TaoGu Health Secures RMB 50 Million Series A Funding to Build a Comprehensive Digital Healthcare Platform Spanning Grassroots to Top-Tier Hospitals

With the Lunar New Year approaching, Taogu Technology has secured over RMB 50 million in Series A financing from a publicly listed company in the healthcare sector.

Beijing Taogu Technology Co., Ltd., established in March 2015, is a company that provides mobile healthcare solutions to hospitals, serves medical institutions both domestically and internationally, and builds an open internet service platform. With healthcare as its foundation, the company aggregates various domestic and international resources and services, gradually extending into pharmaceuticals, health insurance, and other related sectors, while continuously developing a mobile health intelligent service platform with big data operational capabilities.

Over the past two years, Taogu Technology has evolved from a healthcare provider to an active participant in every segment of the healthcare service ecosystem, shifting from a bystander to a hands-on operator. What transformations has it undergone? What challenges has it encountered in its exploration of healthcare services?

Taogu Technology was founded by Zhang Shouchuan, former COO of Ali Health, and Xiong Yuhong, former Vice President of Mobile R&D at JD.com. The company currently focuses on developing customized “Mobile Hospital” solutions for healthcare institutions. By integrating with hospitals’ Hospital Information Systems (HIS), its platform enables multiple functionalities, including appointment registration via app, queue management for outpatient visits, access to medical reports, doctor-patient interaction, and mobile payment. Additionally, Taogu Technology establishes pharmaceutical supply chains and provides high-value-added services such as artificial intelligence solutions to hospitals.

“Our positioning lies within the entire healthcare services industry. From an overall strategic perspective, Taogu has divided its business into three major phases: comprehensive mobile healthcare, the integrated ‘Three Medicals’ linkage (mobile healthcare, pharmaceuticals, and medical insurance), and mobile health services. Currently, Taogu Technology remains primarily focused on the Mobile Healthcare 1.0 era, with the custom development of ‘Pocket Hospital’ solutions for hospitals serving as its initial step to enter the market,” said Wang Fei, Vice President of Taogu Technology.

Taogu Product 1.0 is designed to create a smart mobile healthcare ecosystem and comprises four product forms. The patient-side app is customized for hospitals; the Medical Staff Assistant app is intended for healthcare professionals, enabling doctors to carry out in-hospital tasks, utilize professional practice tools, and support their career development; the hospital backend provides services such as data statistics, basic data maintenance, business support, and instant messaging for hospital leadership, the IT department, call centers, and various clinical departments; and the WeChat Official Account adds another channel to serve patients, allowing them to receive information and access customized medical services.

In Wang Fei’s view, the key to entering the healthcare services industry lies in mastering systemic resources that can influence the behavior of medical institutions. Therefore, Taogu Technology’s strategy is to co-build an ecosystem by partnering with entities that control healthcare resources. So, who are the specific partners? 

In fact, Taogu Technology has consistently attracted significant attention. It has partnered with HIS vendors such as Tianjian Technology and pharmaceutical companies like Sinopharm Jointown to gain entry into hospitals. Meanwhile, through collaborations with Sinopharm, Jointown, and JD.com, Taogu Technology has established a pharmaceutical supply chain system, providing patients with cost-effective pharmaceutical services.

On August 16, 2016, Taogu Technology entered into a partnership with Baidu Health, aiming to deeply engage in serving public medical institutions, expand cooperative resources with public hospitals, and accelerate the ecological layout of both parties in the internet healthcare sector.

“Following the collaboration, we can optimize patient experience and help physicians enhance their professional knowledge,” said Li Zheng, General Manager of Baidu’s Healthcare Division.

In terms of optimizing patient experience, Baidu Doctor facilitates the integration of online and offline medical services. Previously, Baidu Doctor only offered appointment registration; however, following the current collaboration, it can further address issues such as online report viewing, payment processing, and doctor-patient communication. In supporting physicians, Baidu Medicine provides authoritative medical literature in multiple languages and a convenient literature search system, enabling doctors to access professional medical literature of interest anytime and anywhere, while staying abreast of global clinical medical advancements.

“Leveraging its advantages in data and technology, Baidu can bring greater convenience to the work of hospitals and physicians, serving as a powerful guidance tool. The collaboration between the two parties will help primary care institutions, specialized hospitals, and renowned Grade A tertiary hospitals improve their two-way referral systems and remote diagnosis and treatment services,” said Zhang Shouchuan, Chairman of Taogu Technology.

In addition, in March 2016, Taogu Technology entered into a strategic cooperation agreement with Beijing Tianjian Yuanda Technology Co., Ltd. Leveraging their respective leading advantages in healthcare informatics and mobile internet, the two parties will jointly carry out cooperation in areas such as medical care, pharmaceuticals, and health insurance. They aim to co-create a comprehensive, multi-dimensional mobile health intelligent service platform to achieve technological breakthroughs and service innovation in the field of mobile healthcare.

