Penguin Almond Group Secures $250 Million in Funding, Valuation Exceeds $1 Billion
VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) has learned that Penguin Almond Group, China’s largest non-public healthcare service platform, announced today the completion of a new round of financing amounting to $250 million. The round was co-led by Country Garden Venture Capital, Tencent, and Gaw Capital Partners, with participation from CMB International, Harvest Wealth Management, the China-Russia Investment Fund, Sequoia China, Shengshijing Group, and AVIC Trust.
Following the completion of this funding round, Penguin Almond’s valuation exceeded $1 billion., this financing will be primarily used to continuously build Penguin Almond's integrated online-to-offline one-stop comprehensive medical service platform and health service system.
This is the largest financing round secured in the clinic sector so far this year. What are Penguin Almond Group’s plans following this funding? Why do investors remain bullish on the company?
According to VCBeat’s investment and financing database, as of now, there have been three publicly announced financing deals in the clinic sector in 2019, all with substantial amounts. However, the number of clinic companies securing funding has decreased compared to the same period last year; nine clinic companies received financing from January to April 2018.
From January to April 2019, the number of clinic financings decreased significantly compared with the same period in 2018 (data source: VCBeat database)
As shown in the figure above, among the clinics that received financing, there were various types such as ambulatory surgery centers, general practice clinics, dental clinics, and pediatric clinics. In 2019, both of the two clinics that secured funding were ambulatory surgery centers.
It is evident that ambulatory surgery centers have recently garnered significant attention, while interest in other types of clinic projects, which previously attracted considerable focus, has waned.
Day surgery centers are characterized by improved utilization of high-quality medical resources, with the entire process—from outpatient consultation, examinations, and appointment scheduling to surgery, postoperative observation, and discharge after recovery—completed within 24 to 48 hours. The overall cost is lower, allowing patients to experience the benefits of an optimized healthcare delivery pathway.
Penguin Almond, the recipient of this investment, also includes ambulatory surgery centers in its product offerings. This was the core business of Almond Doctor prior to its merger with Penguin Doctor.
According to data provided by Xingren Doctor,The entire year of 2018The Xingren Doctor Platform has completed 4,413 surgeries. This high volume of procedures demonstrates physicians’ satisfaction with the outpatient clinics, motivating them to perform surgeries in these settings on a frequent basis.
In August 2018, following the merger of Penguin Doctor and Almond Doctor to form the Penguin Almond Group, the company’s rapid growth in scale and size earned it high recognition both within and outside the industry, whether for its online operational capabilities or its offline expansion speed.
Why Did Such a Large-Scale Financing Round Go to Penguin Almond? We Believe It Is Mainly Due to Its Strong Business Expansion Capability.
Penguin Doctor was co-founded by Tencent, Gaw Capital Partners, Medlinker, and Sequoia China. In August 2018, Penguin Doctor merged with Almond Doctor to form the Penguin Almond Group, which now operates the largest network of high-quality chain clinics in China.
To date, Penguin Almond has launched nearly 50 clinics across eight cities—Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Shenyang, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, and Nanjing—encompassing diverse formats such as general practice clinics, ambulatory surgery centers, and specialty clinics.
Meanwhile, Penguin Almond boasts extensive online platform resources, including 440,000 certified physicians and 10 million patient users, while connecting with over 30,000 hospitals.
In addition, Penguin Doctor’s pace of innovation in the field of intelligent technology is equally impressive. On March 27, 2019, it unveiled four smart health products at its flagship Penguin Clinic in Beijing, including the Smart Health Kiosk, Health Terminal, Smart Body Composition Analysis Magic Mirror, and Future Specialist Consultation Room. This launch comprehensively established Penguin Doctor’s new concept of the “Future Clinic,” which will subsequently be rolled out to communities and commercial centers across China to create one-stop integrated healthcare service hubs.
Wang Shirui, CEO of Penguin Almond Group, stated that over the past two years, while rapidly expanding its offline medical institutions, the company has accumulated extensive experience in site selection, construction, license acquisition, physician training, and marketing promotion. By continuously optimizing its business processes, Penguin Almond has initially established a relatively mature management and operational system.
Over the next two to three years, Penguin Almond will rapidly expand its offline medical institutions, with the number of such facilities expected to exceed 500 by 2021.
Wang Shirui also mentioned that, for its online business, Penguin Doctor will further optimize the platform’s triage and consultation processes to comprehensively enhance user experience, while strengthening business expansion in areas such as pharmaceutical e-commerce and internet hospitals.
In the field of smart health devices, Penguin Doctor will launch more flagship smart health products based on its one-stop health service system, and will also upgrade existing equipment such as Health Stations and Health Terminals, simultaneously enhancing product functionalities.
As one of the few unicorn companies in the mobile health sector with a valuation exceeding $1 billion, Penguin Almond has stated that it will unlock greater creativity and possibilities across various healthcare subsectors by focusing on technology, intelligence, care, and collaboration.
Regarding this round of financing for Penguin Almond, investors from all parties have expressed their views.
Tang Daosheng, President of Tencent’s Cloud and Smart Industries Group, stated that healthcare has always been an industry of high priority for Tencent. Leveraging Tencent’s traffic resources and technological support, Penguin Almond can serve as a “practitioner” in the integration of medical care and technology, comprehensively enhancing the service experience. Tencent aims to facilitate the upgrading of the healthcare industry, delivering greater value to enterprises, patients, and a broader user base.
Zhou Hongru, General Manager of the Innovation and Investment Division at Country Garden, stated that Penguin Almond is one of the few comprehensive and professional online-to-offline (O2O) integrated healthcare service providers in the industry. It is also among the rare medical unicorns that have successfully connected doctors, pharmaceuticals, patients, online traffic, and offline scenarios, boasting significant advantages over competitors in terms of platform, brand, and resources. We believe it is most likely to become the industry leader and consolidator. As a leader in the real estate sector, Country Garden possesses extensive offline industrial resources, including communities, commercial properties, and schools, which can facilitate all-around strategic cooperation with Penguin Almond.
Country Garden Ventures has long focused on the broader healthcare sector, accumulating extensive investment experience in areas such as healthcare, consumer goods, robotics, and the real estate industry chain. By further deepening its investments in healthcare, Country Garden Ventures can help Penguin Almond better integrate industry resources, while also fostering comprehensive collaboration between its portfolio companies and Penguin Almond, thereby jointly contributing to the development of China’s healthcare industry.
Peng Qingbang, Executive Partner and Head of China at Gaw Capital Partners, stated: “Following the strong alliance between Penguin Doctor and Xingren Doctor, the combined entity boasts extensive experience in operating both internet-based healthcare services and physical medical clinics, delivering high-quality medical care to patients through an integrated online-offline model. As one of the earliest shareholders of Penguin Doctor, Gaw Capital Partners will provide ongoing strategic support to facilitate the company’s future expansion in offline operations.”