SonoScape Emerges as a Leader in the Point-of-Care Ultrasound Market with Technological Edge Targeting Grassroots Healthcare

When it comes to the image of a doctor, most people automatically picture a white coat and a stethoscope. The stethoscope extends the physician’s sense of hearing, while various medical devices extend their vision. However, no other medical equipment integrates as intimately with the physician as the stethoscope does; handheld ultrasound may well become the next such indispensable tool. In other words, handheld ultrasound holds immense potential for the future development of healthcare, particularly in addressing structural challenges in primary care by penetrating down to the grassroots level.

VCBeat Has Previously Reviewed the Landscape of the Handheld Ultrasound SectorIn summary, within the handheld ultrasound sector, the AI-powered pocket ultrasound device developed by Butterfly Network, which recently raised $250 million, is leading the trend internationally, while Chengdu Stork Healthcare, with its exclusive patent for 128-channel physical architecture, stands out as a high-potential enterprise among domestic companies.

In the handheld ultrasound market, startups are not lagging behind industry giants. On the contrary, compared with products from giants such as Philips and GE, Chengdu Stork Healthcare Co.,Ltd. (Stork) offers more competitive functionality and cost-effectiveness. Last June, Stork announced the completion of its angel funding round worth tens of millions of RMB, exclusively invested by PURPLE COW STARTUPS founded by Fu Sheng and Zhang Quanling. What has enabled Stork to achieve technological leadership? What commercialization path has it chosen in its market strategy? To answer these questions, VCBeat conducted exclusive interviews with Zhang Zhuo, CEO of Stork, and Liu Yu, Sales Director.

Ultrasound imaging diagnosis leverages the favorable properties of ultrasound, such as reflection, scattering, and refraction within the human body, to visualize muscles and internal organs—including their size, structure, and pathological lesions. Handheld ultrasound devices can miniaturize large-scale ultrasound equipment into units as compact as a smartphone.

Small in size yet fully equipped, handheld ultrasound devices demand high technical standards. Their competitiveness is primarily determined by two factors: probe hardware and signal processing algorithms. In terms of hardware, the number of transducer elements determines the clarity and resolution of ultrasound images.

Across the handheld ultrasound market, industry giants and startups are largely moving in lockstep, yet a gap is already emerging in product functionality.

Stork Healthcare’s signal-acquisition probes come in three variants, enabling whole-body signal detection rather than being limited to specific anatomical regions. The physical channel count of Stork Healthcare’s probes is also high, adopting the number of channels typically found in large-scale ultrasound systems. A higher number of transducer elements results in clearer ultrasound images with higher resolution.

It is worth noting that the breakthrough of Stork’s ultrasound products also lies in bridging the “last mile” of diagnosis. Stork’s specialized software packages enable automated disease measurement. For instance, its vascular specialty detection package, leveraging patented vascular detection technology, allows for precise measurement of the intima-media thickness (IMT), obtaining the mean and maximum values of the common carotid artery IMT, along with a series of hemodynamic parameters. By comparing these results with a general population database, the system ultimately assesses the patient’s vascular health status.

Supported by its exclusive core underlying technologies, Stork Healthcare’s products enable multi-scenario applications, including specialized clinical departments (such as emergency medicine, obstetrics, orthopedics and traumatology, and neonatology), primary healthcare, and field surgery.

Standing out in the handheld ultrasound cohort does not mean that the next step is to challenge large-scale ultrasound systems. For large-scale ultrasound systems, the key relationship between handheld and large-scale devices is not one of distinction, but of complementarity. Handheld ultrasound devices primarily enhance the accessibility of medical services, extending beyond hospital radiology departments to the point of clinical diagnosis and into primary healthcare institutions.

“There is still a difference in the target user base between cart-based ultrasound and portable ultrasound within the overall market size. Cart-based ultrasound is mainly used in radiology departments, obstetrics and gynecology, and cardiology, with relatively limited application in other clinical departments. Moreover, primary healthcare institutions cannot afford the high-priced cart-based equipment,” Liu Yu, who has worked for many years at a major European and American ultrasound manufacturer, told VCBeat. “This determines that handheld ultrasound can be promoted in two directions: clinical departments and primary healthcare. This is an incremental market, expanding into new market opportunities. If you challenge an existing stock market, the difficulty will be greater.”

Chengdu Stork Healthcare Co., Ltd.’s product and technological advantages are well-suited for multi-scenario applications, offering substantial room for incremental market growth and enabling the external export of its technology platform. Not long ago, a major domestic medical equipment supplier added nearly RMB 10 million in annual orders to the existing tens of millions in yearly contracts with Chengdu Stork Healthcare. This additional order not only demonstrates recognition of Chengdu Stork Healthcare’s core technologies but also serves as a prelude to the company’s expansion into the grassroots market.

