Tiantian Elder Care Files for IPO: A Profitable One-Stop Community-Based Elder Care Platform

“The Chinese elderly care market is still in its nascent stage, and a true market mechanism for community-based elderly care services has yet to take shape. Although local governments have established community home-care service centers, many have effectively been reduced to mahjong and card rooms,” Xiao Hongyi, CEO of the Tiantian Elderly Care Project, told VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat).

As China’s population aging intensifies, Xiao Hongyi established the Tiantian Elderly Care Project in March 2016. Affiliated with Zhongkang Xingjian (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd., the project is an initiative by Datang Network Co., Ltd., a central state-owned enterprise, in the “Internet Plus” livelihood sector. It was jointly invested and established in partnership with Beijing Universal United Kangtai Technology Co., Ltd. and Shenyang Baixi Investment Co., Ltd.

Currently, the company operates four elderly care training bases in Beijing, Shandong, Anhui, and other regions, and manages six community-based home elderly care service centers in Shenyang, Liaoning Province. Notably, individual centers in the Shenyang area have already achieved profitability. What is the secret behind this success?

Currently, China’s elderly care industry suffers from a shortage of professional talent and the absence of standardized service protocols. It is characterized by low levels of informatization, monotonous service delivery methods, and inefficiency. The industry fails to meet the diverse needs of users, making it difficult for operating enterprises to achieve integration. High labor and rental costs, coupled with a lack of economies of scale, hinder profitability, while traditional domestic service companies remain the primary competitors. Therefore, the foundation for expanding and strengthening Chinese elderly care enterprises lies in the integration of specialized, informatized, scaled, and standardized services.

For the Tiantian Elderly Care Project, Xiao Hongyi aims to leverage technologies such as the Internet, mobile Internet, and the Internet of Things (IoT) to deliver a wide range of professional services to community-dwelling seniors through certified elderly care professionals. These services include professional elderly nursing, domestic housekeeping, medical assistance, elderly financial services, smart wearable health monitoring, daily living support, psychological counseling, daytime care, nutritional meal planning, and rehabilitation therapy, thereby realizing a “one body, two wings” service architecture.

In addition, Tiantian Elderly Care is dedicated to cultivating elderly care professionals and delivering care services, developing and operating an internet-based cloud platform for community-based home elderly care, and providing comprehensive health and lifestyle services for community-dwelling seniors. By establishing a new, multi-dimensional ecosystem for home-based elderly care, the company offers one-stop home care solutions for older adults in communities.

“By partnering with local governments (property groups), we leverage government-provided facilities for elderly care operations to deliver managed services and establish community-oriented home-based elderly care service centers. We integrate third-party social service and product resources, and utilize the company’s smart elderly care service platform to conduct online and offline community-based elderly care activities,” said Xiao Hongyi.

“Due to the severe shortage of personnel in the elderly care industry, and the lack of medical knowledge among nannies and domestic service agency staff, we are committed to cultivating more talent. We hold the qualification for training elderly care workers authorized by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, enabling us to supply skilled professionals to other elderly care institutions.”

Due to differences in elderly care concepts in China, most seniors opt for home-based care, as institutional care is costly. To comprehensively meet elderly care needs, Tiantian Elderly Care has launched in-home care services and partnered with local property management companies. By leveraging operation spaces provided free of charge by the government (property management companies), integrating high-quality third-party social services and product resources, and utilizing the company’s smart elderly care cloud platform, it conducts online and offline community-based elderly care activities.

The company accepts service orders through three channels: offline community elderly care service centers, a telephone call center, and an internet platform, leveraging the nearest elderly care centers to provide in-home services and rapid delivery. In addition, the elderly care service centers offer a series of service programs for community-dwelling seniors, including “Comprehensive Daily Living,” “Comprehensive Health,” “Comprehensive Financial Services,” and “Comprehensive Culture and Entertainment.” Medical care, elderly care, rehabilitation, and nursing constitute the core service offerings for community seniors.

