of ultrasound diagnosis and AI applications in ultrasound, integrating artificial intelligence into ultrasound diagnostics to create convenient, smart, and low-cost devices.

How exactly should this be done? Shenzhi Technology has chosen to approach the issue from two angles: artificial intelligence, big data, and use cases.

First, Shenzhi Technology leverages artificial intelligence to enhance image quality. Assisted by big data-driven deep learning, it processes low-resolution raw ultrasound images to optimize imaging, thereby enabling intelligent segmentation and precise measurement of lesions.Empowering ultrasound systems to serve as a driving force, enabling primary care physicians to achieve rapid and precise diagnoses with ultrasound assistance, thereby effectively lowering the barrier to adopting ultrasound technology.

Secondly, Shenzhi Technology adheres to a scenario-driven approach by establishing a standardized workflow for portable ultrasound operations tailored to primary care physicians. This enables the auxiliary diagnostic software to function in both Wi-Fi-connected and offline modes. The software can be embedded in portable and desktop ultrasound systems, or deployed externally on compatible computing devices.Turning the possibilities of portability and ease of use into reality, enhancing the smooth operation of ultrasound equipment, and enabling auxiliary diagnostic software to empower primary care.

Integrating the two parts together yields:Shenzhi Technology Ultrasound System: The Complete Process of Empowering Primary CareSpecifically, Shenzhi Technology uses AI algorithms to automatically select the optimal segments from acquired ultrasound images and track standard planes. It provides intelligent guidance for physicians without ultrasound experience, correcting their operational techniques. Through real-time AI interpretation, it offers diagnostic recommendations. This enhances the accuracy of ultrasound diagnosis while shortening the learning curve for physicians, making ultrasound diagnosis simpler.

Shenzhi Technology CEO Zhu Ruixing once mentioned“Empowerment at the primary care level relies on medical devices; equipping primary care physicians with simple and easy-to-use devices makes it feasible to improve diagnostic and treatment efficiency in a short period and establish a tiered diagnosis and treatment system.”Undoubtedly, the breakthroughs made by Shenzhi Technology in the research and development of ultrasound equipment are of great significance to both primary healthcare institutions and the broader medical and health industry.

Shenzhi Technology’s ability to continuously achieve breakthroughs in ultrasound systems is underpinned by its team, which serves as a critical driving force.

Shenzhi Technology has assembled a multidisciplinary R&D team comprising top-tier talents from both domestic and international arenas, with expertise in artificial intelligence, ultrasound hardware and software, and medicine. This team consists of PhDs from world-leading institutions such as Harvard University, MIT, Columbia University, the University of California, Tsinghua University, Peking University, Fudan University, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Additionally, Shenzhi Technology boasts a substantial reserve of ultrasound specialists in China, who help the company address operational issues and enhance user experience, thereby further optimizing its technology.

Currently, Shenzhi Technology’s AI-assisted ultrasound diagnostic capabilities cover more than 20 conditions, including those affecting the thyroid, breast, liver, carotid arteries (plaques), pelvic floor, orthopedics, and neurology. The company has secured over 50 domestic and international patents in areas such as ultrasound hardware, artificial intelligence systems, chips, and cloud computing.

Meanwhile, its Intelligent Algorithm Center boasts more than ten U.S.-educated Ph.D. holders and millions of high-quality annotated imaging datasets. It has established an imaging database featuring algorithmic models for over ten categories and more than 30 disease types, and has successfully built a cloud-based ultrasound imaging center.

When asked why Shenzhi Technology secured another round of financing in less than half a year, Zhang Zhuo responded, “Shenzhi Technology has been continuously developing along its own distinctive path.”

So, what has Shenzhi Technology remained unwavering in?

Zhang Zhuo told VCBeat that Shenzhi Technology has always firmly believed that, in addition to making breakthroughs in ultrasound image quality, doctors' usage habits are also a crucial factor.

