Firestone Creation Secures RMB 30 Million in Pre-A Funding to Advance Its Intelligent Medical and Health Big Data Platform
October 27,Hangzhou Firetone Technology Co., Ltd. (“Firetone”), an intelligent big data service platform for healthcare, announced the successful completion of its Pre-A financing round of approximately RMB 30 million., led by Huagai Capital, with participation from Shulan Healthcare and Hangzhou Wangmei Investment. The funds raised in this round will be primarily used for building data networks, refining products, and further expanding market presence.
Firetone was established in August 2015. Its team comprises senior executives from well-known Chinese listed companies, as well as big data and artificial intelligence scientists from Silicon Valley and Seattle. Holding multiple national invention patents, Firetone leverages AI and big data technologies to build HSMAP, a global map of innovation and entrepreneurship in the medical and health industry. Through its independently developed Spider intelligent data source construction system and Darwin data intelligence processing engine, Firetone has established a data cooperation and exchange mechanism covering six dimensions, integrating 607 official global data sources and 100,000 data collection points, along with a data acquisition framework and mechanism based on major global search engines.
Currently, HSMAP hosts over 2.29 million startups, more than 60,000 research institutions, over 50,000 investment firms, 14 million+ patents, 2.3 million+ products, 10 million+ entrepreneurs, 220,000+ clinical trials, and 20 million+ literature records, establishing itself as the world’s first intelligent big data service platform for healthcare and medicine.
Driven by accelerating urbanization, population aging, the post-two-child-policy baby boom, and environmental changes, both healthcare demand and costs are rising sharply. According to the Outline of the “Healthy China 2030” Plan issued by the State Council on October 25, 2016, the total scale of the health service industry is projected to reach RMB 16 trillion by 2030, ushering in unprecedented development opportunities for China’s life and health industry.
Meanwhile, China’s healthcare industry is undergoing a transformation from imitation and incremental innovation to source innovation. This shift is creating new opportunities in fields such as genomics, metabolomics, big data, and artificial intelligence. Furthermore, China’s capital markets require global strategic deployment, while companies worldwide need access to the Chinese market.
“Enterprise scales will continue to shrink, and deep collaboration will become the mainstream model for innovation and entrepreneurship in the future of the big health industry,” said Yang Hongfei, Founder and CEO of Firetone. Firetone is building a collaborative innovation and entrepreneurship platform that enables precise matching, integration, and transaction of key elements and resources through the platform, thereby lowering the barriers to innovation and entrepreneurship in the big health industry and allowing more people to participate in it.
Faced with the vast market size and innovation opportunities in the health industry, big data and artificial intelligence will become essential core capabilities that every organization in the health industry must possess.
The health and wellness industry is a technology-intensive sector driven by innovation. In an era characterized by globalization, informatization, and capitalization, any country or region seeking to promote the development of emerging industries or key sectors must possess a comprehensive understanding of both internal and external dynamics, enable rapid information iteration and updates, and effectively upgrade and leverage advanced tools such as big data and artificial intelligence.
So, how does Firetone deliver big data and artificial intelligence capabilities to institutions and organizations across various sectors of the broader healthcare industry?
It is reported that Firetone has established a database encompassing six dimensions—corporate data, regulatory data, innovation data, news/consulting/social media, medical data, and market data—through its independently developed Spider Intelligent Data Source Construction System and Darwin Intelligent Data Processing Engine, thereby building a data supply chain for the life and health industry.
In terms of products, leveraging the foundational platform built with artificial intelligence and big data technologies—the Global Healthcare Industry Innovation and Entrepreneurship Map (HSMAP)—we have established a Regional Big Health Industry Map, a Big Data Intelligence System for Healthcare Enterprises, and an Enterprise AI Center. These tools help governments comprehensively showcase regional achievements in the big health industry and facilitate precise investment attraction; they also enable healthcare enterprises to obtain R&D and market intelligence, thereby achieving precise R&D, targeted marketing, and strategic decision-making.
In terms of the digital command system, implement precise positioning for industrial layout.Aimed at helping governments at all levels map out industrial chains, achieve precise positioning, formulate more scientific industrial development plans, and conduct targeted investment promotion and talent acquisition based on these plans, ultimately realizing the “healthy” development of the big health industry.
Since its official commercial launch in May this year, the company has completed deliveries to its first batch of customers, including those in Changping District, Beijing, and Xuhui District, Shanghai.
Zhejiang Province Big Health Industry Map
Yang Hongfei, Founder and CEO of Firetone, stated, “The Regional Big Health Industry Map serves as a digital command system for local governments to develop the big health industry. It provides data support to help local governments accurately position their industrial development directions, avoid homogenization, foster an ecosystem of coordinated inter-city development, and thereby enhance the overall competitiveness of the region.”
Empowering enterprises with big data and artificial intelligence.Firetone Enterprise AI Center builds on business data flows, leveraging data acquisition, processing, and storage via a big data platform to generate structured, reliable data. By employing machine learning algorithms and data visualization technologies, it supports intelligent analysis of business data and facilitates precise business decision-making.
Meets the needs of healthcare enterprises for data-driven decision-making in scenarios such as R&D, marketing/sales, and strategic planning, enabling efficient processing of large-scale data. By leveraging big data and artificial intelligence algorithms, it supports business operations and precise decision-making, helping companies optimize their business processes, products, and services.
