Karrytech Secures Major Contracts with Real Estate Giants Like Evergrande, Country Garden, and Wanda Amid IPO Filing

On February 28, 2018, the “Boao Evergrande International Hospital,” jointly established by Evergrande Health Group and Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) in the United States, officially opened. Boao Evergrande International Hospital is the first and only overseas affiliate hospital of Brigham and Women’s Hospital. It has been developed in strict accordance with BWH’s high-standard technical specifications and is fully aligned with BWH across management, clinical care, operations, and rehabilitation systems. The hospital aims to become a world-class specialty oncology institution, enabling patients to access top-tier U.S. medical services without leaving the country.

Meanwhile, another real estate giant, Country Garden, has jointly developed an integrated medical and elderly care project with CP Senior Living—“CP Senior Living · Huidong Shili Yintan.” It is scheduled to officially open in April this year. The project covers a total area of 22,000 square meters and offers 565 beds. It features a medical hall, cafeteria, nursing home, and senior living apartments. Every unit boasts scenic views, while the broader Country Garden Shili Yintan development provides comprehensive transportation access, a pleasant environment, sea views, and complete supporting facilities.

The same company is actively involved in both of these projects—Kangbojia Information Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd., the company provided comprehensive information technology solutions for these two projects.

The array of high-end amenities inevitably means that real estate giants impose extremely stringent requirements on informatization. Although Kangbojia has earned their favor, its CEO, Zu Kai, rarely appears in the media to promote his strategic approach. Typically low-profile, he made a rare exception by opening up during an interview with VCBeat.

“We have extensive experience in operating international projects, such as those with Shanghai DeltaHealth Group, Concord Medical Group, American-Sino Women’s and Children’s Hospital Group, and Columbia Healthcare Group. Coupled with our Singaporean investment background, ‘international DNA’ and ‘localized implementation’ have become the key keywords for Kangbojia,” introduced Zu Kai. The project starting points of real estate giants are generally high: Evergrande partnered with Harvard University in the United States, Country Garden collaborated with CP Senior Living, a leader in U.S. healthcare and elderly care, and Wanda Group worked with IHG from the United Kingdom. This determines that internationalization is a rigid demand for these projects. Their informatization requirements mainly include two aspects:1. Linguistic internationalization; 2. Process internationalization。

Medical projects undertaken by real estate giants often involve extensive international collaboration, with foreign specialist physicians and management experts participating in the daily clinical and administrative operations of healthcare institutions. Therefore, linguistic internationalization of software products is fundamental to such collaborations; however, many domestic health IT companies in China are still unable to meet this requirement.

As the carrier of hospital management philosophy, information technology software plays a pivotal role in internationally oriented hospitals, whose processes adhere to the Joint Commission International (JCI) accreditation standards. Among the more than 200 indicators assessed under the JCI framework, over 80 require support from information systems. Therefore, a robust IT system is crucial for the successful implementation of JCI standards within hospitals. “Most of Kangbojia’s clients have successfully obtained JCI accreditation, which also reflects our internationalization,” said Zu Kai.

On top of addressing internationalization challenges, these hospitals also face issues related to local healthcare industry regulations and the localization of medical staff. This places substantial demands on systems for localized development and services. According to Zu Kai, since Kangbojia entered the Chinese market in 2005, it has spent 13 years striking a balance between internationalization and localization, building a local team of nearly 200 people. This path is believed to be inevitable for any international software vendor newly entering China.

To explain why Kangbojia Jiading is positioned as a high-end private medical institution, Zu Kai believes it is necessary to clarify one point: the so-called "high-end" should includeThe "Four Highs"：

First is “high” medical quality, which is the “root” of high-end healthcare.No matter how excellent the service may be, it holds no meaning for patients if medical quality cannot be guaranteed. High-quality medical care entails highly skilled specialists and internationally recognized high standards, which serve as the fundamental safeguards of medical quality.

Next is "high" service efficiency, which is the "core" of high-end healthcare.The most typical issue in public hospitals is the “three long waits and one short consultation.” As a high-end private medical institution, it is essential to improve efficiency across all healthcare processes, truly achieve patient-centricity in process design, monitor every step of the patient journey, and intervene promptly when alerts are triggered—addressing issues proactively rather than merely “fighting fires” after problems arise.

Third is the “high” medical experience, which is the “branch” of high-end healthcare.A positive healthcare experience is not merely about state-of-the-art facilities; more importantly, healthcare institutions must “understand” their patients, sparing them from repeating the same information across different departments and ensuring that all services are delivered proactively.

Finally, there is the “high” fee structure, which represents the “foliage” of high-end healthcare.High fees are a natural manifestation of the aforementioned “three highs.” Without the foundation of these “three highs,” high fees alone would indicate that such medical institutions are engaging in overtreatment and lack sustainable development potential.

