Seamaty Bets Big on POCT: Employee Buy-In and Global Expansion Signal Strong Confidence Ahead of IPO

Smart is a company dedicated to POCT (point-of-care testing), with its products currently exported to over 80 countries and regions worldwide. Its animal POCT products hold nearly half of the domestic market share. Now, as it formally enters the human medical POCT sector, the company sees new opportunities for rapid growth.

It is hard for anyone to imagine that after 17 years in their primary field, someone could still stride confidently into an entirely new domain and achieve remarkable success. For Ran Peng, today’s achievements may seem like the result of chance. Yet the journey was marked by setbacks, perseverance, and passion, ultimately leading to the initial joy of success he experiences today.

The story began much like any of ours might. After graduating with a degree in Automotive Manufacturing from Wuhan Institute of Technology, Ran Peng stepped directly into a role aligned with his major at Chongqing Kaifu Automotive Parts Co., Ltd. Even when he changed companies, he remained within the sector, joining Zhejiang Wan’an Group, a leading enterprise in automotive parts manufacturing. He spent 17 years in this industry. Perhaps he never imagined that, after 17 years, he would leave the field of automotive manufacturing—once viewed as his lifelong career—to forge a connection with medical devices. Nor could he have foreseen that he would go on to establish a companyIn the POCT Clinical Chemistry Analysis IndustryChengdu Smart Technology Co., Ltd., a leading point-of-care testing company in China.

For Ran Peng, it all began with a loyal act of assistance to a friend. In 2005, a friend who was abroad for personal reasons entrusted him with the management of a Shenzhen-based medical device company registered under the friend’s name. It was at this company that Ran Peng firstContact with Medical Devices, and has since been engaged in the research and development, manufacturing, and sales of medical devices.

Familiar with the medical device industry, he spearheaded the establishment of a new product line to enter the in vitro diagnostics (IVD) sector, using semi-automatic biochemical analyzers as the breakthrough point. At that time, primary healthcare institutions across China predominantly adopted semi-automatic biochemical analyzers; in a single province alone, tender procurement volumes could reach thousands of units. However, upon engaging with the U.S.-based company ABAXISAfter using the POCT fully automated biochemical analyzer, he recognized its advantages: compact size, minimal blood sample requirement, ease of operation, and no need for specialized personnel.This made him realize the business opportunities involved. Over the next decade or so, he devoted nearly all his efforts to the research and development of this product.

ABAXIS’s fully automated point-of-care testing (POCT) biochemistry analyzer was part of a NASA project, and mastering its technology was no easy feat. After two years of research and development, several technical challenges remained insurmountable barriers, leaving the team helpless. Despite their regrets, they ultimately had no choice but to abandon the project. In 2009, after leaving his friend’s company, Ran Peng made a living selling medical devices while continuing to ponder how to start anew. He remained deeply unsettled by the project he had been forced to give up. Ultimately, he chose a different approach to move closer to his goal—byIn collaboration with a renowned professor at a Chinese university, who has decades of experience in theoretical modeling research, jointly established a pre-research studio for portable fully automated biochemical analyzers to delve deeply into the technical secrets behind the product.

Through continuous modeling, prototyping, and validation—marked by repeated failures and iterations—they dismantled those formidable technical barriers one by one. Subsequently, hardware and software engineers joined the team. Finally, as they began to see the first glimmer of hope, theyChengdu Smart Technology Co., Ltd. was established in August 2012—a company dedicated to the research and application of POCT products.After the company’s establishment, comprehensive research and development of instruments, reagents, and processes were initiated; however, it took another four years before the products could be commercially launched. It was not until 2016 that the products finally hit the market. Only after gaining widespread user recognition did Ran Peng breathe a quiet sigh of relief.

Even today, some industry insiders still view Smart as a company that has transitioned from the animal healthcare market to the human healthcare market. The truth is that the company’s original intention was to enter the human healthcare market. However, given that human medical products require clinical trials and various certifications before they can be marketed and sold, the process is quite lengthy.To survive, Smart pioneered its entry into the veterinary healthcare market.Who would have thought that this unintended move would establish Smart’s current dominant position in domestically produced biochemical analyzers within the veterinary medical field. Through more than three years of intensive cultivation and expansion in China’s veterinary medical market, Smart has secured a solid market position.Currently holds over 40% of the domestic animal healthcare market share.Ran Peng projected that market coverage would reach 50% in 2020.

Smart's SMT-120V Fully Automatic Veterinary Biochemistry Analyzer, launched for the animal healthcare market, integrates routine biochemistry, coagulation, electrolyte, and select immunoassay tests. The instrument is extremely easy to operate, allowing even personnel without professional training toBy adding samples and loading the reagent disk, two simple steps, plus an 11-minute wait time, to obtain a complete and accurate test report. Smart stated that even the production of animal medical products is carried out in accordance with medical device management regulations within a GMP environment that meets human medical requirements.