The SaaS deployment model adopted by the Firetone Enterprise AI Center offers greater flexibility. Its products are developed in a modular manner based on data center architecture, enabling enterprises to incur zero upfront infrastructure costs and achieve immediate service availability upon activation. As one of its core features, the Enterprise Intelligence System provides capabilities such as tracking technological trends, forecasting technical directions, monitoring market sentiment and competitor status, and supporting strategic formulation and adjustment. The system has already completed delivery to its first batch of clients.
Yang Hongfei stated that Firetone’s product lines will gradually evolve toward data platformization, technologization of products, and product integration.
Regarding the development strategy for the next three years following this round of financing, Jin Xia, Founder and Chairman of Firetone, stated that Firetone will leverage its core product, the Regional Big Health Industry Map, to establish collaborations with local governments. On one hand, it aims to become a strategic partner relied upon by governments for the development of the big health industry, thereby achieving revenue targets in the first phase. On the other hand, it seeks to strategically form a tiered data collection network for regional big health industry data, enabling the system to generate a continuous stream of data and continually refine industrial data assets.
By leveraging its enterprise big data intelligence system products, along with subsequent AI center products and services, Firetone infuses big data and artificial intelligence technologies into large health enterprises, thereby establishing their technological and data dependency on Firetone.
Through the development of various business operations, a collaborative network and data platform for the life and health industry will ultimately be established. This platform enables precise multi-sided integration and collaboration within the industry, serving functions such as information dissemination, connectivity, resource integration, and intermediary credit services.
Jin Xia stated that the path of Firetone’s platform-based development moves from information to data, from data to resources, and from resources to transactions. After enhancing its data services, Firetone will further link and integrate resources from various parties to achieve precise, data-driven matching. Achieving this requires not only advanced technological capabilities and a comprehensive, real-time online database, but also strong operational expertise. Firetone will continue to increase its investment in research and development to forge its core competitiveness.
“Build a global industrial data engine to accelerate collaborative industry development.” This is Firetone’s long-term vision. We remain committed to our mission of “accelerating innovation and entrepreneurship in healthcare, so that everyone can enjoy a healthy life.”
According to Xu Xiaolin, Founding Partner of Huagai Capital, there are three reasons for choosing Firetone:
First, this decision was made by Huagai Capital after prolonged observation. Since Firetone’s first product launch, Huagai has been closely monitoring the company and noted that, through nearly two years of exploration, Firetone successfully identified an entry point for big data in the healthcare industry. By leveraging regional industrial maps, the company accelerated its operations and laid a solid foundation for the further commercialization of its data assets.
Second, industrial parks across various regions are transitioning toward high-tech industries in response to policy directives, with the healthcare sector being a top priority. Unlike other sectors, healthcare is subject to the most regulatory oversight, has the longest development cycles, and imposes extremely stringent data requirements. Without a robust park management data system, it is difficult to provide further value-added services and guidance to enterprises. Currently, there are no other companies in China specializing in healthcare industry mapping. Firetone has established a first-mover advantage in this field and has implemented a series of demonstration projects, fully validating the feasibility of this innovative business model.
Third, as an investment firm specializing in the healthcare sector, Huagai Medical enables deep synergy with Firetone.
In fact, what truly attracted Xu Xiaolin was the team at Firetone.“Through our long-term engagement, we have come to recognize the strong capabilities of the Firetone project team. The founder has many years of experience in the healthcare and data industries, along with a successful track record of entrepreneurial exits. The team members are young and dynamic, with most being graduates from prestigious universities and having returned from overseas. They possess an international perspective and solid technical expertise, all of which are indispensable elements for the project’s success.”
Currently, industrial parks across various regions are gradually transitioning toward high-tech industries under policy guidance. As a key sector receiving substantial government support, the medical and healthcare industry is characterized by the most stringent regulatory oversight, the longest development cycles, and exceptionally high data requirements. Without a robust park management data system, it is difficult to provide enterprises with further value-added services and strategic guidance. At present, there are no other companies in China specializing in medical and healthcare industry mapping. Firetone has already established a first-mover advantage in this field and has implemented a series of demonstrative projects, fully validating the feasibility of this innovative business model.
Xu Xiaolin believes that big data is much like cooking: it all comes down to the freshness of the ingredients and the chef’s culinary skills. Firetone has effectively addressed both aspects. On one hand, leveraging its first-mover advantage in industry mapping and collaborating with industrial parks and regulatory authorities across various regions, it secures access to first-hand, fresh data. On the other hand, it has meticulously refined its algorithms and maintained thorough communication with downstream clients—such as government bodies, investment institutions, and startups—to deliver data reports and interfaces that best meet user needs. By serving up a well-prepared “dish,” big data can help governments conduct precise investment promotion, assist investors in evaluating industries and companies, and enable enterprises to stay abreast of the latest industry developments, thereby facilitating a more efficient allocation of social resources.
Zheng Jie, President of Shulan Healthcare Group, stated that the Shulan Technology Fund, which participated in this investment, is an early-stage venture capital fund under the Shulan Healthcare Group specifically focused on the broad life sciences sector. Both Shulan and Firetone share a similar understanding of the evolution of the technological landscape in life sciences and the trends toward the industrialization of life science technologies, and they are uniformly optimistic about these developments. Furthermore, as members of the OMAHA Open Medical and Health Alliance, both parties will join hands with other alliance members to actively promote data openness and sharing in the field of healthcare big data, thereby providing services related to the life science technology industry and medical big data to government entities and healthcare enterprises.
The founding shareholders include Liao Jieyuan, Founder and Chairman of WeDoctor Group, and Ren Jinsheng, Chairman of Simcere Pharmaceutical.