Aichong Doctor Transforms from Online Triage Platform to Integrated Service Provider for Independent Pet Hospitals, Files IPO Prospectus

From online to offline, spanning from virtual pet consultations to hospital management and supply chain services, “Ai Chong Yi Sheng,” once the largest online pet consultation platform, has now evolved into an integrated service provider for veterinary hospitals.

Currently, Ai Chong Doctor has built an internet-based veterinary medical service platform featuring a “light consultation + cloud system” model. Its product portfolio includes an LBS-based app for free online consultations with veterinarians, a SaaS management system for pet hospitals, a supply chain service platform for pet hospitals, and a financial services platform for the veterinary healthcare industry.

With over 5 million registered pet owners, the platform operates in more than 100 cities and partners with over 5,000 veterinary clinics and 10,000+ veterinarians. By establishing a closed-loop veterinary care ecosystem encompassing “online consultation–offline treatment–post-consultation management,” it has become the leading brand in internet-based veterinary healthcare.

VCBeat conducted an exclusive interview with Ma Qian, founder of AiChong Doctor. He explained why the company has undertaken multiple initiatives this year in supply chain, supply chain finance, and SaaS system management, and how AiChong Doctor is building a “one-stop pet healthcare service platform” by strategically deploying these business units.

Before founding Ai Chong Doctor in 2015, Ma Qian, who was engaged in stray animal rescue in Shanghai, needed to address the following challenge: how to resolve the majority of inquiries from medical institutions and facilitate the connection between pet owners and veterinary clinics through online lightweight consultations, similar to the model of “Spring Rain Doctor,” in the face of countless questions from prospective adopters.

At that time, after establishing “Ai Chong Yi Sheng” (Pet Doctor), Ma Qian positioned it as a lightweight teleconsultation platform for pets. Based on users’ Location-Based Services (LBS), the platform displays nearby veterinary clinics, allowing users to consult online with professional veterinarians to quickly and accurately assess their pets’ health conditions. Additionally, Ai Chong Yi Sheng integrates with veterinary hospitals; if a pet is found to be ill, users can directly contact veterinarians through the platform, search for nearby veterinary hospitals, and view reviews.

“The value of online veterinary consultations has replaced the information-cluttered Baidu, enabling pet owners to make faster and more accurate preliminary assessments of their pets’ health conditions,” said Ma Qian. Considering that veterinarians are part-time consultants and may not always respond promptly, the platform has implemented an intelligent dispatch system on the backend. Orders that remain unanswered for an extended period are automatically reassigned to other veterinarians to ensure that users’ inquiries are addressed within 30 minutes.

However, Ma Qian does not believe that in-person veterinary visits can be replaced or bypassed in the pet healthcare process. In his view, online lightweight consultations ultimately serve merely as a traffic gateway. “We do not even recommend that veterinarians make diagnoses online, as this easily leads to misdiagnosis; online products function essentially as a traffic entry point.”

With over 3,000 partner pet hospitals and a user base of more than 5 million registered pet owners on the consumer side, this traffic platform naturally became the entry point for Ai Chong Yi Sheng (Love Pet Doctor) to expand into offline markets and seek business opportunities. Ma Qian has also stated that Ai Chong Yi Sheng’s mission is “to help pet owners find pet hospitals and veterinarians, while driving customer traffic and revenue growth for pet hospitals.” By achieving revenue generation through online lightweight consultations, Ai Chong Yi Sheng ultimately started from the consumer end (C-end) and targeted business users (B-end).

In June 2016, Aichong Doctor launched a SaaS-based management system and supply platform tailored for veterinary clinics. According to Ma Qian, even small- and medium-sized veterinary clinics typically employ seven to ten staff members, making traditional management methods highly inefficient in such settings.

Within the AiChong Doctor SaaS system, users’ online consultation records are automatically integrated into their cloud-based medical records. Consequently, when these users seek in-person consultations at clinics that utilize the AiChong Doctor SaaS software, their historical medical information can be accessed directly, thereby seamlessly bridging online and offline consultation data.

Ma Qian, CEO of Aichong Yisheng (Pet Doctor), believes that the company’s strategic focus on offline expansion this year is driven by three key factors: First, capital has intensified its investment in veterinary hospitals this year, accelerating mergers and acquisitions among chained pet healthcare providers, thereby weakening the bargaining power of independent clinics. Second, Aichong Yisheng has enhanced its monetization capabilities by effectively directing online traffic to offline services. Third, the company secured three rounds of financing from CICC Capital, Puhua Capital, and Tancer Fund within just two years, providing a solid financial foundation.

