LinkDoc Technology Files for IPO After Becoming China's First Unicorn in Medical Big Data and AI with $1.5B Valuation

A “Migration Map of Chinese Cancer Patients Seeking Medical Care,” which once went viral on WeChat Moments, was widely reposted and cited by countless media outlets. This map traces the healthcare-seeking journeys of cancer patients, using the residences of over 2 million patients as starting points and the locations of the hospitals where they ultimately received treatment as endpoints. Strikingly reminiscent of China’s Spring Festival travel rush maps and Double 11 shopping festival logistics charts, this “migration map” lays bare the predicament and helplessness stemming from the unequal distribution of medical resources in China today. LinkDoc Technology, the team behind the map, created this data visualization to explore how professional expertise and information technology can assist healthcare institutions—and even regulatory bodies—in driving change to resolve this dilemma.

However, this is undoubtedly an arduous and outstanding endeavor.

In December 2017, at the 4th World Internet Conference, LinkDoc Technology became the only startup company selected for the “Top 10 Best Practices in Internet” list.

In March 2018, LinkDoc Technology was designated as a key enterprise for research by the Enterprise Research Institute of the Development Research Center of the State Council in the field of “Medical Big Data and Artificial Intelligence”;

In April 2018, with the support of the Wu Jieping Medical Foundation, LinkDoc Technology collaborated with ten renowned Grade A tertiary hospitals in China to publish nine world-class academic papers on the prestigious international stage of ASCO, presenting “Chinese medical evidence” derived from Chinese data.

In June 2018, Han Zheng, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, Vice Premier of the State Council, and head of the Leading Group for Coordinated Development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, visited LinkDoc Technology and encouraged Chinese enterprises to persist in pursuing independent innovation.

This company, established less than four years ago, has suddenly become the “talk of the industry.” Amidst various questions and curiosity, we attempt to interpret this enterprise: In the new healthcare sector, how has this Chinese team managed to break a “world record”?

At the “Roundtable Forum on Medical AI Driving Industrial Transformation” recently held in Nansha, Guangzhou, Zhang Tianze, Founder and CEO of LinkDoc Technology, stated that since 2015, LinkDoc has achieved geometric growth in data processing volume through extensive innovation and technological R&D. By the first half of 2018, the penetration rate of single-cancer types on LinkDoc’s medical big data platform had reached 60%, surpassing that of the United States. Building on its foundation in data governance and technological reserves, LinkDoc began in 2018 to realize the value delivery and monetization of data by implementing AI-assisted diagnosis and treatment applications, driving the upgrade of “Internet + Healthcare,” and activating innovative pharmaceutical industry services. Currently, with the support of the Tianjin Municipal Science and Technology Commission, LinkDoc has reached a cooperation consensus with Tianjin Chest Hospital to jointly establish the first AI-assisted diagnosis and treatment platform for lung cancer in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. Leveraging China’s—and the world’s—largest tumor cohort data operations and follow-up center established in Tianjin, the platform serves 400,000 cancer patients.

During the early startup phase of LinkDoc Technology, the application of medical big data in clinical practice was still in its infancy not only in China but also in developed countries across Europe and the United States. With no mature experience or models to draw upon, LinkDoc, as a “pioneer,” sought to “break through” by addressing five major challenges prevalent in medical practice: high patient volume, unstructured medical records, difficulties in follow-up, lack of industry standards, and data privacy and security concerns.

If LinkDoc Technology is to be described using the two sets of keywords, “technology” and “pharmaceutical industry,” its attributes as a pharmaceutical industry player appear to far outweigh those of a technology company. In stark contrast to traditional technology-driven internet companies, LinkDoc Technology has assembled an entrepreneurial team of over 1,000 members spanning “medicine, scientific research, technology, and industrial services” within just over three years. The company provides comprehensive big data solutions to medical institutions, industry regulatory authorities, governments at all levels, as well as entities in the pharmaceutical industry and insurance sector.