Tianjian Technology Group boasts over two decades of experience in healthcare informatics, with its business and services covering all regions across China. The company serves more than 1,000 hospital clients and has repeatedly ranked among the top three providers of healthcare informatics solutions nationwide.

The partnership between Tianjian and Taogu aims to jointly create the “Tianjian-Taogu Mobile Health Intelligent Service Platform.” Through this platform, users can access convenient features such as appointment registration, queue management for consultations, report viewing, one-on-one doctor consultations, and mobile payments. The launch of this platform not only optimizes patients’ healthcare processes but also significantly enhances their medical experience.

It is understood that both parties have expressed great confidence in this collaboration. Moving forward, they will provide multi-modal, comprehensive, and refined mobile healthcare services to Tianjian’s partner hospitals and other medical institutions, jointly promoting business upgrades and innovative development for both sides. This partnership represents a cross-sector integration of traditional resources and internet-based thinking, featuring strong complementarity and promising prospects.

To date, we have customized “Mobile Hospital” solutions for numerous public hospitals across China, enabling App-based functionalities such as appointment registration, queue management for outpatient visits, and access to medical reports. Strategic partnerships have been established with leading enterprises including Sinopharm, Jointown Pharmaceutical Group, and JD.com, with the aim of gradually integrating pharmaceutical services with medical insurance systems. 

In just two short years, Taogu Technology has emerged as a rising star in the healthcare services sector. This success is largely attributed to the team’s extensive experience in professional service concepts and operational models from the internet industry.

For example, Zhang Shouchuan, former COO of Ali Health and VP of JD Open Platform, holds a master’s degree from Guanghua School of Management at Peking University. He studied at Peking University and Hamburg Institute of International Economics. He is the founder, chairman, and CEO of Taogu Technology.

Yuhong Xiong formerly served as Vice President of Mobile R&D at JD.com; Senior Scientist/R&D Manager at HP Labs Silicon Valley; and Technical Director at Sinovation Ventures. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, has published over 30 papers, and holds five patents. He is currently Co-founder and CTO of Taogu Technology.。

Ding Quanfeng previously served as Director of the Information Center at the General Hospital of the Second Artillery Corps of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, Director of the Information Center at Yanda International Hospital, Director of Business Development at Yonyou Medical, and Director of O2O Business at AliHealth. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Engineering from the PLA Information Engineering University. He currently serves as Vice President of Business Development at Taogu Technology.

“The internet has reshaped the traditional business landscape, and the integration of mobile internet technology with the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries is undoubtedly an inevitable trend of our times. The uneven distribution of medical resources and the multi-tiered, opaque nature of the pharmaceutical supply chain are fundamental drivers behind the development of mobile healthcare and pharmaceutical services. Market demand will not diminish due to resource constraints; therefore, it is even more critical to leverage mobile internet platforms to better connect various stakeholders, thereby maximizing the efficiency of limited medical resources,” said Wang Fei.

Currently, the hospitals served by Taogu are primarily located in second-, third-, and fourth-tier cities. In addition to seeking efficient delivery of basic medical services—such as patient appointment registration and doctor-patient interactions—through mobile internet solutions, these hospitals are eager to adopt new medical technologies and applications. Therefore, Taogu Technology provides a series of technical services free of charge, including intraoperative navigation with 3D imaging, 3D-printed preoperative planning, voice-enabled medical record entry, and AI-powered automatic triage. These solutions significantly improve physicians’ work efficiency and reduce their workload. Furthermore, by operating hospital apps and WeChat official accounts, Taogu helps grassroots hospitals attract more patients.

For patients, in addition to providing convenient pharmaceutical services, Taogu integrates online and offline channels through a membership system, enabling patients to access more affordable offline services. Furthermore, it has introduced over 150 testing items from leading domestic genetic testing companies, offering value-added services to patients while generating additional revenue for hospitals.

According to reports, Taogu Technology currently collaborates with approximately 500 hospitals. In addition to hospital partnerships, Taogu is also expanding into the medical insurance sector by developing customized mobile products in cooperation with Human Resources and Social Security Bureaus.

Wang Fei stated that following this round of financing, Taogu will accelerate collaborations with medical institutions across China, building on its existing partnerships with hundreds of hospitals, and gradually integrate related services such as pharmaceuticals and medical insurance. Meanwhile, the company will strategically partner with selected representative hospitals to upgrade their existing mobile healthcare platforms into internet hospitals. Taogu’s internet hospital services will initially launch in Henan and Hebei provinces. Its physician group is also in the preparatory stages, aiming to first leverage high-quality medical resources from Beijing to serve primary care institutions.

Externally, Taogu Technology will further deepen its business expansion on the foundation of its existing strategic partnerships with multiple well-known enterprises. By leveraging online platforms and offline hospitals as service entry points, it will facilitate the practical implementation of these enterprises’ products, while also extending the range of product services to provide users with more convenient and high-quality end-to-end healthcare services.