JianYiBao Secures Tens of Millions in Series A Funding Led by Baidu Ventures to Empower Patient Medication Adherence Through Innovative Insurance Solutions

VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) has learned thatJianyibao, a domestic integrated pharmaceutical service platform, recently secured another round of financing amounting to tens of millions of yuan.BV Baidu Ventures invested tens of millions of RMB in Jianyibao’s Series A financing round. Shortly before this, Jianyibao had secured angel-round funding from Puhua Capital. Following BV Baidu Ventures’ investment, Jianyibao’s post-money valuation doubled.

Behind the rapid doubling of its valuation and the fierce competition for capital lies Jianyibao’s solid operational capabilities and unique business model.

As an investor in this round, Ren Bobing, Vice President of Baidu Ventures, spoke highly of Jianyibao’s team execution capabilities, noting that “the rapid pace at which business collaborations have been rolled out is rare in the industry.” He also highlighted that the team’s deep cross-domain expertise in both pharmaceuticals and insurance is a capability lacking in most companies on the market.

Prior to this, Jianyibao had secured angel-round investment from Puhua Capital. After meeting with Zhang Shengming, Chairman of Jianyibao, for just 40 minutes, a partner at Puhua Capital expressed strong interest in the company, citing its “robust” business model as the primary reason.

“‘Providing insurance for patients’ medication’ sounded quite novel at the time, but it was clearly a very ‘robust’ business model,” commented Zhou Mi, Managing Partner at Puhua Capital, an investor in Jianyibao’s previous funding round. “The company’s senior management also has a deep understanding of industry dynamics and is able to leverage this insight to uncover business opportunities.”

The “White Paper on China’s Commercial Health Insurance” shows that the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of gross written premiums in China’s insurance market was 20.7% from 2013 to 2017. Among these, health insurance grew at a CAGR of 40.6%, far outpacing other lines of insurance. From an overall market perspective, China’s health insurance sector is characterized by its small size, high growth rate, and significant untapped potential, exhibiting clear features of a blue-ocean market. However, nearly all health insurance products currently cover only healthy individuals, whereas there is actually greater demand for health insurance among those already afflicted with illnesses, particularly individuals with chronic diseases.

As a comprehensive service platform for the pharmaceutical industry, Jianyibao delivers distinct value to pharmaceutical companies, insurance providers, and patients, creating mutual benefits for all three parties. Jianyibao is currently the first platform in China to design and provide tailored insurance services for individuals with pre-existing medical conditions.

Zhou Mi, a former pharmaceutical industry practitioner, believes that the medication coverage provided by Jianyibao shares similarities with traditional travel insurance: “Both are low-priced yet in high demand, leveraging volume to drive pricing. This market holds immense potential for future growth.”

Ren Bobing of Baidu Ventures also stated, “I have been observing this sector for a long time but had struggled to identify suitable investment targets. Jianyibao’s business model is arguably unique in China. While akin to the Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) model seen abroad, it has evolved beyond that framework to encompass multiple pathways, including prescription outflow and patient health management. Given that commercial health insurance in China is still in its early stages, Jianyibao enjoys substantial room for growth.”

JianYiBao’s business model is viable because it addresses multiple pain points in the current market, serving as a facilitating link. For patients, high out-of-pocket costs create substantial financial pressure; with self-pay ratios reaching as high as 40% in China, medication adherence is consequently low. For pharmaceutical companies, many innovative drugs fall outside the scope of medical insurance coverage, limiting their accessibility and hindering effective penetration of the Chinese market. Furthermore, pharmaceutical companies face intense competition in the market for mature products, necessitating continuous patient retention through brand building and enhanced services.

Jianyibao’s current business model primarily involves partnerships with insurance companies to launch medication-specific insurance products for pharmaceutical companies’ targeted drugs. By leveraging volume-based pricing, it expands drug accessibility, using retail pharmacies as the entry point for patients to purchase medication insurance. This approach reduces the financial burden on patients caused by complications or adverse reactions, alleviates patient concerns about purchasing medications, improves medication adherence, lowers the risk of disease progression, and ultimately reduces overall healthcare expenditures, thereby meeting the cost-containment needs of all stakeholders in the healthcare service ecosystem. Currently, Jianyibao has achieved coverage across 20,000 pharmacies nationwide and established collaborations with more than 15 healthcare enterprises.

