Oncology-Focused Academic Platform LiangYiHui Secures Tens of Millions in Strategic Funding, Files for IPO

Amid the raging epidemic, internet healthcare has once again been entrusted with significant responsibilities by the state, playing a crucial role in epidemic prevention and control and addressing the shortage of medical resources in affected areas. VCBeat has learned that Liangyihui, China’s largest professional academic platform for cancer care, has completed a strategic financing round worth tens of millions of yuan, exclusively invested by Juhe Capital, with Xinghan Capital serving as the exclusive financial advisor. Following this financing, Liangyihui will deepen its services for oncology patients, physicians, and pharmaceutical companies, continue to build its internet healthcare platform specialized in oncology, and strengthen science popularization and education for patients and the general public.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Liangyihui collaborated with over 1,000 senior oncologists across China to launch a large-scale online public welfare initiative providing Q&A services for cancer patients who faced difficulties in seeking medical care due to pandemic-related restrictions. This effort received widespread acclaim from both oncologists and cancer patients.

Liangyihui, established in 2014, is a premier academic platform dedicated to oncology and serves as the official collaborative partner of the Chinese Society of Clinical Oncology (CSCO). The company maintains long-term, effective, and in-depth collaborations with numerous renowned domestic and international hospitals and authoritative institutions, committed to addressing information asymmetry in the field of oncology. By leveraging professional content, Liangyihui provides oncologists with specialized resources and efficient tools to enhance their diagnostic and therapeutic capabilities, while offering cancer patients services such as science popularization, medical consultation guidance, and treatment follow-up.

In December 2019, at the Future Healthcare 100 Conference hosted by VCBeat, Liangyihui was honored with the “2019 Future Healthcare 100 – Top 5 in Physician Academic Training” award, and its Founder and General Manager, Mr. Wang Jue, received the “Top 10 Innovative Enterprise CEO of the Year” award.

It is reported that, as of now, Liangyihui has completed three rounds of financing. In October 2015, the company secured a RMB 10 million Series A round exclusively invested by Legend Capital; in December 2018, it closed a RMB tens of millions Series B round invested by Danlu Capital.

Wang Jue, founder and general manager of Liangyihui, stated: “Partnering with Juhe Capital will provide strong support for our efforts to better deliver health education and services to patients and the general public.”

Cancer is the leading cause of death among both urban and rural residents in China, accounting for nearly one-sixth of deaths worldwide. According to a report published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, the official journal of the American Cancer Society, China ranks first globally in both cancer incidence and mortality rates. Among every 100 new cancer cases diagnosed worldwide, 21 are in China.

Wang Jue stated that oncology consumes over 11% of China’s healthcare resources, with the country’s oncology pharmaceutical market size exceeding $300 billion. Meanwhile, Wang Jue also noted that significant irregularities persist in cancer diagnosis and treatment due to information asymmetry. “This field requires a professional platform to provide efficient tools for oncologists and deliver science-based patient education services.”

Liangyihui specializes in the oncology field, serving physicians, patients, and enterprises. Its product portfolio includes the Oncologist App, Oncology News, Patient Guide, and Global Consultation Center, reaching 150,000 physicians and 200,000 patients.

In terms of improving physicians' diagnostic and treatment capabilities,The Liangyihui platform brings together a large cohort of physicians from Grade III tertiary hospitals and specialized oncology hospitals, empowering them with professional academic information while assisting in brand building and patient management. The platform hosts over 50,000 pieces of professional content, which have been structured into a comprehensive knowledge system closely aligned with clinical practice to help physicians address real-world challenges. According to Wang Jue, the total annual number of reads on Liangyihui’s physician platform exceeds 20 million, with users spending an average of more than 30 minutes per week on the platform.

In addition, the platform hosts more than 1,000 live-streamed academic conferences, internal hospital ward rounds, and in-house training sessions annually. “For primary-care physicians, opportunities to participate in ward rounds and training at top-tier hospitals are extremely scarce; Liangyihui provides them with avenues for advanced study.” Currently, physicians can watch live broadcasts of internal ward rounds from Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, the Cancer Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, and Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, as well as in-house training sessions from Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center.

Patient Education:Liangyihui offers the most extensive patient education content covering a wide range of cancer types, providing professional video and text-based guidance to help patients seek medical care and medication, as well as delivering science popularization education. Leveraging its own pool of expert resources, the platform also conducts science popularization, consultations, lectures, and guidance for cancer patients.

In terms of corporate collaboration,By leveraging professional academic content, Liangyihui has gathered a large number of active oncologists and has become an important platform for the marketing of oncology drugs. Compared with traditional pharmaceutical marketing methods such as offline academic conferences and visits by pharmaceutical representatives, marketing through the Liangyihui platform offers broader reach, greater timeliness, higher efficiency, and lower marketing costs. “The sales volume of new anti-tumor drugs launched in the past two years has grown very rapidly, and online marketing channels have played an important role,” said Wang Jue.

"In recent years, the global oncology market has undergone significant changes. The paradigm of cancer diagnosis and treatment has shifted from evidence-based medicine to the era of precision medicine, with greatly accelerated new drug development and newer agents demonstrating superior efficacy compared to older ones. 'The field of oncology is in a state of continuous evolution and change, requiring oncologists and patients to timely update their knowledge and concepts. The work undertaken by Liangyihui holds substantial social significance,' stated Wang Jue."

As a specialized academic platform in the oncology sector, Liangyihui has already secured a leading position in the industry. “Improving oncologists’ diagnostic and therapeutic capabilities, as well as enhancing patients’ understanding of cancer, is a long-term endeavor that requires sustained commitment,” said Wang Jue. Moving forward, Liangyihui will continue to deepen its services for physicians, patients, and enterprises. “Furthermore, China’s pharmaceutical landscape is undergoing profound transformation. We hope to contribute our efforts to making this reform process smoother.”

Juhe Capital is a private equity capital management firm primarily funded by Jiangsu Broadcasting Corporation, focusing on investments in industries such as cultural creativity and technological innovation. It currently manages multiple funds.

Lu Jingting, Investment Director at Juhe Capital, stated, “Under the policy guidance of Healthy China, healthcare and internet-based medical services hold immense potential for growth. We have been closely monitoring the internet healthcare sector in recent times, with a particular focus on companies that are specialized and dedicated to vertical niches.”

“Liangyihui has reached a large, precisely targeted audience in the oncology vertical. We are optimistic about the value of its media content and the future growth potential in the online healthcare sector. The greater the informational value, the higher users’ trust, thereby increasing user value. In the future, we also hope that Liangyihui can expand from its core media value by adding more media channels and broadening distribution pathways, strengthening user trust in the brand, and exploring viable commercial models in the online healthcare space to better serve patients, physicians, and hospitals.”

Following the completion of this financing round, Juhe Capital will explore further business collaborations with Liangyihui.