In the pet healthcare market, chain hospital brands such as Ruipai and Ruipeng are accelerating mergers and acquisitions with strong capital support, thereby establishing advantages in scale and branding. Meanwhile, single-location pet hospitals are growing at a rate of 25%, matching the national average growth rate for pet hospitals, and continue to hold over 90% of the market share, indicating substantial market potential.

Currently, there are approximately 13,000 pet hospitals in China. Based on the number of pet-owning households and their growth rate, it is projected that the stable number of pet hospitals will reach between 30,000 and 40,000, with small-scale, independent pet hospitals continuing to account for the majority of the market share.

“Even in developed markets such as Europe and the United States, where veterinary care for pets is highly advanced, chain pet hospitals account for only slightly over 30% of the market, with more than 60% remaining independent practices.” According to Ma Qian, CEO of Ai Chong Yi Sheng (Pet Doctor), independent pet hospitals are more numerous, growing at a faster pace, and hold relatively weaker bargaining power across the upstream and downstream segments of the industry chain. Therefore, while capital intensifies its investment in chain pet hospitals, Ai Chong Yi Sheng has focused its services on independent pet hospitals, which offer greater service potential and growth prospects.

The market pain points that Ai Chong Doctor aims to address are clear: standalone veterinary hospitals face significant disadvantages compared to chain veterinary hospitals in areas such as hospital promotion, procurement bargaining power, and access to capital, making it difficult for them to compete effectively.

On the other hand, three rounds of financing over two years have also made it possible for Ai Chong Yi Sheng to strengthen its offline presence.

In June 2017, Ai Chong Yi Sheng completed a Series A financing round worth tens of millions of RMB, led by Tan Zhen Fund and participated in by CICC Capital. In September 2016, the company closed its Pre-A round, led by Puhua Capital, with Ding Yi, Partner at Aiyun Investment, participating. In June 2015, it secured an angel round of several million RMB.

Customer acquisition, hospital management, marketing, pharmaceuticals, and equipment constitute the fundamental operational framework of a veterinary hospital, aside from its medical staff.

Aipet Doctor’s online-to-offline closed-loop model for veterinary care addresses promotional challenges for pet hospitals through lightweight online consultations, standardizes their daily operations via a SaaS system, and reduces procurement costs through a centralized supply chain purchasing platform and supply chain finance solutions.

“Our greatest advantage lies in the organic integration of online and offline services, providing hospitals with a holistic and tightly coordinated service workflow. We focus on addressing the core needs of hospitals, rather than merely resolving isolated pain points,” said Ma Qian.

On the SaaS platform built by Ai Chong Doctor for veterinary clinics, daily data management functions such as procurement, inventory control, and appointment scheduling are available, while also integrating online and offline data streams. After users complete online consultations, the consultation data is transmitted through the SaaS platform to offline veterinary clinics, effectively enabling the accumulation and utilization of online data.

Regarding the supply chain procurement platform, iPet Doctor has integrated numerous manufacturers and distributors on the supply side, offering more than 3,000 types of pharmaceuticals, consumables, and medical equipment, thereby essentially covering the medications and supplies required for daily hospital operations. Through centralized procurement via iPet Doctor, prices are significantly lower compared to those in traditional supply chains or small-volume purchases by individual hospitals.

Drug supply and supply chain procurement installment services are currently the two main profit drivers for Ai Chong Doctor. Currently, there are 3,000 veterinary hospitals procuring through the Ai Chong Doctor platform. Since launching its procurement services in June 2016, Ai Chong Doctor’s monthly sales volume has exceeded RMB 5 million.

In the realm of supply chain finance, Ai Chong Yi Sheng collaborates with third-party financial service providers to offer interest-free installment payment plans for up to 12 months, enabling veterinary hospitals to purchase medical devices. Additionally, hospitals are required to pay only 30% of the total instrument price upfront, allowing them to acquire more medical equipment at a lower initial cost and expand their operations.

In addition to helping veterinary hospitals optimize their cash flow, Ma Qian believes that this model can also enrich the range of services offered by hospitals and increase surgical volumes.

In the medical equipment installment financing business, Ai Chong Doctor partners with Industrial Bank to provide credit loans to veterinary hospitals. Hospitals are only required to pay 30% of the total equipment price when purchasing instruments, enabling them to acquire more medical equipment at a lower upfront cost and expand their operations.

Meanwhile, Aichong Doctor will leverage existing financial platforms in the second half of this year to provide interest-free installment payment services for veterinary care to pet hospital clients. This initiative aims to reduce out-of-pocket costs for pet owners, increase the volume of surgical cases at hospitals, and boost hospital revenue.