Lianxin Medical Completes RMB 40 Million Series A+ Financing to Advance Full-Workflow AI Radiotherapy Platform

Recently, VCBeat learned that Lianxin Medical has completed an A+ round of financing worth RMB 40 million. This round was led by Pangu Venture Capital, with Binhai Venture Capital and Linear Capital participating as co-investors. The funds raised will be primarily used for the subsequent research and development of products, as well as for product registration both domestically and internationally.

Over the three-plus years since its establishment, Defiled Medical has completed four rounds of financing, totaling more than RMB 100 million. In the current challenging fundraising environment, the equity investments by Pangu Venture Capital, Binhai Venture Capital, Linear Capital, and other firms in Defiled Medical not only reflect optimism about the AI-driven radiotherapy sector but also demonstrate recognition of Defiled Medical itself. Regarding the rationale behind this round of financing, Zhang Hua, founder of Defiled Medical, cited the following three factors:

First, Defiled Medical provides a comprehensive intelligent radiotherapy service covering the entire radiotherapy workflow.Lianxin Medical’s product portfolio spans target volume delineation, automated treatment planning, radiotherapy quality control, and information management for radiotherapy departments. The entire product suite is embedded into the workflows of physicians and medical physicists, providing them with comprehensive support.

Second,Some of Defiled Medical's products have achieved clear outcomes in product registration and certification.. The internet-based intelligent contouring system, AiContour, obtained the Class III medical device registration certificate from the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) in late August 2019. Since obtaining the certificate, the product has entered the bidding processes of multiple hospitals and engaged in cooperation negotiations with distributors across China. The entire certification process has provided Beijing Defiled Medical Technology Co., Ltd. with sufficient experience for commercialization exploration and the regulatory approval of other products.

Third, in terms of actual product implementation, Defiled Medical’s products are genuinely used in clinical settings, delivering tangible value to hospitals and patients.. For instance, its AiContour has been adopted by more than 50 hospitals, serving over 2,000 patients weekly. During hospital visits, company representatives have clearly observed that Lianxin Medical’s various products are optimizing physicians’ workflows and enabling hospitals to deliver higher-quality care to a larger patient population.

In 2019, the rapid development of Defiled Medical went far beyond this...

This year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued 5G commercial licenses to China Telecom, China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Broadnet. China’s 5G has entered the commercialization phase.

In March this year, driven by the rapid development of 5G, Defiled Medical signed a strategic cooperation agreement with China Mobile (Chengdu) Industrial Research Institute to promote the application of 5G mobile technology in radiotherapy, leveraging the high bandwidth and low latency features of 5G to provide significant support to the field of radiotherapy.

In April this year,Defiled Medical’s intelligent radiotherapy planning system (AiPlan) has passed the inspection conducted by the Beijing Institute for Medical Device Testing, further strengthening Defiled Medical’s competitive barriers in the field of radiotherapy.。

Zhang Hua stated that the Treatment Planning System (TPS) serves as the operating system for radiotherapy equipment and is a standard configuration. The integration of radiotherapy devices with TPS enables more effective execution of treatment plans; therefore, TPS holds significant market value and represents the most core technological barrier in the field of radiotherapy.

Since its inception, Lianxin Medical has been dedicated to the research and development of Treatment Planning Systems (TPS). The recent successful inspection by the Beijing Institute for Drug Control will accelerate the product’s regulatory approval. After more than 40 years of development in radiation therapy across China, only three domestic companies currently hold product registration certificates for TPS systems on the market.

Upon product approval and acquisition of the registration certificate, the system can directly interface with therapeutic devices to generate treatment plans that directly drive device operation. This seamlessly integrates treatment planning with implementation, minimizes therapist errors during plan execution, and ensures quality control.

As one of the three major modalities for cancer treatment, radiotherapy requires optimization across key stages—including target volume delineation, treatment planning, and quality control—to achieve superior therapeutic outcomes. Such comprehensive optimization is essential to elevate the overall standard and quality of radiotherapy services in hospitals, thereby ensuring optimal treatment efficacy.Based on this, Defiled Medical has developed a comprehensive radiotherapy product portfolio comprising AiContour, AiPlan, and AiQA to provide hospitals with end-to-end intelligent radiotherapy services.。

The combination of AiContour for intelligent contouring and AiPlan for intelligent planning can generate a high-quality treatment plan, while Intelligent Quality Assurance (AiQA) ensures that hardware equipment executes the high-quality treatment plan in optimal condition. These three products from Lianxin Medical collectively form a comprehensive product ecosystem.。

This system, powered by artificial intelligence, can automatically perform target volume delineation, generate radiotherapy treatment plans, and conduct equipment quality assurance. It provides quality assurance throughout the entire radiotherapy workflow for physicians and medical physicists, thereby freeing up their time.

Throughout the treatment process, physicians are responsible for delineating the target volume, while medical physicists are responsible for developing and implementing the radiotherapy plan, as well as ensuring quality control during implementation. Currently, products related to the delineation of target volumes and organs are relatively mature; however, software solutions designed to assist medical physicists still require continuous optimization.

