Zhuojian Technology Raises Over RMB 330 Million, Empowers Internet Hospitals with Three Strategic Solutions and Gains Recognition from Top-Tier Hospitals Nationwide

Since the advent of the internet healthcare trend, healthcare professionals have never ceased their exploration in this field, including initiatives such as “Internet + Smart Hospitals” and ongoing innovations aimed at bridging the gap between internal and external hospital services.

To facilitate patient access to medical care, a company has, in recent years, successively assisted several highly influential public hospitals—including the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Beijing Hospital, Jiangsu Province People’s Hospital, Taizhou Enze Medical Center, and Wuhan Central Hospital—in successfully launching and operating internet hospitals, thereby significantly improving the patient healthcare experience.

This is Hangzhou Zhuojian Information Technology Co., Ltd. In 2011, Zhuojian Technology launched its mobile internet healthcare business, establishing itself as a veteran in the mobile health industry.

Recently, during the “2018 Top 100 Future Healthcare Companies” forum held in Beijing, VCBeat (WeChat official account: vcbeat) conducted an interview with Wei Jianfeng, Founder and CEO of Zhuojian Technology. Mr. Wei shared his entrepreneurial journey and explained how Zhuojian Technology helps hospitals achieve internet-based transformation.

Before embarking on his entrepreneurial journey, Wei Jianfeng was a surgeon who worked in the Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery at Zhejiang University Hospital for ten years. He started his business in 2011.

Wei Jianfeng told us that his decision to start a business was triggered by an incident during his postdoctoral fellowship in the United States. He jokingly referred to it as: “Reflections Sparked by a ‘Bloody Case.’”

One day in 2005, Wei Jianfeng went to the hospital due to physical discomfort. After having his blood drawn, Wei, who was taking a walk by the seaside, received a call from his family doctor instructing him to go to the emergency room for treatment. The entire process took less than half an hour.

Following this incident, Wei Jianfeng began to reflect on how to build a closed-loop smart healthcare service system, given that medical informatization in China is still at a very basic stage.

In China, even in highly advanced smart cities, a fully closed-loop information system has not yet been achieved. This is because numerous components must be integrated to establish such a loop, including business data, service delivery, patient management, and family doctor enrollment. Furthermore, it requires seamless coordination and clear delineation of responsibilities between tertiary hospitals and primary care institutions.

Thus, Wei Jianfeng’s entrepreneurial journey began:

In 2008, he leveraged mobile SMS and MMS to deliver health education and popularize medical knowledge, thereby facilitating doctor-patient interaction and health promotion.

Launched the Zhangwo Health mobile app in 2011, integrating mobile internet with health education;

In 2012, the mobile hospital platform launched services including appointment registration, payment, inquiry, online consultation, and follow-up, gradually establishing a closed-loop healthcare journey.

Acquired a telemedicine company in 2014, beginning to lay out mobile telemedicine;

In 2015, the medical education product was launched, initiating physician education programs;

In 2016, launched China's first internet hospital based on public hospitals;

In 2017, a mobile-based family doctor contracting platform was launched, and the community family doctor product went online;

Launched the external service platform for “Internet + Hospital” in 2018.

After seven years of development, Zhuojian Technology has gradually established a patient-centric closed-loop smart healthcare service system. However, Wei Jianfeng noted that within this entire service loop, large hospitals have limited capacity to manage patients and can only address a restricted range of clinical scenarios. Therefore, on one hand, these major hospitals need to leverage community family physicians at primary care institutions to notify and manage patients; on the other hand, they must synchronize data and business operations with lower-tier medical institutions while providing guidance and support.

So, how has Zhuojian Technology built a patient-centric closed-loop smart healthcare service system?

According to Wei Jianfeng, this service closed loop is primarily achieved through the following three major product lines:

1. Smart Hospitals. Smart hospitals refer to comprehensive internet-based hospital solutions, including mobile hospital apps, mobile remote care, internet hospitals, patient follow-ups, and payment services. Based on this platform, medical services such as consultations, lightweight online inquiries, pharmaceutical care, and laboratory testing are provided.