The ability to achieve breakthroughs and surpass competitors in key technologies is underpinned by the seasoned R&D team at Chengdu Stork Healthcare Co., Ltd. Dr. Liu Xiyao, the company’s founder and chairman, brings over a decade of experience in ultrasound research and industry practice, with expertise spanning medical ultrasound system design, as well as medical signal and image processing.

Dr. Liu Xiyao holds six Chinese invention patents, with five additional patents pending, and has published more than 20 academic papers. As early as 2008, Dr. Liu engaged in ultrasound R&D, leading a team to develop high-end medical color ultrasound systems and proposing novel algorithms such as 3D spectral imaging, high-resolution color flow imaging, compound elastography, and software beamforming.

The team’s technical advisor, Professor Liu Dongquan, formerly served as Chief Scientist of Ultrasound at Siemens. With 28 years of experience in the ultrasound industry, Professor Liu has been granted 18 U.S. invention patents and 16 Chinese invention patents, and was appointed as a Distinguished Professor at Sichuan University in 2004.

Professor Liu Dongquan and Dr. Liu Xiyao, a father-and-son duo, have collectively accumulated over 30 years of experience in the ultrasound field. In addition to its technical team, Chengdu Stork Healthcare Co.,Ltd. boasts an equally outstanding marketing team. Zhang Zhuo, the company’s co-founder and CEO, brings 11 years of industry experience in ultrasound market development and sales. Marketing Director Liu Yu also has many years of experience working for multinational ultrasound manufacturers from Europe and the United States.

How Stork Built a Team Capable of Both Underlying Technology Platform Development and Commercial ImplementationZhang Zhuo told VCBeat, “Everyone gets sick. We hope to enable more people to access high-quality imaging diagnostic services. Beyond that, we all share a small aspiration: when we grow old and fall ill, and need to seek medical care, the ultrasound machines used by doctors will be manufactured by us, carrying our legacy within them.”

In the two markets of clinical departments and primary healthcare, the latter remains largely untapped, with a more urgent demand for diagnostic equipment. The strong signal released by this round of healthcare reform is also to strengthen primary care. There are over 933,000 primary healthcare institutions in China, including community health centers, township health centers, village clinics, and private practices; there are nearly 30,000 hospitals, yet these 30,000 hospitals handle 80% of outpatient visits. To resolve this structural contradiction, it is necessary to address the inversion of medical resource distribution. Strengthening primary care requires upgrading facilities and equipment at the grassroots level, which is just as important as training physicians. However, existing diagnostic equipment struggles to penetrate the primary care sector due to cost and operational complexities.

Many large-scale medical devices are difficult to operate and costly. However, vital signs, biochemical indicators, and medical imaging remain essential for diagnosis. As a key component of medical imaging, ultrasound represents a significant unmet need, particularly at the primary care level. Stork’s handheld ultrasound device features no ionizing radiation, is easy to operate, and can be used repeatedly by healthcare professionals. It fully supports image transmission via 4G, Wi-Fi, USB, and other methods, and is compatible with multiple platforms including Android, Windows, and iOS. Stork provides primary care providers with the most convenient and comprehensive ultrasound solution.

“The service capabilities of primary healthcare professionals still need improvement, while the overall workforce in this sector continues to shrink. Enhancing human competency is particularly challenging, and many primary care providers struggle with interpreting and effectively utilizing complex medical tools. There is a clear demand for portable, intelligent products at the grassroots level. Stork’s proprietary technology has successfully transferred the core functionalities of large-scale color Doppler ultrasound systems into portable devices, empowering physicians to visualize imaging results in real time. In terms of diagnosis, we are also leveraging AI to enable direct identification and diagnosis of lesions,” said Zhang Zhuo, CEO of Chengdu Stork Healthcare Co., Ltd., in an interview with VCBeat.

In other words, against the backdrop of healthcare reform policies tilting toward primary care institutions, it is essential not only to provide external support (“blood transfusion”) but also to foster their self-sustaining capabilities (“hematopoiesis”). In the course of medical development, ultrasound equipment is transferable, whereas clinicians’ experience and expertise are the most difficult to replicate. The key challenge in medical device innovation lies in ensuring that technology and products are effectively integrated into human capability, rather than becoming underutilized equipment.

Addressing the challenges faced by primary healthcare workers is also a key direction for medical device innovation abroad. Earlier this year, Butterfly Network launched an augmented reality tool for its AI-powered handheld ultrasound device, aiming to facilitate specialist consultations and remote care in rural areas of developing countries. However, in China, where healthcare personnel resources are generally saturated and strained, it is difficult to fully scale up telemedicine.

Next, Zhang Zhuo stated, “We aim to deploy this examination at the primary care level using handheld ultrasound devices to facilitate early disease screening. Stork Healthcare will continue to integrate the advanced application features of high-end large console color Doppler ultrasound systems, gradually transplanting their functional modules onto our handheld ultrasound devices. This will ensure simple operation that meets the needs of primary healthcare professionals. Additionally, we will persist in developing automated and semi-automated measurement capabilities.”