BigVision Medical Secures RMB 30 Million Series A Funding to Accelerate Clinical Deployment and Business Model Innovation in AI-Powered Ophthalmology

Chen Xinjian, Founder of Bigway Medical Technology, Delivering a Speech

On September 26–27, the 2018 Medical Technology World Forum (MTWF 2018) was held at the Le Méridien Shanghai, Minhang Baolong Hotel. The forum was co-hosted by the Industry-Academia-Research Cooperation Coordination Department of the China High-Tech Industrialization Research Association, VCBeat, and VBInsight, under the theme “INFINITY.”

This forum brings together domestic and international healthcare service providers, listed companies, financial institutions, and health-tech innovators centered on technological innovation. Focusing on five key technologies—big data and artificial intelligence, robotics, the Internet of Things (IoT), 3D printing, and genetic testing—the event will host eight core forums across three major commercialization scenarios: hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, and health management organizations.

On the first day of the conference, Chen Xinjian, founder of Bigway Medical Technology, a medical company specializing in ophthalmic AI, delivered a keynote speech titled “AI-Based Ophthalmic Imaging Diagnosis and Analysis.” It was reported that the company announced the completion of its RMB 30 million Series A financing round, invested by Xiangshi Capital. This funding will accelerate the clinical implementation of Bigway’s ophthalmic AI products in tertiary hospitals and primary care institutions, as well as promote the exploration of business models for eye health screening products.

BigVision Medical Technology is one of the earliest startups in China to focus on artificial intelligence in ophthalmology. Its founder, Chen Xinjian, began researching AI-based diagnostic systems for ophthalmic imaging as early as 2011.

In 2012, after receiving the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars and being appointed as a Distinguished Professor at Soochow University, Chen Jianxin established an R&D team comprising more than 40 PhDs and master’s degree holders. Over six years, they developed China’s first dual-modal AI-based ophthalmic disease diagnosis system combining Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) with color fundus photography. The system can identify more than ten high-prevalence fundus diseases, including diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, and macular holes, by automatically annotating lesions and generating precise quantitative auxiliary diagnostic reports. This innovation holds significant practical value for application scenarios such as primary care hospitals and health check-up centers, where there is a shortage of highly skilled ophthalmologists.

Chen Xinjian believes that the practical implementation of medical AI has always been a focal point of industry discussion. In comparison, “focus” is a prerequisite for rapid deployment and constitutes a major advantage and distinctive feature of Bigwei. Unlike many peer companies whose imaging products span multiple departments, Bigwei has remained dedicated exclusively to ophthalmology since its inception and will continue to do so in the future.

Chen Xinjian stated, “The incidence of ophthalmic diseases is inherently very high. There are nearly 100 million diagnosed patients with various types of fundus diseases, and over 200 million individuals in the early stages of fundus pathology. Precisely due to the scarcity of ophthalmologists, there is a lack of effective detection methods at the early stage, causing most patients with fundus diseases to delay seeking medical attention, which leads to irreversible and severe consequences. Bigwei AI addresses the lack of fundus disease screening and initial diagnosis capabilities in primary healthcare institutions and health examination systems. Bigwei’s mission is to ‘detect every problematic eye at an early stage and provide the best treatment plan,’ truly ensuring that every citizen can access immediate medical care conveniently.”

Years of R&D accumulation and scientific research collaborations with hospitals have enabled Bigwei to acquire a vast amount of high-quality clinical data, particularly OCT data. As there are currently no public datasets available in the market, AI algorithms for OCT imaging remain exceedingly scarce, giving Bigwei a competitive edge with its mature product offerings.

To ensure the rigor of data inputs, Bigwei subjects every sample to independent annotation by two physicians, followed by cross-validation quality control. As a result, Bigwei’s products not only achieve a classification accuracy exceeding 96% on test datasets, but also demonstrate significantly superior performance in real-world clinical practice.

According to Chen Xinjian, over the past year, Bigwei’s MIAS (AI-based Ophthalmic Disease Screening and Auxiliary Diagnosis System) has been deployed in more than eight Grade 3A hospitals and over 50 primary care institutions across multiple provinces and municipalities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Jiangsu, and Yunnan. The product is scheduled to obtain its CFDA registration certificate this October.

Meanwhile, the company is also actively exploring the To C market, providing accessible, intelligent, precise, and convenient eye health management services to the general public. It has signed cooperation agreements with multiple hospitals and chain pharmacies, and as of press time, the number of individuals screened has exceeded 10,000.

Yin Dawei, head of Xiangshi Capital, the lead investor in Bigwei’s Series A financing round, stated that Bigwei Medical’s data advantages, combined with the founder Dr. Chen Xinjian’s extensive expertise in AI-based diagnosis of fundus diseases, have given Bigwei a significant first-mover advantage and facilitated the establishment of competitive barriers. In terms of clinical implementation, Bigwei Medical’s diagnostic results have gained recognition from top-tier hospitals such as the First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Jiangsu Province People’s Hospital, Shanghai General Hospital, and Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center of Sun Yat-sen University.

In the diagnosis of fundus diseases, Bigwei, founded by Dr. Chen Xinjian, possesses core technologies and a proven business model. It is precisely for this reason that Bigwei has become a highly valued project for Xiangshi Capital. As an investor, Xiangshi Capital hopes to grow alongside Bigwei and better help people address ophthalmic diseases.