Yinglianwang Secures Tens of Millions in Series A Funding to Build China's Largest Medical Imaging Cloud Platform

Recently, VCBeat learned that Yinglianwang (Anhui Yinglian Lejin Information Technology Co., Ltd.) announced the completion of its Series A financing round, amounting to tens of millions of RMB. The round was led by iFlytek, with Chongshan Capital participating as a co-investor. The funds will primarily be used to build the Anhui Provincial Medical Imaging Cloud Platform and to advance research and development in intelligent diagnostic technologies for medical imaging.

Prior to this round of financing, Yinglianwang had secured angel investment from Chongshan Capital and Pre-A round funding from Anhui Lejin Health. The company has experienced rapid growth since its establishment two years ago.

The head of Yinglianwang stated that the company’s ability to gain capital recognition is primarily attributable to the openness and support of national policies, which have optimized the allocation of medical resources, addressed critical pain points in healthcare reform, and resolved the difficulties faced by grassroots populations in accessing medical care. In the field of medical imaging, top-tier medical imaging professionals are concentrated in provincial and municipal Grade 3A hospitals, while hospitals at the county level and below generally lack professional diagnostic imaging personnel.

To this end, the Anhui Provincial Health and Family Planning Commission took the lead in China by launching the construction of a medical imaging cloud platform in 2015. This initiative aimed to achieve interconnectivity and mutual recognition of medical imaging data and examination results across the province, provide remote imaging diagnostic services via the cloud platform, and address the low level of imaging diagnosis capabilities in primary healthcare institutions. Under the leadership of the Anhui Provincial Health and Family Planning Commission, a model featuring “government leadership, participation by enterprises and experts, and market-oriented operations” was pioneered. A collaborative framework was established under the unified leadership of the Information Center of the Anhui Provincial Health and Family Planning Commission, with participation from Shanghai United Imaging Healthcare, China Telecom, and the Anhui Medical Imaging Consortium (Yinglian Network) in the development of the imaging cloud platform.

In just two years, the Anhui Provincial Imaging Consultation Platform has connected nearly 800 hospitals across the province, including 4 provincial-level hospitals, 7 municipal-level hospitals, 97 county/district-level hospitals, and nearly 700 township or community hospitals. Covering the entire Anhui Province, the platform has accumulated nearly 1.3 million uploaded imaging cases and conducted 140,000 consultations.

As part of the comprehensive promotion of county-level medical community reforms in Anhui Province, Yinglianwang has played a leading role in the construction of county-level imaging diagnostic centers.

For instance, as the lead institution of the medical consortium, Taihu County People’s Hospital has actively liaised with experts from the Second Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University and the Provincial Radiology Society. Leveraging the Department of Radiology at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University as technical support, it established a Taihu County Medical Imaging Consultation Team. Furthermore, using the Imaging Network as a platform, it set up the Taihu County Imaging Diagnosis Center to provide centralized interpretation of imaging examinations conducted at grassroots township health centers, thereby achieving interconnectivity and data sharing of imaging examination information. Since the implementation of this networked system, over 40,000 remote diagnoses have been performed for township health centers across the county, yielding favorable outcomes and earning full recognition from both patients and radiologists at primary care facilities.

The construction of the Anhui Provincial Medical Imaging Cloud Platform is a complex systemic project that requires the participation of relevant stakeholders and strong support from health administrative authorities at all levels. To date, significant progress has been achieved. Future efforts will focus primarily on streamlining the operational mechanisms of this pilot project to ensure its long-term sustainability and growth, aiming to establish it as a national model for healthcare informatization in China.

Regarding this round of financing, iFlytek believes that ShadowLink possesses vast data resources and a team of imaging experts. The two parties will engage in deep cooperation to advance the clinical application of AI in medical imaging. Meanwhile, iFlytek will provide additional resources to help promote ShadowLink’s expansion across China.

Dr. Lu Dongcheng, Founding Executive Partner of Chongshan Capital, believes that Anhui Province’s Imaging Cloud Platform is the largest and most densely deployed imaging cloud platform in China. It represents a concrete practice integrating national healthcare reform policies with market-oriented mechanisms, addresses specific challenges within medical consortia and telemedicine, and possesses immense market vitality.

About Chongshan Capital

New Vision Ventures is an investment firm focused on the healthcare sector, with a fund management team composed of seasoned industry professionals possessing strong capabilities in resource integration and post-investment management. The New Vision Healthcare Fund, a RMB-denominated fund under New Vision Ventures, specializes in investing in healthcare projects. It is dedicated to identifying and nurturing China’s most outstanding and high-growth healthcare entrepreneurial teams and enterprises, driving the development and transformation of the healthcare industry through an “industry + capital” model.