YaoshiBang Secures RMB 110 Million Series B Funding to Advance B2B Pharma Platform and Terminal SaaS Solutions
At the start of the new year, Yaoshibang, a mobile internet B2B platform for the pharmaceutical industry, officially announcedCompleted 110 million by the end of last DecemberRMB-denominated Series B financing round, led bySonghe Capital and Fosun Lead the Investment，Tongwei Capital, Ivy Capital, and other investors from the previous round continued to participate in this funding round.. This round of financing will be primarily used for the development of a B2B pharmaceutical trading platform, broader market expansion, the development and advancement of SaaS projects designed to empower end-users, and the construction of a more comprehensive upstream and downstream ecosystem.
Prior to securing this round of financing, in November 2016, Yaoshibang obtained the license for a third-party online drug trading service platform issued by the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA), commonly referred to in the industry as the “Class A Certificate.” Currently,Only around 40 internet companies across China have obtained the A license.After obtaining the Class A License, Yaoshibang began to accelerate the development of its B2B pharmaceutical distribution platform.
This mobile internet company, which focuses on the pharmaceutical distribution sector, was founded by Zhang Buzhen, former Vice President of SouFun.com, in January 2015. Mr. Zhang brings extensive experience in internet operations, having spent 15 years at SouFun.com, China’s largest real estate portal, where he successively served as CTO and Vice President, overseeing website, technology, product, and mobile operations and development. The current management team comprises core technical talent from leading internet platforms such as Alibaba and Tencent, as well as professionals with rich experience in the pharmaceutical industry; notably, more than 65% of the staff hold a bachelor’s degree or higher in pharmacy or related fields.
In January 2015, the Yaoshibang App was officially launched.Since its inception, the platform has been positioned to connect the vast and highly fragmented network of pharmacies and clinics via mobile internet, empowering these end-points by providing comprehensive services ranging from pharmaceutical care and drug procurement to corporate recruitment and employee training. As of 2015, there were over 440,000 pharmacy outlets and nearly 800,000 clinics and health stations across China, all of which constitute Yaoshibang’s target user base.
Taking pharmacies as an example, under the traditional transaction model, procurement is a complex and cumbersome process. Information on drug sales is highly fragmented, with frequent fluctuations in data such as batch numbers, inventory levels, and prices. Each pharmacy typically manages over 3,000 SKUs. To identify the most appropriate drug categories, secure the most competitive prices, and ensure optimal logistics and delivery, traditional methods often require making more than a dozen phone calls and spending several hours. This approach is extremely inefficient and represents a typical case of high-frequency, low-efficiency operations.
For upstream manufacturers and suppliers, the highly fragmented nature of pharmacy and clinic endpoints renders traditional terminal marketing and promotion inefficient and costly. Beyond marketing, the conventional ordering process—relying on a large team of order-taking personnel in call centers to process phone-in orders—has become an increasingly unsustainable expense for pharmaceutical distribution companies, driven by rising labor costs.
Addressing the pain points across the upstream and downstream segments of the pharmaceutical distribution chain, Yaoshibang initiated its services by facilitating drug transactions and establishing a B2B trading platform. Sellers list their products on the platform, enabling buyers to quickly locate required medications, access real-time pricing, and place orders or replenish inventory anytime and anywhere, thereby significantly enhancing transactional efficiency for both parties.
As of the end of 2016, Yaoshibang had covered more than 50,000 pharmacy terminals, with over 600,000 SKUs.Starting with information matching, as Yaoshibang obtains its Class A Internet Drug Information Service Qualification Certificate, a large number of upstream and downstream terminals active on the Yaoshibang platform will gain access to more convenient transaction services. Through the development of a mobile internet B2B platform, Yaoshibang will achieve efficient connectivity between drug suppliers (pharmaceutical manufacturers and pharmaceutical distributors) and drug end-users (pharmacies, clinics, and health stations), thereby optimizing the pharmaceutical supply chain, enhancing distribution efficiency, and establishing an internet-based pharmaceutical platform characterized by information symmetry, service transparency, and operational efficiency.
In addition to deepening its presence in the B2B pharmaceutical trading platform, Yaoshibang will increase its investment in SaaS services to profoundly influence and empower upstream and downstream terminals. It aims to provide upstream manufacturers and suppliers with more comprehensive IT and data-driven support, while offering terminal pharmacies, clinics, and health stations rich pharmaceutical information, professional medication knowledge, and convenient procurement and technical services.