In 2016, under the guidance of the Hospital Management Center of the National Health and Family Planning Commission, LinkDoc collaborated with the Chinese Medical Doctor Association and other organizations to sequentially develop the “Data Structuring Standards” and the “First Terminology Set for Thoracic Surgical Diseases in China,” thereby establishing the data structuring standards and technical requirements that laid the foundation for structured clinical medical records in China.

In 2017, LinkDoc established collaborations with the National Respiratory Medical Consortium led by Academician Wang Chen, the National Gastrointestinal Oncology Alliance led by Professor Jiafu Ji, as well as institutions such as Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, and the Esophageal Cancer Data Center spearheaded by Henan Cancer Hospital. These partnerships aimed to build regional and national clinical research data centers and big data collaboration platforms for specific diseases, thereby promoting the aggregation, openness, and sharing of medical big data in China.

LinkDoc Technology has defined high-quality data across five dimensions: standardization, interoperability, timeliness, richness, and volume. It has established a comprehensive intelligent data processing system, thereby forming an industry-leading concept of data governance. After several years of effort, LinkDoc’s standardized medical data platform is now directly applicable to artificial intelligence research, clinical studies, drug development, and evaluation.

“A single flower does not make a spring.” If promoting and accelerating the development of industrial clusters is an imperative challenge that Chinese enterprises must confront today, then LinkDoc’s unconventional approach is truly extraordinary.

To promote the development of the big data industry in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, LinkDoc Technology, with the support and guidance of Tianjin Municipality, the Tianjin Binhai New Area, and the Economic-Technological Development Area, spearheaded the establishment of the “Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Health Big Data Industry Promotion Association.” By leveraging a “big data + industrial platform” model, the association brings together more medical institutions, industry regulatory authorities, and enterprises across the upstream and downstream of the medical big data industry chain, jointly accelerating the application and development of medical big data in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and throughout China.

To date, ZeroCrunch has established strategic partnerships with leading CROs such as Tigermed and QuintilesIMS (KunTuo), providing innovative real-world study (RWS) solutions, healthcare market insights, precision patient recruitment, and patient management services to top-tier domestic and global pharmaceutical companies, including Qilu Pharmaceutical, Livzon Pharmaceutical, Shenyang Sunshine Guojian Pharmaceutical, Guizhou Yibai Pharmaceutical, Roche, AstraZeneca, Novartis, and Johnson & Johnson. By leveraging data flows and scalable services, ZeroCrunch has reduced clinical trial costs by 30%, thereby accelerating new drug development and better supporting pharmaceutical companies in conducting post-marketing consistency and safety evaluations.

According to media reports, LinkDoc Technology has completed its Series D financing in the first half of the year, raising RMB 1 billion. This milestone makes it the first unicorn company in the fields of medical big data and artificial intelligence. Sources close to the matter revealed that Index Capital served as the financial advisor for this round, while China Investment Corporation (CIC)—one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds approved by the State Council—was a key investor.

The backing of state-owned capital not only signifies the nation’s attention to the field of medical big data, but also embodies the national will to support Chinese medical big data and artificial intelligence enterprises in seizing a global leadership position in the medical data industry through independent innovation in the era of big data.

Over the past four years since its inception, LinkDoc Technology has forged a path that integrates corporate development into national strategic priorities, redefining innovation in the era of China’s Medical Big Data 2.0. It has pioneered a multidimensional approach by establishing data as the foundational infrastructure for a new medical ecosystem, thereby driving transformation in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries. Moreover, it has embarked on a mission akin to that of a “benevolent healer,” ensuring that all Chinese patients have access to affordable and precise medical services.

Chinese innovation, Chinese capital, Chinese teams, Chinese enterprises—on the globalized track of the healthcare industry, LinkDoc Technology has created a “Chinese model.”

However, this is undoubtedly a demanding and exceptional endeavor, in which LinkCare Technology remains steadfastly committed...