Aijia Zaocha Raises Several Million RMB in Pre-A Round to Deepen Its Cancer Screening Services

The Aijia Zaocha App is a platform for cancer screening targeted at women aged 35 and above and men aged 40 and above. As an internet-based medical service software, it allows users to customize cancer screening packages at various price points. Recently, the company announced the completion of its pre-A financing round, raising several million RMB, with investment from a well-known domestic gene sequencing company.

Ai Jia Zao Cha is a subsidiary of Beijing Ruichi Technology Development Co., Ltd., which was registered in October 2015. The company is dedicated to innovation and development in the field of family cancer prevention and control. It focuses on disseminating scientific knowledge about cancer prevention and recommending authoritative testing technologies for healthy individuals, particularly those at high risk of cancer. Meanwhile, it provides customers with a comprehensive one-stop early cancer detection plan and service for home use, offering high-quality cancer screening products that are “scientifically effective, cost-efficient, and beneficial to the entire family.” Within two months of its establishment, Ai Jia Zao Cha secured approximately RMB 3 million in angel funding from three senior executives of different listed companies.

## Adapting to Market Shifts: Pivoting from the Consumer (C-end) Market to the Business (B-end) Market ##

At its launch, Aijia Zaocha’s business model primarily targeted consumer-facing (C-end) users by connecting them with professional cancer-screening checkup packages offered by public hospitals, thereby bridging the information asymmetry between both parties.

After a year of exploration, the team discovered that user needs are far more extensive than anticipated. In addition to coordinating cancer screening examinations, users identified as being at risk for cancer also seek to understand whether their risk is linked to lifestyle factors or hereditary predisposition, and how to access consultation and referral services with domestic and international institutions specializing in early cancer treatment. Consequently, Aijia Early Screening has decided to deepen its product offerings and services for individual consumers.

Cancer care currently represents a blue-ocean market. From a technical perspective, cancer screening entails certain barriers to entry, leaving room for optimization in related service processes—precisely the opportunity seized by companies such as Aijia Early Detection. At present, Aijia Early Detection has refined 12 service offerings, including: anti-cancer health consultations; health information services; tumor risk assessment; online personalized health education courses; customized private precision cancer screening plans; private interpretation of test reports and lifestyle guidance; private precision nutrition prescriptions; private precision exercise-based cancer prevention and health prescriptions; domestic and international referral, multidisciplinary consultation, and coordinated diagnosis services; and offline health salons. These services can be combined into various packages, with pricing tiers ranging from hundreds to tens of thousands of yuan, thereby expanding beyond the original price range of approximately RMB 4,000–8,000.

In terms of partnerships, Ai Jia Zao Cha has collaborated with renowned public hospitals in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and other cities in China; international oncology diagnosis and treatment institutions in Japan, the United States, Singapore, and other countries; COFCO-certified nutritionist teams; and the Sports Medicine Clinic of the Chinese Health Management Research Institute. Through these collaborations, it has refined and perfected every link in its precision cancer screening service chain. Additionally, Ai Jia Zao Cha has integrated insurance products co-designed with Insurance Geek into its cancer prevention health checkup packages. If a customer undergoes a cancer prevention health checkup through Ai Jia Zao Cha and is diagnosed with cancer within the following year, they are eligible for a compensation payout of RMB 100,000.

In terms of its business model, Aijia Zaocha has shifted from a single B2C approach to one primarily focused on B2B, supplemented by B2B2C:

To provide exclusive private "Ai Jia Early Detection" services for VIP clients such as corporate executives, banks, insurance companies, and high-end social clubs, including cancer screening consultations, assessments, customized plans, and follow-up extended services centered on cancer prevention and health;

Provide basic services of Ai Jia Zao Cha, such as health consultations and online health courses, to insurance companies and enterprises, serving as medical service support for business expansion and as professional health benefits for employees;

Provide green channels for Ai Jia Early Screening products and services to corporate employees and members of various organizations.

Currently, Aijia Zaocha has secured approximately 10 B-side clients, including Cigna & CMB and Anbang Insurance, and has also fulfilled hundreds of orders from C-side customers over the past year.

