Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan Visits WeDoctor HQ, Voices Strong Support for Its Hong Kong Listing and Expansion

VCBeat learned that Paul Chan Mo-po, Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and his delegation made a special trip to Hangzhou on May 15 to visit WeDoctor’s headquarters located at the Hangzhou Bay Information Port.

Amid China’s rapid advancement of the “Internet + Healthcare” initiative and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government’s full-scale development of financial and technological innovation, Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Paul Chan Mo-po and his delegation paid close attention to the development of mainland China’s healthcare technology unicorns as well as enterprises in the biopharmaceutical technology and artificial intelligence sectors.

One week ago, WeDoctor, a healthcare technology platform based in Hangzhou, announced the completion of a new round of strategic financing, securing $500 million led by industry-leading institutions such as AIA Insurance and NWS Holdings. The company will continue to strengthen its development of a novel HMO model and the WeDoctor Cloud infrastructure. As an internationally leading healthcare technology platform, WeDoctor is now valued at $5.5 billion, joining Alibaba-affiliated companies Ant Financial and Alibaba Cloud as part of Hangzhou’s top-tier unicorn enterprises.

Secretary Paul Chan and his delegation paid close attention to the development of WeDoctor over the past eight years. Liao Jieyuan, founder of WeDoctor, introduced that starting from Guahao.com, WeDoctor has integrated with the systems of more than 2,700 hospitals, moved the consulting rooms of 220,000 doctors online by developing internet hospitals, built a five-tier hierarchical diagnosis and treatment platform for the government, and established offline general practice centers while developing an HMO model. Over eight years, WeDoctor has established a “online + offline, general practice + specialty” medical resource supply system serving 110 million real-name users, with cumulative service volume exceeding 870 million visits.

By connecting hospitals, serving the government and the industry, WeDoctor has accumulated deep health and medical big data resources and service capabilities, forming the “WeDoctor Cloud” business, which has become an intelligent medical cloud platform serving the industry. Liao Jieyuan introduced that, relying on WeDoctor’s accumulation and connectivity in technology, data, and scenarios, it provides dozens of cloud-based solutions for various users including governments, hospitals, primary healthcare institutions, and enterprises. Furthermore, building upon this cloud infrastructure, it has developed the Ruiyi Intelligent Doctor and Huatuo Intelligent Doctor, AI-assisted diagnostic and treatment systems integrating traditional Chinese and Western medicine.

On that day, WeDoctor completed its D+ round of financing in CENTRILLION TECHNOLOGY HOLDINGS CORP. (Shengjie Technology), a global leader in biochips and sequencers, and signed a strategic cooperation agreement. The two parties will jointly invest in establishing a joint venture in China to provide the most advanced gene chips and testing services to Chinese citizens. Liao Jieyuan introduced that this is an important part of WeDoctor's industrial chain layout. In recent years, WeDoctor has made in-depth layouts in the upstream and downstream industries such as medical education, medical services, artificial intelligence, new drug research and development, pharmaceutical circulation, and medical devices.

Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Mr. Christopher Chan, expressed appreciation for WeDoctor’s efforts in connecting healthcare supply resources, enhancing industry efficiency, and driving innovation in intelligent healthcare. He stated, “WeDoctor’s innovative practices in fields such as biotechnology and artificial intelligence align precisely with our key development priorities, which is highly encouraging. We welcome WeDoctor’s listing in Hong Kong and hope that it will serve as a role model, thereby attracting more innovative enterprises to Hong Kong and enhancing the profile of Hong Kong’s listing platform.”

Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Paul Chan Mo-po introduced that Hong Kong is developing supportive policies to facilitate the establishment of innovative enterprises and talent, expressing hope that WeDoctor will implement its industrial chain layout in the region. Chen Hongzhe, Chief Strategy Officer of WeDoctor, stated that as an international financial center and innovation hub, Hong Kong offers unique advantages for developing its healthcare services market. WeDoctor is actively considering investments in leading local health-tech and service companies. Meanwhile, the company is advancing the establishment in Hong Kong of an Asia-leading innovation laboratory for new assisted reproductive technologies, as well as the development of a medical consortium within the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and overseas medical referral centers. It will also ramp up R&D in medical artificial intelligence in Hong Kong, contributing to the city’s emergence as a globally leading hub for healthcare innovation and services.

The delegation also visited the Hangzhou Bay Information Port, where WeDoctor is headquartered, and the Hua Tuo Health Town. They were accompanied by Tang Chung-man, Director of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government Office in Shanghai; Choi Kwan-keung, Political Assistant to the Financial Secretary; and Ho Tsui-ping, Political Assistant. Also participating in the visit were Ruan Jie, Division Chief of the Zhejiang Provincial Office for Hong Kong and Macao Affairs; Ye Jianhong, Member of the Standing Committee of the Xiaoshan District Committee of the Communist Party of China, Secretary of the Party Working Committee of the Development Zone, and Director of the Administrative Committee; Tu Jinming, Member of the Party Working Committee and Deputy Director of the Administrative Committee of the Development Zone; and Han Menglong, Director of the Hangzhou Bay Information Port.