Shenzhi Technology clearly recognizes that, at this stage, artificial intelligence technology is not intended to challenge physicians, but rather to better assist medical professionals across healthcare institutions of all levels in addressing work-related challenges and alleviating their workload. This enables healthcare providers to focus their attention on the most critical tasks, shifting away from the previous pattern in which 70% of their energy was devoted to detailed, routine work and only 30% to decision-making activities.

This decision not only significantly enhances the accuracy of ultrasound diagnostic results and lowers the barrier to using ultrasound technology, thereby facilitating better deployment of the product at the primary care level, but also streamlines physicians’ workflows to some extent, boosting end-user adoption.

As the only ultrasound AI company in China currently possessing proprietary foundational algorithms, Shenzhi Technology’s accurate positioning has enabled it to forge collaborations with numerous leading medical device manufacturers, Meinian Onehealth, major Grade A tertiary hospitals in Shanghai, top-tier experts, and teaching hospitals, thereby successfully achieving the commercialization and industrialization of AI-empowered ultrasound.

In recent years, growing public attention to health has continuously driven the development of the broader healthcare industry. As the preferred initial screening modality for both healthy and sub-healthy populations, ultrasound examination has seen steadily increasing market demand. Concurrently, this rise in demand has led to a significant increase in the workload of sonographers.

Unlike the workflow of radiological equipment such as CT and MRI, ultrasound examinations require physicians to draft diagnostic reports while simultaneously observing dynamic images. The increased workload for physicians will inevitably lead to a decline in diagnostic accuracy. Thus, computer-aided diagnosis systems have emerged.

Shenzhi Technology has not only streamlined the ultrasound diagnostic process, improved diagnostic accuracy, and lowered the threshold for ultrasound diagnostics, but also met the demands of the broader health industry.

According to HIS statistics, China’s ultrasound diagnostic equipment market reached RMB 6.9 billion in 2014. With approximately 2 billion ultrasound examinations performed annually in China, the market for ultrasound devices is poised for continued rapid growth, driven by rising demand and favorable policy incentives.

In 2019, the market size of medical ultrasound diagnostic equipment in China is expected to reach RMB 9.1 billion, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.7%. Meanwhile, there are approximately 950,000 (954,390) primary healthcare institutions in China. Based on this data, VCBeat estimates that Shanghai Shenzhi Information Technology Co., Ltd.’s strategic focus on the grassroots market presents particularly substantial growth potential.

Amidst the vast market prospects, Shenzhi Technology’s solid accumulation of product technology and its capability for collaborative R&D and production of hardware and software products are the fundamental pillars that enable it to establish a strong foothold in the industry.

As it expands its reach to the grassroots level, Shenzhi Technology’s next step is to enter the broader health industry. Meinian Onehealth’s additional investment in Shenzhi Technology has further accelerated this progress.

Regarding this investment,Dr. Yu Bo, Head of Healthcare Investment at Purple Bull Fundstated,Shenzhi Technology will continue to deepen its collaboration with Meinian Onehealth, exploring the practical application of AI-powered ultrasound products in health checkup scenarios. We eagerly anticipate Shenzhi Technology’s rapid growth into a leading enterprise in the field of AI ultrasound, while fostering ecosystem synergy and industry alignment with the fund’s portfolio companies. In the future, Ziniu Capital will further collaborate with its fund partners to provide both capital and industrial empowerment to all portfolio companies.

Jiang Weina, Board Secretary and Vice President of Meinian Onehealth, statedIt is a great honor to participate in the development of Shenzhi Technology. As a company focused on AI applications in medical ultrasound, Shenzhi Technology continues to deepen its expertise in AI-powered ultrasound solutions and constantly expands the range of conditions supported by AI-assisted ultrasound diagnosis. Based on the operational essence of medical imaging AI, the company starts with procedural quality control for different anatomical regions and lesions, emphasizing real-world application scenarios. It will engage in in-depth collaboration and joint development with Meinian Onehealth in areas including research, clinical usage, and image interpretation. Meinian’s operation model, which integrates infrastructure with new technologies to empower on-site application scenarios, will continue to drive and support the rapid development of the broader healthcare industry.