Yidianling Secures Tens of Millions in Series A+ Funding to Accelerate Disruptive Innovation in Mental Health Services

VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) has learned that in early August, Yi Dian Ling, an online psychological counseling platform celebrating its third anniversary, secured tens of millions of RMB in Series A+ financing. The round was led by Haibang Fund, with participation from Yue Yin Capital and Proxima Capital. Previously, on July 31, Yi Dian Ling officially unveiled its new brand logo and domain name, marking a comprehensive brand upgrade. This followed closely on the heels of its Series A financing round of tens of millions of RMB, led by Proxima Capital, which was completed just four months earlier.

Data Source: VCBeat Database

To date, Yi Dian Ling has completed four rounds of financing, raising tens of millions of yuan in total, and is leading the domestic internet mental health platform sector.

Yi Dian Ling’s New Logo Image Provided by Yi Dian Ling

Yi Dian Ling, established on August 6, 2015, is an online-to-offline (O2O) psychological service platform that provides users with mental health support in areas such as marriage and relationships, emotional stress, parent-child dynamics, and workplace interpersonal relations.Since its establishment, Yidianling has achieved remarkable success:

In the United States, approximately half of the population has received mental health services, a practice as commonplace as treating a cold. In China, the number of individuals in need of mental health services is no smaller than that in the United States, yet only a tiny fraction have actually accessed such care.

Xu Yingqi, Founder of Yidianling. Image provided by Yidianling

Xu Yingqi, founder of Yidianling, is a veteran with over a decade of experience in the internet industry and has had several successful entrepreneurial ventures. After his initial exposure to psychological counseling, his business mindset led him to consider how he could address this societal need. With substantial demand on one side and a scattered yet professional pool of counselors on the other, building a platform to bridge this gap represents a vast blue ocean opportunity.

After eight years of development, Yi Dian Ling officially launched on August 6, 2015. Currently, the Yi Dian Ling platform provides one-stop psychological services, including marriage and relationship counseling, emotional stress management, parent-child relationships, workplace interpersonal dynamics, psychological assessments, mental health information, and psychology courses.

Yi Dian Ling Workshop Image provided by Yi Dian Ling

3A year ago, Yi Dian Ling was still a startup with only nine employees. In just three years, it has grown into a large team of 500 people. The platform boasts 2 million registered users, 40,000 daily active users, and over 8,000 onboarded psychological counselors. The total paid consultation time has exceeded 200 million minutes, with a monthly compound growth rate of 20%-30%. Various pro bono services have accumulated more than 1.2 million hours, helping to rescue over 150,000 families in crisis. This rapid development is closely tied to the “craftsmanship spirit” of the Yi Dian Ling team.

Prior to the emergence of Yidianling, many online counseling platforms merely served as an extension of offline counseling. On these digital platforms, counselors operated more like individual merchants on Taobao.

Yidianling Counselor Converses with Client. Image provided by Yidianling

““We offer what others don’t, excel where others merely participate, and specialize where others are already proficient.” Yidianling distinguishes its services with three unique strengths. First, it provides 24/7 online counseling to ensure constant accessibility. Second, it guarantees professional quality: Yidianling promises unconditional refunds or counselor replacements if clients are dissatisfied or perceive no therapeutic benefit. Third, it implements a supervisor oversight system, monitoring every counseling session.

Yidianling Reception Desk. Image provided by Yidianling.

When discussing the distinctive features of Yidianling, Xu Yingqi reflected thoughtfully, “Let professionals focus on their professional duties. Counselors should strive for excellence in service within their respective fields of expertise, leaving all other matters to the platform.”

Yi Dian Ling provides a learning platform, a professional development platform, and a value-realization platform for psychology professionals committed to realizing the value of psychology. By empowering counselors through case-based teaching, professional supervision, instruction by leading experts, and a counselor empowerment system, Yi Dian Ling helps counselors enhance their professional competencies and elevate their career standards, with the mission to “make psychological counseling a dignified profession.”

It is precisely this factor that, following a RMB 5 million angel round, a RMB 10 million Pre-A round, and a tens-of-millions A round, enabled Yidianling to secure a tens-of-millions RMB A+ round led by Haibang Fund, which focuses on fields such as biomedicine.

Following this round of financing, Yi Dian Ling will prioritize the expansion of its offline presence, aiming to station no fewer than 40 counselors in each central city. This initiative seeks to provide users with more options for engaging with mental health professionals, further enhance service quality, and deliver an exceptional client experience.

