Shulian Yikang Secures Tens of Millions RMB in Series A Funding, Paving the Way for PBM Innovation in China

Chengdu Shulianyikang Technology Co., Ltd., a leading third-party healthcare cost containment enterprise in China, exclusively announced to VCBeat that it completed a tens-of-millions-yuan Series A financing round last November, with Tasly Holding Group Co., Ltd. as the investor.

Chengdu Shulianyikang Technology Co., Ltd. was established in 2015. Headquartered in Sichuan Province, its business operations extend across China, covering the New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme’s cross-regional settlement system in Sichuan, as well as cost-control systems in multiple cities such as Yibin and Deyang. Beyond Sichuan, the company has partnered with dozens of healthcare security administrations in provinces including Hubei, Gansu, and Heilongjiang. In 2016, Chengdu Shulianyikang began expanding its market presence to hospitals and has since collaborated with several Grade A tertiary hospitals. Additionally, the company is fostering close partnerships with commercial insurance providers, with key partners including Sunshine Life Insurance, PICC Health Insurance, and Taikang Pension.

Mr. Chen Kai, Investment Director of Puhua Capital’s Healthcare Fund and a seasoned early-stage investor in the health insurance sector, offered the following assessment: “I was deeply involved in the angel round investment in Chengdu Shulianyikang Technology Co., Ltd. The founding team possesses extensive background and resources in healthcare informatization and big data applications. They have the opportunity to carve out a market-driven commercial path through the exploration of medical insurance big data and become a key partner in the insurance industry.”

Leveraging medical insurance as a catalyst to promote the coordinated development of healthcare, medical insurance, and pharmaceuticals (the “Three-Medical Linkage”) is an inevitable trend. The third-party management platform built by Shulianyikang provides audit and regulatory services based on big data from insurance, helping governments and insurers control costs. By implementing a cost-control pathway that spans post-event, in-process, and pre-event management, it has become a professional third-party data platform covering the entire insurance workflow, linking payers, users, and healthcare institutions. Building on this foundation, the company expands into drug distribution, supply chain finance, and health management, thereby creating a comprehensive, multi-dimensional cost-control solution that fosters an ecosystem of shared benefits for all stakeholders.

Currently, Shulianyikang is primarily capturing market share on the healthcare security bureau and hospital sides to establish an effective strategic footprint. Its alliance with Tasly Holding Group, which has a market capitalization exceeding RMB 50 billion, will inject robust resources into Shulianyikang in terms of funding, distribution channels, and business models. Meanwhile, Shulianyikang’s inherent advantages in big data will provide data services and support for Tasly’s grand health industry. This strategic business integration between the two parties will open up new prospects for breakthrough development of PBM (Pharmacy Benefit Management) services in China.

According to CEO Zhang Yanlong, following this round of financing, Chengdu Shulianyikang Technology Co., Ltd. will focus its efforts on two key areas: first, sustaining strong growth in its traditional business lines; and second, deepening collaborations by partnering with pharmaceutical companies on drug distribution and R&D, and engaging in direct billing arrangements with insurance companies, thereby integrating direct insurance billing into its industrial layout.

From the perspective of national healthcare reform, commercial health insurance serves as a robust supplement to basic medical insurance. However, at present, collaboration between commercial insurers and healthcare institutions remains fraught with challenges. If cost-containment enterprises were to manage prescription settlements, they could bridge this gap. According to Zhang Yanlong’s vision, companies like Chengdu Shulianyikang Technology Co., Ltd., by coordinating the interests of multiple stakeholders—including payers, service providers, and patients—within the healthcare ecosystem, are poised to become an indispensable component in the future.

With the implementation of policies, once enterprises engaged in medical insurance cost control obtain prescriptions outside the scope of basic medical insurance, they will gain greater leverage in negotiations with pharmaceutical commercial companies, thereby securing medications at lower prices. Meanwhile, they can collaborate with insurance companies to formulate drug formularies, incorporating new originator drugs and specialty medications into the insurance coverage list. Furthermore, they can assist hospitals in providing health management services, helping patients with disease prevention and control, thus reducing medical expenses.

In the era of big data, the future belongs to those who are the first to possess and adeptly leverage big data. Zhang Yanlong stated that applying big data and artificial intelligence to the field of medical insurance cost control can not only prevent violations and fraudulent claims, thereby safeguarding fund security, but also standardize physicians’ prescribing and clinical practices without compromising therapeutic efficacy. This is achieved by advancing big data–driven analyses—including drug efficacy analysis, medication pattern analysis, disease grouping analysis, treatment regimen analysis, and disease spectrum analysis—thereby prioritizing key issues over minor ones and curbing unreasonable growth in medical expenses. Ultimately, this approach yields a more comprehensive, scientific, and multidimensional solution for cost containment.

Cost containment is not merely about providing IT tools; that is just a technical means. What Chengdu Shulianyikang Technology Co., Ltd. aims to do is to lead the entire medical insurance market through the PBM model in the future.