Bayer G4A Alumni Spotlight: How Chinese Health Tech Startups Gained Traction Through Collaboration

Pharmaceutical companies’ startup accelerators have gained significant momentum over the past two years, with major pharmaceutical firms actively seeking to connect with Chinese startups to foster their growth and identify new collaboration opportunities.

Since its inception in 2016, the Bayer G4A China startup program has undoubtedly become one of the most experienced startup accelerators in China. Over the past three years, 11 companies have been selected to join the program, gaining close access to Bayer’s headquarters and various business units for in-depth exchanges. Some of these startups have even established long-term collaborative partnerships with Bayer. In 2019, G4A adopted “win-win cooperation” as its core theme, and its comprehensive upgrade helped this well-established accelerator stand out once again among its competitors.

Over the past three years, 11 companies have been selected to participate in G4A, gaining access to Bayer’s global headquarters for in-depth, close-quarters engagement with various business units. Some of these companies have even established long-term collaborative partnerships with Bayer. We have reached out to several G4A alumni companies to gain their perspectives on how the program has supported their subsequent development.

Huang Wenjia, founder of Wubao Technology, first learned about the launch of G4A in a WeChat group: “We were aware that Bayer ran its G4A program at its global headquarters in Germany, but we did not expect it to be introduced to China so quickly. At the time, few domestic pharmaceutical companies were operating such direct accelerator programs. Therefore, Bayer’s introduction of G4A into China demonstrated its strong support for Chinese startups, as well as its attention to industry shifts and openness to new developments. As soon as I saw the announcement, I immediately signed up.”

Wubao Technology’s current product is a smart pillbox. Equipped with built-in sensors, it monitors the dispensing of all medications stored within. The company also offers a larger pillbox designed for in-hospital emergency care, which connects directly to the hospital’s Internet of Things (IoT) network and automatically pushes medication dosage information to physicians, ensuring accurate monitoring of drug administration.

Wubao Technology’s product commercialization required a deep understanding of the core needs of pharmaceutical companies and domestic medical institutions, and G4A provided them with just the right window for communication with these stakeholders. “When I joined G4A, I had just returned from working at a U.S. pharmaceutical company and was not very familiar with the market landscape of China’s healthcare industry. Through our participation in G4A, we gradually learned how to adapt our products to suit the domestic market environment. We have now established collaborative partnerships with many Chinese pharmaceutical companies and hospitals. The experience gained through G4A played a key role in building these partnerships,” said Huang Wenjia.

Although 2016 marked the inaugural year of G4A in China, the program already offered robust support to participating companies. Senior executives frequently attended G4A events, maintaining frequent communication and engagement with shortlisted startups. These companies were hosted at Bayer’s China headquarters, where they had extensive access to all of Bayer’s departments. “Although we did not ultimately launch a concrete project with Bayer, the company still provided us with substantial resources. Bayer introduced us to many of its partners, including the first pharmacy we partnered with in Shanghai,” said Huang Wenjia.

G4A Exchange Event Site

“As the 2016 G4A China was the inaugural edition, we did not have a thorough understanding of the G4A program at that time. However, we were well acquainted with Bayer and recognized its profound expertise in radiology contrast media.” Driven by their admiration for Bayer, Yuan Rong led his team to apply for G4A China 2016, successfully securing selection as part of the first cohort of participants.

Ruijia Technology is a startup from Wuhan that centers on scalable cloud computing architecture and image-based intelligent algorithms, providing RayPlus—a computer-aided diagnosis and treatment system based on medical imaging—to specialists across various disciplines. The system is flexibly compatible with multiple terminals, including PCs, tablets, and smartphones, meeting specialists’ diverse needs for specific auxiliary diagnosis and accommodating various fragmented application scenarios.

“Our entire team comes from a technical background, so business operations is actually our weak point. Therefore, the curriculum designed for us by G4A primarily focuses on business operations. These courses have been immensely helpful for our subsequent corporate management,” said Yuan Rong.

During his time at Bayer, Yuan Rong established connections with many instructors responsible for the G4A program. To this day, he maintains contact with the head of Bayer’s relevant department, regularly discussing industry developments. They have also continued to communicate with the G4A leadership team, seeking to identify synergies between themselves and Bayer and explore potential collaboration opportunities.

Yueying Technology’s participation in G4A has some backstory with VCBeat. Zhang Chao, founder of Yueying Technology, was introduced to VCBeat through his partner in China and subsequently joined G4A on VCBeat’s recommendation: “When I applied for G4A, I was still in the United States. My first stop upon returning to China was to attend Bayer’s G4A program.”

G4A Activity Prototype Display

Yueying Technology’s products are applied in non-invasive imaging analysis and hemodynamic analysis of vascular diseases, targeting common medical imaging modalities such as CT, MRI, and OCT. Its first product, Maiying, assists physicians in diagnosing coronary artery disease by calculating CT-FFR (CT-derived fractional flow reserve).

“When we participated in G4A, our product prototype had already been developed, and the team was largely established. What we lacked was guidance on project implementation and connections to domestic resources. Bayer’s G4A program presented an excellent opportunity for us at that time. We feel fortunate to have stood out among more than 100 applicant companies,” said Zhang Chao. Yueying Technology is currently engaged in further discussions with Bayer, as both parties hope to establish concrete collaborative opportunities.

G4A 2017 saw significant improvements compared to 2016. With a year of accumulated experience, G4A has standardized its processes and tailored its training content more closely to corporate needs. As a global pharmaceutical giant ranked among the Fortune Global 500, Bayer’s market entry and sales performance in China have been widely recognized. G4A serves as Bayer’s window to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), enabling Bayer to share the extensive experience it has accumulated in the Chinese market over the years.