In summary,“Only with strong roots can the trunk grow sturdy; only with lush branches can the leaves flourish.”。

Compared with high-end features, the demand differences between private and public medical institutions are more direct.

“Information management software serves as the central nervous system of hospital administration. In China, major health IT vendors primarily focus their businesses on large public hospitals. Since public hospitals, especially tertiary ones, never suffer from a shortage of patients, their system designs often pay limited attention to patient experience. In contrast, private healthcare institutions have faced shortages of patients, brand recognition, and renowned physicians since their inception. Consequently, they must optimize medical workflows and enhance patient experience, strictly uphold medical quality, and boost word-of-mouth referrals. This reality dictates that high-end private healthcare institutions have more specialized requirements for information technology,” said Zu Kai.

In comparison, high-end private hospitals place greater emphasis on the patient experience throughout the entire care journey, reflecting a patient-centered approach to medical processes and operations.

Zu Kai believes that the second difference between the two lies in the fact that public hospitals do not place excessive emphasis on business management, prioritizing instead their public welfare nature and compliance with medical insurance policies. In contrast, private hospitals are for-profit institutions; therefore, they tend to focus more on operational management than public hospitals do. Private hospitals face different operational challenges at various stages of development. In the early stage, systems need to better support market-driven operational activities, such as service packages, discounts, membership programs, and loyalty points. In the later stage, systems should provide data analysis and benchmarking capabilities to facilitate group-based operations.

This divergence in operational philosophy is also reflected in branding. Public hospitals have long enjoyed established reputations, whereas private hospitals must build their brand value independently, relying heavily on patient word-of-mouth. Consequently, private hospitals invest significant effort in cultivating patient referrals by delivering high-quality services to enhance patient stickiness and satisfaction, thereby strengthening their brand equity.

Why Has the Company Chosen to Position Itself as a High-End Private Medical Institution? According to Zu Kai, This Depends on Two Aspects:

First, it is determined by Kangbojia’s own DNA. Kangbojia has investment and product backgrounds from Singapore. Singapore places greater emphasis on medical processes and patient experience. This inherent characteristic shapes the product design philosophy, resulting in Kangbojia’s strengths not addressing the pain points of public hospitals in China, thereby limiting its competitiveness in the market.

“Kangbojia is a technology- and service-driven company, rather than one driven by relationships. Our company has only two sales personnel; the rest are development and technical staff. Product sales rely entirely on new store openings by our existing chain clients and word-of-mouth referrals,” said Zu Kai.

Compared with public hospitals, administrators of high-end private hospitals place greater emphasis on service, products, and reputation. Their criteria for value assessment align precisely with Kangbojia’s product philosophy. It is these two factors that determine Kangbojia’s customer base and market positioning.

Zu Kai has categorized more than 15,000 private hospitals across China into a pyramid structure. The base layer consists of approximately 10,000 “Putian-system” private hospitals. The middle layer comprises around 4,000 to 5,000 private hospitals established by social capital from sectors such as real estate, medical devices, and pharmaceuticals, which primarily operate under the national medical insurance system. The apex layer includes roughly 500 hospitals invested in by foreign institutions, central state-owned enterprises, listed companies, real estate giants, and large funds.

Kangbojia currently positions its primary market among top-tier clients, including over 100 hospitals such as New Century Healthcare Network, C-MER Medical Holdings Group, Delta Health Group, Columbia China Healthcare Group, Sino-American United Family Healthcare, CITIC Medical Industry Fund, and Aier Eye Hospital. Meanwhile, it also serves as the strategic partner for medical informatization to real estate giants like Evergrande, Country Garden, Wanda Group, and Taihe Group.

This segment represents Kangbojia’s traditional core strength, referred to by Zu Kai as the “Army,” which has enabled the company to capture significant market share in the IT solutions sector for private high-end medical institutions, achieving an annual growth rate of approximately 50%.

On the other hand, the company has begun to assemble its “Air Force” team to provide a fully SaaS-based “Cloud Clinic System” targeting another business model within private healthcare institutions: chain clinics. Currently, hundreds of well-known high-end chain clinics, including the Zhang Qiang Doctor Group, Little Apple Doctor Group, Bodijia United Doctor Group, and Dingding Pediatrics Group, have joined the “Kangbojia Air Force.”

Whether serving the “Army” or the “Air Force,” there are commonalities and complementarities in the target populations, service standards, and service content. These can be integrated in the future to establish a shared platform for medical resources, service capabilities, and information data.

Based on an interview with Zu Kai, CEO of Kangbojia, VCBeat has summarized the informatization landscape of high-end private medical institutions in China: From a market perspective, it is a market driven by products, services, and reputation. In terms of demand, their core needs include patient-centered medical workflows and operations, as well as comprehensive brand communication and operational management.Only by possessing both international and localized service capabilities can one hope to stand out in this field.