2. Smart Communities. Establish a regional tiered diagnosis and treatment platform to support regional health services, including chronic disease management, referrals, family doctor contracting, follow-up visits, integrated medical-nursing-elderly care, and health education.

3. Smart Medical Education and Training. Build the MedChain Cloud Academy, along with education platforms for standardized residency training, advanced studies, physician assessments, and examinations; provide physicians with business service platforms for patient management, consultations, clinical visits, and follow-ups.

Wei Jianfeng stated that these three solutions are designed to comprehensively support “Healthcare + Internet,” optimize in-hospital service workflows, facilitate the upgrading of healthcare institutions’ service models, build regional smart healthcare service platforms, and enhance physicians’ professional competence.

This product line was selected to align with current national policy considerations, driving iterative product development. As China’s population ages, the base of patients with chronic diseases and sub-health conditions remains large, while public awareness of disease prevention remains weak. During this critical window, the “prevention, treatment, and care” model is gradually being realized. By 2020, the scale of China’s health service industry is projected to reach RMB 8 trillion, accounting for 6.5% of GDP.

After seven years of accumulation, these products have also gained recognition at the national level. For instance, with the launch of standards for internet hospitals, Zhuojian Technology participated in the revision of three drafts and the formulation of administrative measures. The standards for building internet hospitals were largely developed based on Zhuojian Technology’s service model for public hospital internet healthcare services.

Meanwhile, Zhuojian Technology also focuses on building an Internet-plus service platform outside hospitals, continuously enhancing the depth of hospital services, vigorously expanding pharmaceutical care, laboratory and diagnostic testing, teleconsultation, and medical education services, and creating a “hospital + platform” business model to help hospitals provide unified internet-based medical services externally.

This service system has been recognized by more than 30 large Grade A tertiary hospitals across China, with internet hospital implementations successfully launched. Notable examples include the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, which established China’s first online campus for a public hospital; Henan Provincial People’s Hospital, home to the country’s largest medical consortium platform; Beijing Hospital, which launched the first internet hospital under the direct administration of the National Health Commission; Peking Union Medical College, integrated with the Continuing Medical Education Information Platform; and Hainan 301 Hospital, connected to the Smart Healthcare Integrated Platform. Currently, Zhuojian’s services cover more than 3,000 hospitals nationwide.

Beyond the product advantages of Zhuojian Technology, what other strengths does it possess to break down the walls of physical hospitals and co-build internet hospitals? Wei Jianfeng outlined three aspects:

First, establish a clear strategic positioning. Zhuojian Technology positions itself as a B2B service provider, dedicated to assisting physical hospitals in developing and operating their internet hospital platforms. The company avoids deep involvement in the day-to-day operations of these hospitals; instead, it focuses on providing support by helping hospitals design their operational frameworks, while the actual execution of operations remains the responsibility of the hospitals themselves.

Second, establish a benchmark and model. Since 2016, Zhuojian Technology has continuously refined its packaging, polished its offerings, and added new features, consistently creating service benchmarks.

Third, policy orientation. Although Zhuojian Technology has always aligned itself with national policy directions, in 2017, when the internet healthcare sector hit its lowest point and many companies had abandoned their internet healthcare initiatives, we continued to increase our R&D investment.

Currently, nearly 20 provinces across China have introduced administrative measures to promote “Internet + Healthcare.” In accordance with these policies, major provinces will sequentially develop internet-based medical services. Despite this, Wei Jianfeng stated that we still face business-related challenges. Serving the B-side market is not easy, and the scale of profitability is not as large as externally perceived. It is expected that after 2018, Zhuojian’s profitability will reach desirable levels.

“We are currently planning a new round of C+ financing. Upon completion, the total amount raised is projected to increase from the previous RMB 330 million to RMB 500 million,” said Wei Jianfeng with confidence.