Dr. Brain by Shanghai Yiview Medical Secures Tens of Millions in Pre-A Funding to Accelerate Commercialization

VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) has learned that in May 2018, Shanghai Yiwei Medical Technology Co., Ltd.—Dr. Brain—successfully completed its Pre-A round of financing.Secured an exclusive investment of tens of millions of yuan from Haifangzhou Fund, under Haier Capital. Previously, Dr. Brain had received angel-round funding led by DaoTong Investment, with participation from Aier Capital and Shanghai Shengxi. Qitian Chuangfu served as the exclusive financial advisor for this round of financing.。

Dr. Brain, established in April 2017 and co-founded by Dr. Wang Silun, a Chinese-American expert in neuroimaging, and Mr. Lin Zhaohan, who has a background in finance, is an intelligent diagnostic platform that leverages a database of Chinese brain models, combined with core technologies such as cloud computing and artificial intelligence, to provide precise assessment of central nervous system lesions.

Dr. Wang Silun, Founder and CEO of Dr. Brain, stated“Dr. Brain will make full use of the funds raised in this round to consolidate its existing foundation, raise technical barriers, accelerate its nationwide layout, obtain CFDA approval as soon as possible, and initiate the commercialization process ahead of schedule by the end of 2018.”

Zhang Miao, Managing Director of Haier Capital and Managing Partner of Haicube ArkHaier Capital has consistently focused on the application of artificial intelligence across various scenarios. Medical AI holds significant clinical practical value within the healthcare industry, greatly enhancing the efficiency of medical services and alleviating the imbalance between supply and demand. We are optimistic about Dr. Brain’s leading position in the niche field of brain medical imaging. Furthermore, its management team’s profound understanding of the current state and actual needs of the healthcare industry will facilitate the commercialization of its products and services. We will leverage Haier’s resources in the medical service sector to support Dr. Brain’s rapid growth, creating a better healthy home life for users.

Sun Qi, Founding Managing Partner of Daotong Investment, statedThere is a vast market for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, for which there are currently no particularly effective intervention or treatment options. The Dr. Brain AI-assisted diagnostic system can detect changes in patients’ brain structure earlier and more accurately than traditional methods, thereby enabling earlier disease detection, timely lifestyle interventions, and improved quality of life for patients.

Dr. Brain’s founder, Wang Silun, has long been engaged in research in this field, having published numerous influential papers and undertaken multiple research projects funded by institutions such as the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Commission. We are pleased to see that, through the joint efforts of the team, the company has made significant progress over the past year in various areas, including product development and commercial strategy. With the support of Haier Capital, we believe Dr. Brain will achieve even more breakthroughs in the future.

Le Yuan, Investment Banking Manager for the Healthcare Sector at Qitian Chuangfu, stated, Dr. Brain’s team holds clear technological advantages, but the market for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease still requires cultivation in China. At this juncture, partnering with an industrial capital investor like Haier will play a significant role in its development.

InIn terms of R&DDr. Brain has independently established China’s first database of brain models for the Chinese population. Since the launch of the Dr. Brain Cloud Platform in July 2017, it has accumulated tens of thousands of cases of high-quality, standardized data within less than a year. The analysis and diagnostic reports generated by the system enable comprehensive and precise assessment of patients’ brain structures. Meanwhile, leveraging its strong innovation and R&D capabilities, the Dr. Brain team has deeply engaged in neuroscience, the pinnacle of medical artificial intelligence. The AI algorithms developed by the team have achieved accuracy rates exceeding 85% for Alzheimer’s disease (AD), over 80% for mild cognitive impairment (MCI), above 85% for Parkinson’s disease (PD), and more than 87% for pediatric autism. All these R&D achievements are original and have entered the patent application stage.

Dr. Brain Establishes Dr. Brain Workstations in Multiple Top-Tier (Grade 3A) Hospitals Across China

Business ExpansionAs of early 2018, Dr. Brain had successfully signed cooperation agreements with more than 40 Grade A tertiary hospitals and reached cooperation intentions with hundreds of hospitals, imaging centers, health examination institutions, and rehabilitation centers. Dr. Brain workstations have been established at top-tier domestic hospitals such as Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Xiangya Hospital of Central South University in Hunan, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, and Tianjin Huanhu Hospital. Furthermore, the joint research project with Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University has been selected for the 2018 National Key R&D Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China.

Dr. Wang Silun stated, “The greatest differentiation of Dr. Brain in market expansion lies in leveraging its professional expertise to focus intensively on clinical departments, as clinicians are best positioned to understand clinical needs. This strategy also allows us to avoid the intense competition with various AI companies crowded in radiology departments, thereby enabling our rapid expansion.”