The Smart POCT Fully Automated Biochemistry Analysis System adoptsConstant Light Source Detection Technology,Significantly reduces product costs and minimizes measurement errors; the optimized design of the reagent disk enables the simultaneous detection of more than 20 analytes; furthermore, by leveraging cutting-edge technologies such as cloud computing and Internet-plus healthcare, it assists operators in accurately interpreting results remotely.Built-in centrifuge, automatic scanning, and real-time quality control, with online fault diagnosis and online monitoring of the instrument's working status, addressing the concerns of primary healthcare facilities.

Although Smart did not secure the domestic registration certificates for its instruments and various consumables until June of this year, it had already begun laying the groundwork in the human medical market after obtaining partial qualifications in July 2019. With a decade of accumulation, Ran Peng is firmly convinced that Smart will make rapid strides in the human medical market as well, with sales revenue from human medical products expected to exceed RMB 15 million in 2020. In Smart’s projections,Human Medical Sales Revenue to Surpass Animal Healthcare in 2021, officially returning to the main development trajectory of "people-centeredness."

To cultivate its niche markets with precision, Smart has decided to focus on two product platforms over the next five years,One is a POCT fully automated biochemistry analysis system, and the other is a POCT chemiluminescent immunoassay system.. In Ran Peng’s expectations, the sales volume of immunology products will surpass that of biochemistry products in 2023. Leveraging a blockbuster product strategy, Smart firmly believes it can achieve new glory in the human healthcare market.

Smart’s POCT fully automated biochemical analysis system is highly favored by customers both domestically and internationally, thanks to its rigorous and solid research foundation and strict adherence to GMP production management standards.The products are currently exported to more than 80 countries and regions worldwide, with 60% of sales share in Europe and the United States.Ran Peng frankly stated that Smart’s goal is to become the global benchmark for cost-effectiveness. Perhaps it is precisely because of this confidence that morale within the company is high and employees are highly motivated. In Ran Peng’s words, there was an “event worthy of being recorded in the annals of the company’s development history”: recently, more than 40 core employees partnered togetherInvested RMB 5.4 million to repurchase 2.4% of existing shares at market priceThis also serves as a footnote to the company’s promising future.

Employee buybacks of existing shares are inextricably linked to the company’s operational performance and growth prospects. From a pocket-sized team of just two people in 2010, to eight employees at its founding in 2012, and now to a workforce of over 210, it is not only the headcount that has changed. In 2016, when the company officially launched sales of its fully automated biochemical analyzer for the veterinary market, it achieved RMB 6.7 million in revenue. This figure rose to RMB 11 million in 2017, RMB 26 million in 2018, and RMB 45 million in 2019. For 2020, the original sales target was RMB 81 million; however, due to the impact of the global pandemic, there may be a shortfall of approximately RMB 20 million, butWith the entry into the human healthcare market in the second half of 2019 and the upcoming launch of immunology-based POCT products, new growth drivers continue to emerge., the company's future development is promising.

Due to the unique nature of its products, Smart’s current profitability is driven more by instrument sales; however, as the installed base of instruments grows, itsFuture profitability will rely more heavily on the growth of service and consumables sales.。

Early attention to Smart came more from peers.As early as March 2014, Smart completed its angel round of financing, raising RMB 10.4 million.This round of financing was led by Nanjing Plann Medical Equipment Co., Ltd. and its affiliated investment partners, with additional follow-on investments from other senior executives in their individual capacities.In May 2018, Smart completed a Series A financing round of RMB 25 million., led by Sinocare Inc. Based on estimates from the most recent round of equity transactions, Smart’s market valuation has reached over RMB 225 million.

Ran Peng has a very clear understanding of the market. He believes that the POCT market is currently not without its share of bandwagon-jumping and hype. On one hand, there is an endless stream ofMany new products and companies lack innovation and practical value.; on the other hand, laboratory testing in public hospitals remains exclusively controlled by the hospital’s clinical laboratory department.Other departments have yet to fully embrace POCT devices.. In addition, mostPOCT products still lack applicable industry standards, many of which are based on standards for large-scale laboratory equipment, making some metrics inevitably far-fetched. These are the real-world issues present in the currently booming POCT market.

In the face of intense competition within the industry, Smart stated that the only viable strategy is to enhance the competitiveness of its products. Regarding future plans, Ran Peng indicated,It may hit the IPO in two or three years., the company will complete its joint-stock reform this year. Meanwhile, he firmly believes that once the international pandemic situation fully improves next year, both sales performance and new product launches will achieve new breakthroughs. At the same time, Smart will begin preparing for the next round of financing to lay a solid foundation for its next phase of rapid growth.