Yidianling Psychological Counseling Room Setup. Image provided by Yidianling.

In addition to serving individual users, Yidianling will also expand into corporate and community services. Meanwhile, it will increase investment in psychological technology research, advancing toward tech-driven healthcare. By covering individuals, families, systems, and society, the company aims to deliver comprehensive, multi-dimensional professional services and build a mental health service platform with distinct Chinese characteristics.

In terms of talent development, Xu Yingqi’s philosophy is that “all strategies ultimately converge into a single strategy—the talent strategy.” On one hand, Yi Dian Ling has established a Psychology Research Institute to recruit more domestic and international psychological experts, thereby building a more professional system for expert supervision and case management. On the other hand, Yi Dian Ling will also attract more technical talent to advance in the direction of technological hardware. By integrating software with hardware and merging online with offline services, the company aims to elevate its strategic perspective, broaden its horizons, and effectively fulfill its historical mission as an industry leader.

Mental health has gradually become a significant concern. In late 2016, 22 ministries and commissions jointly issued the “Guiding Opinions on Strengthening Mental Health Services,” emphasizing the critical role of the mental health service industry. In his report to the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, President Xi Jinping stated, “We will strengthen the development of a social psychological service system and foster a social mindset characterized by self-esteem and self-confidence, rationality and equanimity, and positivity and progressiveness.”

Yidianling Office Displays Silk Banners from Clients Across China Gifted to Counselors. Image provided by Yidianling

With love in our hearts, we are grateful to the world. This is an industry full of challenges, but also one brimming with opportunities. With internet DNA embedded in its core, “Yidianling” is leading the industry’s rapid advancement and continuously fulfilling its mission of “making people around the world happier.” The road ahead is long and arduous, yet Xu Yingqi is guiding “Yidianling” to shoulder greater social responsibilities, pressing forward with determination despite all odds.

Haibang Fund (formerly “Haibang Talent Fund”) is a venture capital fund under Zhejiang Haibang Investment Management Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Haibang Investment”). Pioneering in China, the fund has established a model in which successful senior returnees mentor and support new returnees in their entrepreneurial endeavors. As an important innovation in Zhejiang Province’s venture capital initiatives, it has become the leading fund brand in the domestic sector for returnee entrepreneurship.

Since its establishment in 2011, Haibang Fund has successfully set up multiple sub-funds, including the Zhejiang Haibang Talent Fund (Phases I, II, and III), the Ningbo Haibang Talent Fund (Phases I and II), and the Haibang Medical Health Fund (Phase I).

Haibang Fund has invested in over 50 companies, among which two have completed initial public offerings (IPOs): Silergy Corp. (6415.TW) and Hexing Electrical Co., Ltd. (603556.SH); five have gone public through reverse mergers or acquisitions, including Suncare Medical Technology Co., Ltd. (300078.SZ), Philisense Technologies Co., Ltd. (300287.SZ), Xinbang Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (002390.SZ), Fuan Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd. (300194.SZ), and Jingfeng Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (000908.SZ); and two are listed on the National Equities Exchange and Quotations (NEEQ): NanoCrystal Technology Co., Ltd. (830933) and Xujian Technology Co., Ltd. (838934).

Yueyin Capital, also known as the Yueyin Healthcare Fund, is an investment institution focused on the healthcare and medical sector. Its team members possess extensive backgrounds in the medical industry and healthcare investment, with a primary focus onsub-sectors such as biotechnology, medical devices, diagnostic reagents, biopharmaceuticals, healthcare services, and mobile health,Investment projects are based on in-depth industry analysis to identify potential industry leaders.

In terms of investment stage selection, Yue Yin Capital focuses onEarly- and growth-stage projects in the healthcare sector, with follow-up investments in select mature-stage companies. Portfolio companies include Jiankangjie (Healthcare Circle), Mingyi Zhudao, Weimai Medical, Lanhai Zhilue, Tiankeya Biotech, and Puenrui Biotech.

Proxima Capital is a venture capital fund based in Hangzhou, Zhejiang,Focused on the healthcare industry, managing RMB and USD funds, with coverage from angel to growth stages, including seed angel rounds, Pre-A rounds, A rounds, and B rounds.

Portfolio companies include Gaocheng Biopharmaceuticals, Tangji Medical, Xinjian Medical, and Saina Biology. Proxima Capital led the Series A financing round for Yi Dian Ling.