Furthermore, elderly individuals can initiate service requests online. Leveraging an information-based network cloud platform, mobile internet applications, and IoT-enabled health monitoring and management platforms, services are provided to those aging in place. Currently, community-based elderly care demonstration centers have begun to generate profits, while nationwide brand franchising and outsourced elderly care operation services are being steadily rolled out.

“In our community-based elderly care services in Shenyang, two seniors highly appreciated the service provided by our staff and specially presented a silk banner to express their gratitude.” Xiao Hongyi was deeply moved, as he has consistently delivered professional care, attending to the elderly with the same devotion as their own children.

Therefore, compared with other elderly care platforms, the core competitiveness of Tiantian Elderly Care is reflected in the following aspects:

1. Professionalism: All staff are certified and work with proper credentials.

2. Brand endorsement: The company’s shareholders include the central state-owned enterprise Datang Network and the China National Committee on Aging.

3. Ensure Service Quality

(1) Upon receiving a nursing service order, the company’s expert service team dispatches professionals such as psychological counselors and head nurses for in-home consultations. They develop personalized care plans based on the elderly client’s specific characteristics and select the most suitable personnel from the company’s talent pool to provide matched services.

(2) Continuous Monitoring and Ongoing Training: After company caregivers provide in-home services, the head nurse conducts at least one on-site visit per week to assess the elderly client’s current condition, provide on-the-spot guidance on nursing care, and deliver continuous training. Additionally, based on the employer’s specific needs, the company offers scientific recommendations in areas such as nutritional meal planning and rehabilitative therapy.

(3) Establish a service quality feedback mechanism, whereby employers can rate care service providers via the mobile app. These ratings serve as the basis for caregiver performance evaluations and determine their personal income.

(4) High cost-effectiveness of input and output, with the company’s model combining online elderly care talent deployment and community center-based service hubs.

Multiple training bases for elderly care workers have been established in provinces and cities such as Beijing, Shandong, Anhui, and Shenyang. The plan is to expand into Beijing, Shanghai, Hefei, Kunming, and other cities by the end of 2016, covering a service population of 5 million.

Prior to founding the Tiantian Elderly Care Project, Xiao Hongyi worked in government relations, operational management, and market development, accumulating over 20 years of experience. A graduate of Tianjin University’s MBA program, she has founded enterprises with workforces exceeding one thousand employees. Demonstrating strong business acumen, managerial expertise, and a robust capacity for learning, she has successfully secured multiple projects with government bodies and large state-owned enterprises. She currently serves as the Executive Deputy Director of the Community-Based Home Care Project under the China Foundation for the Development of Aging Cause.

Li Xiaofeng, another co-founder of the company, is 41 years old. He holds an EMBA from Jilin University and has 20 years of experience in the internet and telecommunications industries, with expertise in resource integration and corporate operations management.

Revenue streams primarily include two aspects. The first is the provision of caregiver training services, delivering comprehensive professional elderly care through offline senior care centers and online platforms. The second is integrated corporate services, covering nursing and domestic care, nutritious meals for seniors, traditional Chinese medicine, therapeutic massage, rehabilitation therapy, health check-ups, senior universities, community delivery services, supermarkets for elderly care products, and elderly-focused financial services, with joint operations conducted by both parties in accordance with agreed terms.

Third is intelligent elderly care services, such as smartwatches, senior-friendly mobile phones, intelligent caregiving, and sleep monitoring;

Fourth, extended elderly care services, including data mining, precise triage, financial products, development and promotion, and integration of the elderly care industry.

“We are seeking Pre-A round financing of RMB 10 million in exchange for a 10% equity stake. The funds will be used to establish 15 flagship community elderly care service centers in cities including Shenyang, Beijing, Shanghai, Shijiazhuang, Hefei, and Harbin, effectively covering 200 communities offline while serving the entire core urban areas online. Our goal is to become the entry-level platform for community-based elderly services in China and a leader in the Chinese elderly care industry,” said Xiao Hongyi.