AnYou ZeRui: Revolutionizing Women's Reproductive Health with an Internet-Plus Smart Hardware Model

Life begins with conception.

In 2015, Liu Xiaobo, who was then overseeing Mindray’s international IVD market, acquired a prototype for a fertility monitoring device that he had developed with a U.S. team in his spare time at a cost of over $100,000. He subsequently returned to China and partnered with Li Wenli, then General Manager of Operations at Ji Jiankang; Xu Huansheng, former General Manager of Baidu’s Smart Hardware Division; and Weng Li, a former leading medical hardware designer at Mindray China, to co-found a startup. They defined their strategic direction as “Internet + Reproductive Health Hardware.”

“After conducting a thorough investigation, we found that there are virtually no domestic companies capable of producing similar products. The market is either dominated by traditional medical device manufacturers whose services are tailored for hospital settings, or by consumer-grade general monitoring products,” Li Wenli told VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat). “The prototype we obtained at the time was a medical-grade device for monitoring hormone levels, and it has become a consensus among experts that hormone levels significantly impact reproductive health.”

“At that time, we conducted a survey and found that only three companies worldwide could master this technology effectively: ours, one in the United States, and one in Europe. The U.S. product achieved annual global sales of 4 million units,” said Li Wenli. “At the time, some Chinese consumers even purchased this product through cross-border e-commerce platforms. We believed that with economic development and growing public awareness of health, demand for such products would continue to rise. Therefore, we decided to leverage this opportunity as a breakthrough point and establish our own company.”

In 2016, Wuhan Anyou Zerui Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Anyou Zerui”) was established, positioning itself as a high-tech enterprise integrating “Internet Plus” and smart hardware, with a focus on the research and development of reproductive health medical hardware and the operation of internet platforms. Currently, Anyou Zerui boasts a line of medical hardware products covering both hospital and home settings, along with the internet-based reproductive health platform “Yunyou Health.”

“We don’t undertake initiatives simply because we possess certain technologies or capabilities. Instead, we aim to identify our target customer base, place them at the center, and use our proprietary patented products as an entry point to deliver comprehensive services,” said Li Wenli. “Furthermore, given the abundance of fragmented and even false information online, we hope our platform can provide consumers with accurate and valuable information.”

Life begins at conception. Due to environmental, dietary, and stress-related factors, an increasing number of families are struggling with infertility or even complete inability to conceive. The infertility rate in China has risen from 3% two decades ago to 12.5%–15%, meaning that one in every eight couples faces difficulties in having children.

Therefore, Anyou Zerui has entered the market through the lens of eugenics and healthy childbearing, establishing the “Yunyou” fertility product brand and setting forth the visionary goal of “Yunyou—Pioneering an Era of Optimal Pregnancy.” Leveraging physicians’ professional expertise, Yunyou collaborates with top-tier expert teams in the fields of preconception care and reproductive health. Through science-based educational content, it raises awareness of reproductive health and systematically addresses challenges related to “preconception preparation, optimal pregnancy, and successful pregnancy.” Yunyou provides physicians with standardized diagnostic tools and offers users medical-grade home testing hardware. By integrating internet technologies with smart hardware, Yunyou connects physicians with families, helping more women access scientific, systematic preconception guidance and medical services.

Yunyou’s hospital-side product line provides obstetrics and gynecology departments, gynecology units, and reproductive centers with portable diagnostic instruments and a cloud-based platform, offering standardized, intelligent, and mobile solutions for specialized testing. The Yunyou home-side product line offers rapid urine testing devices for optimal preconception care and eugenics at home, connecting families with backend physicians to provide scientific preconception tools, professional guidance, and comprehensive healthcare pathways that fully address fertility issues.

Yunyou Doctor App (Image source: Provided by the company)

The hospital-side flagship product is the Yunyou Fluorescence Immunoassay Analyzer. Its testing capabilities cover all clinical quantitative assays in reproductive health, including: the six-item sex hormone panel, the ten-item TORCH panel for eugenics, anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) testing for ovarian function, the five-item thyroid function panel, the seven-item panel for immune-related infertility, and the thirteen-item panel for gynecological infectious and inflammatory diseases. As a diagnostic tool for clinicians, it enhances diagnostic efficiency and quality, while extending standardized quality criteria to remote outpatient services.

Yunyou Home-Use Product (Image source: provided by the company)

The flagship home-use product is the Yunyou Smart Quantitative 3-in-1 (LH, FSH, HCG) Ovulation Test Kit, designed to precisely support conception, optimize pregnancy outcomes, and promote eugenics. Using urine samples, the device measures three key fertility biomarkers and integrates with a mobile app to intelligently map menstrual cycle curves, accurately pinpoint ovulation timing, and assess reproductive health status. It also connects users with backend physicians and specialized reproductive centers for professional guidance and services.

In terms of services, Anyou Zerui collaborates with the reproductive medicine centers, gynecology departments, and obstetrics and gynecology departments of public Grade 3A hospitals across various regions to operate the Yunyou Health Reproductive Health Platform. This platform provides users with valuable services, such as pre-hospital consultations and out-of-hospital care, as well as content, including popular science articles and paid courses.

However, in Li Wenli’s view, with rising living standards and evolving lifestyle concepts, reproductive health is no longer limited to preconception care; rather, it encompasses comprehensive, holistic reproductive health services for women, covering the entire continuum from initial reproductive awareness through childbearing to menopause, with a focus on women aged 17 to 54.

An increasing number of physicians are engaging in multi-site practice outside hospitals; however, studios or clinics where they typically practice often lack large-scale diagnostic equipment due to constraints such as funding and space.

Based on market demand, Anyou Zerui has further refined the profiling of its hospital-side service targets: one group consists of in-hospital physicians practicing at multiple locations, who require diagnostic tools and platforms; the other comprises medical alliances or medical consortia. Accordingly, Anyou Zerui centers its strategy around tertiary Grade A hospitals, establishing or franchising reproductive health clinics in their vicinity to help these clinics refine diagnostic criteria and quality control systems.

Under Anyou Zerui’s strategic plan, reproductive medicine clinics joining this network can achieve effective synergy. The platform establishes unified standards, and when clinic physicians use Anyou Zerui’s equipment, all data and records are transmitted to tertiary hospitals. As a result, patients ultimately receive care at their local clinics that meets the diagnostic and treatment standards of tertiary hospitals.

For patients with endocrine disorders, after consultation at a "satellite clinic," their medical records are uploaded to a tertiary hospital. If further treatment, such as surgery, is required, the patient will be referred to the tertiary hospital. However, if only regulatory management is needed, the physician will directly issue a prescription, allowing the patient to manage their condition at home. Throughout this process, data from tests conducted using home-based devices will be uploaded to the physician’s system.

Patients who wish to receive further services may opt to purchase service packages, whereby Anyou Zerui will assign a dedicated physician to provide end-to-end case management. To further ensure service quality, Anyou Zerui has also engaged a team of experts to deliver additional guidance and care plans for patients.

Regarding its core strengths, Li Wenli told VCBeat that Anyou Zerui’s devices possess multiple technological barriers, exhibit high stability, achieve an accuracy rate of over 95%, and maintain vertical deviation (consistency) within 5%.

It is reported that Anyou Zerui is expected to obtain the intelligent hardware medical device certification for the Yunyou product equipment before the 2020 Spring Festival, thereby completing its entire product line for both physician and home use.