By precisely integrating commercial insurance into the pharmaceutical sales terminal, Jianyibao helps patients secure supplementary reimbursement for medications, thereby preventing situations where high medical costs force patients to abandon treatment. Furthermore, should patients experience complications or adverse reactions while using these medications, the commercial insurance provides advance compensation. More critically, for certain innovative, high-value drugs, Jianyibao enables patients to adopt a pay-for-performance model.

By alleviating patients’ concerns, they are undoubtedly more willing to purchase and try medications. By integrating with Jianyibao, pharmaceutical companies can access patient medication data, retail pharmacies can boost sales volumes, and patients’ adherence to adequate medication regimens is ensured.

The development of innovative drugs, a persistent headache for pharmaceutical companies, can also be addressed on the Jianyibao platform. Currently, the entire process of innovative drug development, from project initiation and R&D to market launch, takes ten years or even longer, requiring substantial investment from pharmaceutical companies. There have been constant calls in the market for national medical insurance and third-party insurers to enter the innovative drug market. Jianyibao’s medication coverage program not only ensures that patients pay based on therapeutic efficacy but also provides pharmaceutical companies with a reasonable mechanism to recoup their R&D costs.

“Our goal is to connect pharmaceutical companies, patients, and financial services to improve the current state of pharmaceutical sales. In this interconnected ecosystem, Jianyibao serves as the central hub,” said Zhang Shengming, Founder and CEO of Jianyibao.

While helping patients resolve medication-related issues, Jianyibao not only achieved break-even within just one year of its establishment but also gained recognition and collaboration from the pharmaceutical sales sector for its business model.

JianYiBao has currently entered into a deep strategic partnership with Anxin Insurance. The company’s network covers more than 20,000 pharmacies across China, and it plans to add another 30,000 pharmacies this year.

According to a survey by IQVIA, a globally renowned pharmaceutical market research firm, the medication adherence rate for a certain retail drug was only 23%, meaning that when patients were prescribed 100 boxes of this medication, they actually purchased only 23. This not only compromised therapeutic efficacy for patients but also made it difficult for pharmaceutical companies to ensure revenue. However, after patients enrolled in a medication assurance program, adherence to this class of drugs increased significantly to 50%.

According to statistics from the Jianyibao platform, after a certain retail drug was covered by Jianyibao’s medication protection program, the average single-purchase volume per patient increased from 1.7 boxes to 4.1 boxes in June. This effectively ensured that patients received adequate dosage and completed the full course of treatment.

Another key factor driving positive feedback from various market stakeholders stems from Jianyibao’s data. By leveraging frontline data obtained through its analytics and statistics platform, the company can even help pharmaceutical enterprises gain a more intuitive understanding of the relationship between market investment and return on investment. This has broken the previously fragmented landscape of the pharmaceutical marketing chain, which was characterized by disconnected processes and siloed, disparate data.

In both medical and financial risk control, Jianyibao leverages extensive, robust clinical data to ensure effective risk management. To date, Jianyibao has successfully achieved zero bad debts.

Jianyibao addresses critical needs and pain points in the pharmaceutical industry chain through its unique business model and robust operational capabilities. Moving forward, Jianyibao will continue to engage with pharmaceutical manufacturers and expand its offline pharmacy network. In the future, Jianyibao aims to evolve into a comprehensive company integrating insurance and health management, thereby meeting patients’ demands for health management and medical payment solutions.

“China’s commercial health insurance sector is still in its early stages, and future development will undoubtedly center on providing insurance coverage for individuals with pre-existing conditions.” Zhang Shengming stated candidly, “Our aim is to leverage insurance coverage for this population to access the entire continuum of health services, encompassing sales, claims processing, actuarial pricing, and coordination with subsequent medical care. This constitutes our strategic development approach.”