Wang Siyang stated that these B-end clients are mostly distributed across China, and Ai Jia Zao Cha is accordingly expanding its reach nationwide. In addition to Beijing, Ai Jia Zao Cha has also extended its partner network to include hospitals, health checkup institutions, and gene sequencing companies in other cities such as Shanghai and Guangzhou. Furthermore, Ai Jia Zao Cha is seeking city-level partners with complementary resources and shared values to scale up its established services for targeted populations.

“We are fortunate to have received support during what is often referred to as the ‘harsh winter’ period. There is significant opportunity for cancer screening in China, and we hope to attract further support from industry funds in the insurance, media, big data, and oncology sectors.”

## China's Cancer Screening Market Is a Blue Ocean ##

Prior to launching his startup, Wang Siyang worked in the medical device sector at multinational corporations. In 2010, representing GE Healthcare’s strategic marketing team in China, he entered the field of cancer screening in the country. At that time, we conducted a market strategy analysis and found that, compared with Japan and the United States, where cancer screening had been practiced for two to three decades, China’s cancer screening market was essentially a blue ocean. However, the Chinese government only began to genuinely promote cancer screening in 2008. With less than ten years having passed since then, public awareness of cancer screening remains relatively low, and willingness to undergo screening is limited.

Wang Siyang explained that, taking gastric cancer as an example, the 5-year survival rate (defined as surviving at least five years after diagnosis) for gastric cancer in Japan can reach nearly 100%. In China, however, this figure is only around 20%. This disparity is precisely due to the lack of early diagnosis and early treatment.

Compared with Japan’s 30-plus-year history of early diagnosis and treatment, China only began implementing rural screening for the “two cancers” (breast cancer and cervical cancer) in 2008, and launched urban early diagnosis and treatment programs for five major cancers—lung cancer, liver cancer, upper gastrointestinal cancers (esophageal and gastric cancers), lower gastrointestinal cancers (colon and rectal cancers), and breast cancer—in 2012. China still has a long road ahead in cancer prevention and control.

Since May this year, Ai Jia Zao Cha has become a service provider for the Urban Cancer Early Diagnosis and Treatment Project. Leveraging authoritative health education from its experts, it has taken charge of operating the project’s official WeChat account and other related tasks, promoting authoritative cancer prevention concepts and knowledge to the public.

Wang Siyang pointed out that the Urban Cancer Early Diagnosis and Treatment Program will become a significant driving and leading force in cancer prevention and control in China. Currently, approximately 200,000 people nationwide benefit from free cancer screening under this program each year; however, the population requiring early diagnosis and treatment far exceeds this number. According to statistical data from epidemiological research institutions, age is closely correlated with cancer incidence. Generally speaking, women aged 35 and older and men aged 40 and older should undergo cancer screening, particularly those with high-risk factors such as a family history of cancer or unhealthy lifestyle habits.

On the other hand, some relatively large or well-established companies include routine health check-ups as part of their employee benefits. Wang Siyang believes that this may also have negative effects on users' health. "Due to constraints such as budget and examination objectives, corporate routine health check-ups cannot fully reflect an individual's overall health status, nor do they cover specialized screenings for major diseases, including tumors, myocardial infarction, and stroke. In addition, factors such as equipment quality, the experience of the personnel conducting the examinations, and the diagnostic expertise of physicians should all be taken into consideration."

Taking examination equipment and methods as an example: routine physical examinations for pulmonary diseases typically employ chest X-rays; however, this modality is entirely inadequate as a substitute for lung cancer screening. According to recommendations from international and domestic professional guidelines, low-dose spiral CT should be selected for lung cancer screening, as it can detect early-stage lung cancers smaller than 1 cm, or even as small as 0.5 cm. Data further corroborate this: the detection rate for pulmonary nodules and bronchial lesions using low-dose spiral CT screening for early lung cancer is 24%, more than double the 7% detection rate achieved with chest X-rays. For peripheral early-stage lung cancer, the tumor detection rate is approximately ten times that of chest X-rays.

From Wang Siyang’s perspective, these are precisely the opportunities and challenges facing Aijia Early Screening.

This article is reprinted from 36Kr, by author Su Xiaozhi.