Team BuildingDr. Brain has also rapidly assembled an elite team with multidisciplinary backgrounds. Dr. Wang Silun, the founder of Dr. Brain, holds a Ph.D. from the University of Hong Kong and completed his postdoctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins University, with nearly 20 years of experience in neurological research. Co-founder Mr. Lin Zhaohan has previously served as Investment Director at top global consulting firms and listed companies. Leveraging his extensive resources, he quickly built a specialized, multidisciplinary team comprising medical experts from China and the United States, imaging technology specialists, AI algorithm researchers, big data analysts, and high-performance cloud computing experts. Dr. Brain has established R&D centers in Atlanta, USA, and Shenzhen, China, and has set up business development teams in Beijing, Changsha, and Shenzhen to cover the northern, central, and southern markets of China.

Proprietary and Pioneering Standardized Brain Imaging Database for the Chinese Population Across All Age Groups

Dr. Brain System has independently established a neuroimaging database for the Chinese population by collecting large-scale brain MRI data, enabling precise detection and evaluation of morphological data for each subject. Through collaborations with multiple top-tier hospitals in China, it has acquired tens of thousands of high-quality standard medical imaging cases. Dr. Brain strictly controls all enrolled data, ensuring the entire collection process adheres to international standards and includes essential de-identified clinical information, thereby facilitating multimodal artificial intelligence analysis.

Industry Barriers – Precision Data Analysis Algorithms

Dr. Brain’s self-developed cortical analysis software accurately parcellates the brain into anatomical regions. By employing advanced vector computation methods to analyze cortical thickness, it represents the most precise quantitative measurement of the cerebral cortex available worldwide. Comparing patient data with a standard database yields comprehensive whole-brain cortical metrics, effectively assisting clinicians in diagnosis. The computational workflow and core algorithms of the Dr. Brain system are globally recognized as the most accurate methods for evaluating brain structural indices. Its AI-based assessment and diagnostic methodology, pioneered by the research team, holds a leading position in China. Currently, the accuracy of its Alzheimer’s disease (AD) algorithm has exceeded 85%. Dr. Brain continues to explore the application of state-of-the-art algorithms in medical image analysis, committed to continuously improving accuracy.

Multi-Disease R&D Expansion Capabilities

In 2017, Dr. Brain successfully launched cloud-based diagnostic platforms for three neurodegenerative diseases: Alzheimer’s disease (AD), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and Parkinson’s disease. The company began collaborating with China’s most renowned hospitals to support clinical diagnostics by neurologists and radiologists. In 2018, Dr. Brain expanded its algorithmic research to cover autism, stroke, cerebrovascular diseases, and brain tumors, aiming to increase the number of conditions diagnosable via its cloud platform to more than ten.

Since its inception, Dr. Brain has garnered significant attention and recognition from the industry: At the China-US Health Summit held in September 2017, it won the awards for “2017 China-US Team Most Watched by Investment Banks” and “Second Place in the China-US Entrepreneurship and Innovation Competition.” In the same month, it was honored as one of the top five global AI startup projects at NVIDIA’s GTC AI Startup Competition. In early 2018, its collaborative research project with Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University was selected for the 2018 National Key R&D Program.

Dr. Brain Ranks Among Top 5 Global AI Startup Projects at NVIDIA GTC AI Startup Competition

Looking ahead, Wang Silun stated that Dr. Brain will focus on four key areas: accelerating horizontal expansion across disease indications; completing CFDA certification and approval; developing consumer-facing products to achieve direct engagement with end users; and further strengthening collaborations with institutions such as Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Cleveland Clinic, and Emory University School of Medicine.

About Haier Capital

Haier Capital, established in 2010 as the investment platform under Haier Financial Holdings, engages in venture capital, private equity, industrial M&A, and government-guided funds. With a seasoned professional team, Haier Capital focuses on key sectors including big health, intelligent manufacturing, new energy/new materials, Internet Plus, and large-scale finance. As of the end of 2017, its assets under management exceeded RMB 15 billion.

About Daotong Investment

Daotong Investment is a fund management company specializing in early-stage investments and industrial mergers and acquisitions within the broader healthcare sector. Its investment portfolio spans healthcare services, medical devices and consumables, biotechnology, and healthcare informatics, with particular strength in healthcare services. The core team hails from the healthcare industry, bringing extensive experience in corporate operations, investment, and M&A. Their expertise ranges from incubating early-stage startups to managing publicly listed companies with market capitalizations in the tens of billions. To date, the team’s cumulative investment and M&A transactions have exceeded RMB 20 billion.

Daotong Investment has built a robust investment ecosystem, leveraging its deep industry expertise to excel in value creation and empowerment for its portfolio companies.

About Qitian Chuangfu

Qitian Chuangfu, the exclusive financial advisor for this financing round, was established in 2013. Its business scope covers early-stage investment, financial advisory, financial consulting, talent services, policy support, and tax planning. The firm is committed to helping entrepreneurs address a comprehensive range of challenges encountered throughout their entrepreneurial journey. It focuses on serving the healthcare, enterprise services, consumer, and culture and entertainment sectors.