Zhang Chao has deep personal insights into this: “During the training, Bayer provided us with comprehensive instruction on domestic processes for pharmaceuticals and medical devices. This covered key information such as the steps required to launch a drug or medical device in China, their proper sequence, and critical issues to watch out for. As a result, after participating in G4A, we have significantly improved our understanding of process management during product commercialization.”

Zhang Chao told us that Bayer also invited them to participate in training courses designed for Bayer’s internal executives. During these sessions, participants formed teams to simulate startup environments, gaining substantial hands-on experience. Through these courses, Zhang Chao also established long-term connections with Bayer’s senior sales and marketing executives, from whom he continuously learned about market strategies and insights during subsequent business operations.

During our conversations with these companies, they all spoke highly of the market experience, strategic guidance, and resource connections provided by G4A. Over the past three years, G4A has driven the development of China’s healthcare industry in its own unique way. As other pharmaceutical companies begin to enter the domestic healthcare market through accelerators, G4A underwent a comprehensive upgrade in 2019, once again leading the trend.

G4A 2019, themed around win-win cooperation, recruits more mature enterprises to communicate directly with members of the relevant business departments, seeking opportunities for practical collaboration. Shortlisted enterprises will not only receive expert guidance as provided to G4A participants in previous years but also gain access to customized resource matchmaking.

This year’s G4A is primarily soliciting proposals for six major collaborative challenge projects:

1. Scalp Health:Individuals plagued by dandruff often lack an understanding of the root causes underlying their condition. This leads them to wash their hair frequently or use conventional anti-dandruff products, resulting in significant waste of time and money, yet failing to prevent the embarrassment associated with dandruff.

G4A is seeking a digital solution that can help us identify individuals currently troubled by dandruff and dissatisfied with existing anti-dandruff products.

2. Allergy:Allergies are triggered by various allergens. Typically, individuals only become aware of their allergic conditions when symptoms are pronounced or life-threatening. They may seek to better understand their personal allergy profiles through self-diagnosis, online consultations, or allergen testing. However, conventional allergy diagnostic procedures are cumbersome, often resulting in delayed diagnosis for children and adolescents. Undiagnosed or poorly understood allergies can cause significant discomfort and lead to missed educational opportunities or participation in favorite activities.

G4A is seeking external digital solution providers to help pediatric and adolescent allergy patients conveniently diagnose or prevent allergic symptoms.

3. Greater Health - Family Doctor:Families facing sudden acute illnesses seek diagnosis and treatment through offline or online channels. These families can leverage new technologies and medical platforms to access diagnostic and therapeutic services more quickly and easily. However, physicians on these platforms lack familiarity with the specific circumstances of the consulting families, making it difficult for these families to receive personalized consultation and treatment plans.

G4A is seeking a solution that enables families to interact with physicians in a personalized and customized manner, thereby enhancing and improving family health.

4. Nutrition and Health:Women preparing for pregnancy typically adjust their physical condition to conceive a healthy baby. During this early and critical stage, adequate intake of various nutrients is essential. However, these women, particularly those in cities other than first- and second-tier ones, generally lack knowledge about preconception nutrition and have limited access to such information.

G4A is seeking a solution to build and enhance online awareness of preconception nutrition and health among mothers in non-tier-1 and tier-2 cities.

5. R&D Clinical Trials:Bayer is an innovative enterprise dedicated to the research and development of new drugs, providing patients with more treatment options. To ensure high-quality clinical studies, we must guarantee the transparency, traceability, and real-time management of investigational medicinal products used in clinical trials; the associated data must be credible, immutable, and auditable.

Based on the above considerations, G4A is seeking a solution that can help enhance data transparency, effectiveness, and traceability in the management of investigational medicinal products for clinical trials.

6. Management of Medical Academic Communication Content:When engaging in academic communication with healthcare professionals, relevant and targeted academic content can help enhance their academic understanding of related therapeutic areas and inform them of more treatment options.

To align with the “Healthy China 2030” strategy and better serve China’s healthcare delivery system, G4A is seeking an end-to-end solution for managing medical academic content. This solution should be anchored in every instance of medical academic communication, integrate relevant resources, and enable continuous optimization, iteration, and closed-loop management of content.

G4A China 2019 officially launched on July 15, with the application recruitment closing on September 15.

Click on [2019 Challenge] in the WeChat Official Account of [G4A Bayer Grants for Startups Program]

Or visit the G4A website (http://www.grants4apps.com.cn) to apply for membership.

Quick Registration Channel: http://vcbeat2018.mikecrm.com/GZeBvgd

Scan the QR code with WeChat to register now

From its somewhat nascent stage in 2016 to continuous improvements in 2017–2018, G4A has consistently led the trend of pharmaceutical accelerators in China, helping entrepreneurs avoid common pitfalls and assisting Bayer in exploring new approaches. In 2019, the fully upgraded G4A will provide more opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises to shape new health experiences together with Bayer.

About G4A

G4A (formerly Grants4Apps), originating from Bayer’s global headquarters in Germany, is rooted in the digital health sector and has long served as Bayer’s window for open innovation. Through G4A, Bayer connects with outstanding startups worldwide, helping them accelerate their growth while enabling Bayer to gain new perspectives and technological pathways in the healthcare industry through collaboration.

G4A Bayer Startup Program WeChat Official Account