Medlinker Secures $1.5 Billion Series D Funding, Emerges as a New Unicorn in China's Internet Healthcare Sector

According to VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat), Medlinker, a leading provider of medical solutions in China, announced today that it had secured RMB 1 billion in Series D financing. The round was closed in June 2018, led by CIC Capital and followed by investors including Sequoia Capital China, CEC Health Industry Fund, and China Renaissance New Economy Fund. China Renaissance served as the exclusive financial advisor for this financing round.

Over the past four years, Medlinker has not only built a professional, real-name physician platform integrating academia, clinical practice, social networking, and gamification, but also pioneered the establishment of a patient-centric, comprehensive ecological closed loop. This ecosystem encompasses disease screening, physician education, diagnosis and treatment services, pharmaceutical distribution, financial and insurance services, and patient management services.

Wang Shirui, Founder and CEO of Medlinker, stated that in the future, Medlinker will continue to leverage core resources and technologies such as medical big data and artificial intelligence to further refine its full industry chain, with a focus on smart internet hospital solutions. Additionally, the company will consider investing in and acquiring outstanding enterprises within the industry to enhance its diversified layout in the broader health sector, ultimately positioning Medlinker as a leading comprehensive innovative healthcare enterprise covering the entire “Internet + Healthcare” industry chain.

In April this year, the General Office of the State Council issued the Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Development of “Internet + Healthcare.” With policy support and market opportunities for internet healthcare now in place, the industry is approaching a turning point, and the healthcare sector is undergoing significant transformation. At this critical juncture, Medlinker is integrating internet-based and traditional healthcare mindsets. Through close collaboration with CEC Data, it is collecting, cleaning, and organizing currently fragmented and dispersed healthcare big data to drive the development of innovative medical applications, thereby optimizing the overall efficiency of healthcare supply.

Starting as a physician platform, Medlinker has gathered over 500,000 real-name verified doctors and 20,000 contracted physicians. Since 2018, Medlinker has been highly active.

In June, Medlinker joined hands with Penguin Doctor and Dingdang Medicine to establish a tripartite strategic partnership, accelerating its layout in the pharmaceutical distribution sector and creating an integrated “medical consultation + diagnosis + medication” service loop.

In May, Medlinker entered into a strategic partnership with West China School of Stomatology to jointly build a smart internet hospital, promoting the innovative integration of artificial intelligence and stomatology. Meanwhile, Medlinker’s self-developed smart hospital platform has launched for internal beta testing and is undergoing trial operations at multiple medical institutions. Notably, Medlinker also signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the People’s Government of Rizhao City, Shandong Province, to provide comprehensive smart medical services to the city. Previously, the Medlinker Huafang Internet Hospital officially commenced operations. To date, it has attracted four National Masters of Traditional Chinese Medicine, including Professor Zhang Daning, as well as over 600 physicians who have joined the platform for multi-site practice.

To date, Medlinker’s business footprint has gradually permeated every segment of the upstream and downstream health industry chain—including government agencies, healthcare institutions, pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers, and insurance companies—accelerating the realization of its value proposition centered on connectivity, integration, and empowerment.

Medlinker was founded in June 2014. In August of the same year, it secured angel-round funding jointly invested by Ceyuan Ventures and PreAngel. In February 2015, it raised millions of US dollars in Series A funding from Sequoia Capital China. In September 2015, it completed a $40 million Series B round led by Tencent, with participation from Yunfeng Capital. In December 2017, Medlinker obtained strategic investment from the CEIC Health Industry Fund and closed its Series C financing round totaling RMB 400 million, with participation from Huaxing New Economy Fund, Tencent, and Sequoia Capital China.