IPO Progress Update: HIT Alumnus Leads Core Medical in Race to Become China's First Artificial Heart Company Listed on STAR Market

According to the disclosure, the proceeds of this IPO amounted to 1.217 billion yuan, mainly invested in four projects: the research and development of cutting-edge products for circulatory support, the construction of an artificial heart industrialization base, marketing network and digitalization construction, and replenishment of working capital.

丨The "Entrepreneurial History" of a HIT Academic Elite Returning to China

A "Tech Heart", Entrepreneurship Creates "Human Hearts". The story of Core Medical begins with a top scholar's decision to change the fate of Chinese patients.

Founder Yu Shunzhou (born in 1978) was admitted to the Harbin Institute of Technology's Mechanical Manufacturing and Automation program in 1996, completing his undergraduate, master's, and doctoral studies there. During his graduate studies, he worked on numerous research projects with his advisor, Professor Yao Yingxue, covering not only mechanical design but also software control and electronics, accumulating extensive experience in product development. After earning his doctorate, he went to the University of California, Davis for further studies.

Dr. Yushun Zhou's Graduation Souvenir

During his time in the United States, he worked for top artificial heart companies such as Terumo Heart. As a senior engineer, he was deeply involved in the full R&D process—from design and manufacturing to clinical validation—of multiple artificial heart products, including the globally leading product HeartMate 3, accumulating extensive technical and industry experience.

In 2016, witnessing the global artificial heart industry's wave of mergers and acquisitions (such as Medtronic's acquisition of HeartWare) and the significant demand from heart failure patients in China alongside a lack of treatment options, Yu Shunzhou resolutely gave up his stable life in the United States and returned to China to start his own business.

丨The Company That Created the World's Smallest Artificial Heart

In the same year, Core Medical was established (2016), primarily focusing on the research, development, and industrialization of high-end innovative medical devices such as artificial hearts and mechanical circulatory support devices. Currently, multiple products have been included in China's special review process for innovative medical devices, with the highest number of inclusions in the artificial heart field.

It mainly follows the "implantable + interventional + dual-heart assist" route. Currently, it has developed 5 implantable and 6 interventional products, which...Corheart?6、DuoCor?、CorVadThree core products comprehensively cover implantable and interventional artificial hearts, providing a full solution for over 60 million heart failure patients worldwide.

Corheart?6It is the smallest and lightest magnetic levitation artificial heart in the world, approved for marketing in 2023. Its key performance indicators have surpassed those of similar international products, significantly enhancing the competitiveness of Chinese-produced artificial hearts in the international market. In 2024 and from January to May 2025, the implantation volume of Corheart®6 accounted for 45.90% and 52.86% respectively, ranking first in the industry, with cumulative implantations exceeding a thousand cases.

At the same time, relying on the expansion of technical boundaries in the field of artificial hearts through "time-sharing and zoning axial full magnetic suspension control technology," continuous progress is being made toward the miniaturization of artificial hearts, leading to the development of an integrated full magnetic suspension biventricular assist system.DuoCor?`, which helps address long-term treatment challenges in the field of global right heart and biventricular heart failure, filling the "unexplored territory" in the global industry.`

In addition, interventional productsCorVad C6It has also been approved by the NMPA in December 2025. It is not only the first domestically produced interventional artificial heart product to be approved for marketing in China, but it also makes Core Medical the only company in the world to simultaneously possess regulatory approvals for both implantable and interventional artificial hearts.

However, Core Medical is still in the R&D investment phase and has not yet achieved profitability, but its potential has been consistently favored by the capital market. According to the prospectus, Core Medical’s revenue for 2022-2024 and the first half of 2025 was approximately RMB 0, RMB 16.5503 million, RMB 93.6884 million, and RMB 70.4776 million respectively; net profit attributable to shareholders was approximately -RMB 178 million, -RMB 170 million, -RMB 132 million, and -RMB 72.7514 million respectively, with losses narrowing. As of the end of the first half of 2025, Core Medical's accumulated undistributed profits were -RMB 367 million.
In its financing journey, Core Medical has completed six rounds of financing in total. Since securing nearly 100 million yuan in Series A funding in 2020, the subsequent four rounds have all exceeded the 100 million yuan mark. Particularly, the Series D round completed in April 2025, which surpassed 100 million US dollars, not only attracted significant investment from top global capital such as Prosperity7 Ventures under Saudi Aramco but also became the largest single financing deal in China's innovative medical device sector since 2025.

Figure: Core Medical's Latest Round of Financing

At the valuation level, Core Medical's valuation was approximately 3.545 billion yuan after the completion of its Series D financing round; whereas the equity transfer that occurred in August 2025 corresponded to a valuation of about 3.388 billion yuan. Notably, given that the fifth set of listing standards explicitly stipulates an "expected market value of no less than 4 billion yuan," whether Core Medical will ultimately reach this market value threshold still requires further validation from the market and the issuance process.

丨In Conclusion

Overall, this time Core Medical, as an innovative medical device enterprise with "technological leadership but commercial challenges," is making a push for the STAR Market and undergoing a crucial test under the fifth set of listing standards. The success or failure of its IPO not only concerns the company's own development but will also provide an industry-relevant reference for how domestically produced high-end medical devices can bridge the gap from technological breakthrough to commercial success, filling significant clinical voids with capital market support. According to Frost & Sullivan data forecasts, by 2033, the market size for implantable artificial hearts in China is expected to reach 5.7 billion RMB; in the medium to short term, the interventional artificial heart market will exceed 11 billion RMB, with the latter still being an area awaiting domestic production, showcasing immense potential.