Currently, most medical physicists spend a significant amount of time developing radiotherapy treatment plans. After the plan is generated, physicists must ensure its precise implementation and conduct rigorous quality assurance (QA). A typical radiotherapy course lasts 5–7 weeks, during which physicists are required to measure equipment stability and detect any deviations in treatment delivery. The combined TPS+QA solution from Defiled Medical can automatically assist physicists in completing QA tasks.

Zhang Hua stated, “In the early stages of our venture, we focused on target volume delineation. Today, we have developed a comprehensive product suite encompassing target volume delineation, automated radiotherapy planning, and quality control. By leveraging artificial intelligence to optimize the core components of these products, we facilitate the implementation of high-quality radiotherapy plans, thereby providing tangible benefits to physicians, medical physicists, and patients.”

Regarding product development, Zhang Hua stated that Lianxin Medical has currently accumulated some data in the field of radiation therapy and developed initial artificial intelligence products to serve clinicians and medical physicists. However, current radiation therapy treatment plans are mostly based on population-level protocols and lack sufficient precision.

Once Lianxin Medical has accumulated sufficient data in the future, it will be able to stratify populations more granularly, even down to the individual level. By analyzing this data, Lianxin Medical will develop more precise treatment plans to minimize radiation-induced damage to patients’ healthy tissues and cells as much as possible.

In fact, Lianxin’s vision extends far beyond this. Recently, Zhang Hua outlined Lianxin’s grand blueprint to the public:Our vision is to become an AI company with absolute leadership in the field of oncology radiation therapy. Our mission is to harness artificial intelligence for the benefit of humanity, enabling safer and more efficient cancer radiotherapy.。

and is achieved through the following steps:

and, while achieving the above, promote the standardization of artificial intelligence technology in radiotherapy.

Prior to this round of financing, Lianxin Medical had already garnered favor from numerous domestic institutions, including: CAS Star, Anlong Fund, ZKCX Star, Danhua Capital, Pangu Ventures, Tianjin Binhai Venture Capital, and Linear Capital.

Li Lining of Pangu Venture Capital, regarding this financing roundIndicates: We have been tracking Lianxin for over two years prior to completing this investment, during which we have observed the company’s rapid growth from multiple perspectives. One key aspect is the maturation of its corporate strategy. The company’s understanding of AI-driven radiotherapy has evolved from merely enhancing efficiency to establishing industry standards; it has progressed from simply implementing AI-based contouring in clinical practice to realizing disruptive and innovative scenarios in AI radiotherapy, with a clearly defined three-step roadmap for achievement.

The second aspect is the growth of the company’s team. With Defiled Medical’s increasingly clear strategic vision for AI-driven radiotherapy, Dr. Zhang Hua’s team has continuously attracted highly qualified professionals to join and collaborate over the past two years. The feasibility of its future development plans has also served to strongly unite the existing core team.

Thirdly, the company has achieved a high level of integration from data to algorithms and product commercialization, positioning itself at the forefront of the industry. It was the first to obtain the Class III medical device certification for AI-based radiotherapy contouring. Its AI-powered radiotherapy planning software is currently in clinical trials and is poised to become the first independently developed radiotherapy planning system in China.

Wang Huai of Linear Capital stated: We have always believed that AI can bring tremendous progress to medical services. Therefore, when we saw Lianxin, led by Dr. Zhang Hua, enter the radiotherapy process through automatic contouring, we immediately hit it off. Lianxin is also gradually realizing its grand “blueprint”—AiContour has reduced the target volume contouring time from the original 3–5 hours to under 20 minutes.

With over 2,000 cases per week, nearly 10,000 hours have been saved, and the outcomes are only expected to improve. This team is both visionary and grounded. Lianxin has also secured the first Class III medical device certification in this field, a mandatory threshold for commercialization. This is merely a breakthrough point—the beginning of an era of innovation.

Luo Weige of Binhai Venture Capital stated: Our investment decisions are primarily based on three factors: the sector, the team, and the product. We have consistently been optimistic about the efficiency gains brought to the healthcare industry through information technology. Internally, we define Lianxin’s sector as computer-aided radiotherapy. Although radiotherapy is a highly specialized niche, it is a scenario that can be deeply empowered by information technology, with a clear underlying logic. Therefore, we are bullish on this sector.

Regarding the team, Lianxin’s team impressed us at first glance. In terms of resumes, Lianxin’s team may not be considered luxurious, but it is sufficiently “grounded.” What Lianxin aims to achieve actually requires more people who act as “glue”—individuals who can deeply understand clinical needs and objectives on one hand, and comprehend what problems technology can solve, and even which specific technologies should be applied to address these issues, on the other. The entire Lianxin team, from the CEO, CTO, and CFO down to certain sales and administrative staff, possesses a very solid foundation in this regard. From the perspective of technology or product alone, there is not significant differentiation between Lianxin and its competitors; however, Lianxin’s team demonstrates a much deeper understanding of real-world challenges and clinical needs in terms of details, which is highly valued by us.

From a product perspective, one aspect is maturity: AiContour’s intelligent contouring has obtained regulatory approval and commenced market promotion, marking the fastest progress among domestic peers. The other aspect is the profound understanding of clinical needs reflected in the product’s detailed features.