AiShen Medical Completes Tens of Millions RMB Pre-A Financing Led by Puhua Capital to Build an Integrated Nephrology Nutrition Management Platform
On October 8, 2016, Gao Xing, co-founder of Aishen Medical, disclosed to VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) that Aishen Medical had recently completed a Pre-A financing round amounting to tens of millions of yuan. The round was led by Puhua Ansheng Equity Investment Partnership, an affiliate of Puhua Capital, with participation from Hangzhou Shiwei Venture Capital Partnership and Hangzhou Jiawei Venture Capital Partnership, both affiliated with Preangel.
According to official data, China has approximately 120 million patients with kidney disease, surpassing the number of patients with diabetes and hypertension. End-stage renal disease (ESRD), commonly known as uremia, currently ranks first among critical illnesses covered by China’s major medical insurance programs. Currently, around 500,000 patients in China are undergoing dialysis treatment; however, based on incidence rates, the number of dialysis patients in China was projected to reach approximately 2 million by 2020. The dialysis market in China is poised for potential explosive growth in the future.
AiShen Medical is a comprehensive platform that leverages internet technology to provide medical services for patients with kidney disease. It currently consists primarily of the online platform, AiShen Network, and the offline chain dialysis center operating platform, Hainan AiShen Hospital Investment Management Co., Ltd. It is committed to building aAiShen Kidney Disease Hospital, AiShen Network, AiShen Specialty Foodsa complete ecosystem.
AiShen.com was founded in2014AiShen Wang is currently a well-known internet platform in China, dedicated to providing science popularization and chronic disease management services for patients with kidney disease. Currently, more than 10% of nephrologists in China have joined the platform. As a professional online medical platform for kidney diseases, AiShen Wang provides kidney disease patients with round-the-clock information on kidney disease knowledge and nutrition, including online consultation on medical and nutritional issues, science popularization and nutritional education for kidney diseases, and nutritional guidance for kidney diseases. It offers long-term, one-stop chronic kidney disease management services. Meanwhile, AiShen Wang has created a complete online nutritional tool support system for clinical nephrology professionals to provide better nutritional guidance and kidney disease nutritional management for patients.
Aishen Hospital Investment Management Co., Ltd., established in 2016, is a company dedicated to operating independent chain dialysis centers in China. It is currently the first private institution to have obtained licenses for nephrology specialty hospitals in Haikou and Sanya, respectively, and its application for independent dialysis centers in Guangdong is expected to be approved shortly.
Aishen Medical’s specially formulated foods, including rice, noodles, and nutritional bars, are a series of specialized food products characterized by low protein, low sodium, low potassium, low phosphorus, high energy, and high dietary fiber. Designed exclusively for patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), these products ensure adequate energy intake while effectively reducing renal burden and improving patients’ quality of life. Additionally, Aishen has developed a comprehensive online nutritional tool support system for nephrology clinicians to facilitate better nutritional guidance and management of kidney disease.
The team at Aishen Medical hails from leading companies in the nephrology industry. The company’s CEO, Jie Renxiang, previously served as Deputy General Manager of Weigao Blood Purification Group, where he was responsible for marketing operations and sales since the company’s inception. He later served as Managing Director of Weigao Terumo Medical Company and is one of the earliest practitioners in China’s hemodialysis industry. The company’s founder, Zhang Yongqiang, served as the project lead in Shandong Province and applied for China’s first independent private dialysis center in 2011. He also participated in the formulation of standards for establishing dialysis centers with relevant regulatory authorities. Another founder, Gao Xing, is a lawyer who previously served as Investment Director at a publicly listed company.
In this round of financing, AiShen Medical will primarily focus on the construction of offline chain hospitals specializing in nephrology and dialysis centers. Gao Xing believes that while online health education, lightweight consultations, and chronic disease management services address objective user needs, providing patients with more personalized and effective treatment requires integration with offline medical institutions. By operating nephrology hospitals and dialysis centers offline, AiShen Medical can leverage its accumulated online physician resources to deliver effective medical services to patients through legally compliant multi-site practice arrangements and telemedicine.
Gao Xing disclosed to a reporter from VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) that, according to conservative estimates, by the end of 2017, AiShen.com had reached 500,000 registered users and 10,000 long-term paying users, with an average monthly revenue per user of RMB 300–500, resulting in annual turnover nearing RMB 50 million. By the end of 2018, the number of long-term paying users had grown to 50,000.
It is reported that DaVita, an overseas operator of chain dialysis centers similar to Aishen Medical, has a market capitalization exceeding $13 billion and serves approximately 200,000 dialysis patients. As China experiences the fastest growth in dialysis services, will similar companies emerge there as well?
PuHua Capital, established in 2004, is one of the earliest institutions engaged in venture capital management in China and a representative of domestic venture capital firms. PuHua Capital currently manages 24 RMB-denominated funds and one USD-denominated fund.Assets Under Management Exceed RMB 6.5 Billion, funded by well-known enterprise groups and family offices within Zhejiang Province. It has successfully invested in over 100 companies across more than 20 niche industries, with over 30 portfolio companies having exited via IPOs, the New Third Board, mergers and acquisitions, or equity transfers; currently, five companies are in the process of filing application materials.
Our core business currently encompasses private equity investment (including venture capital and private equity), financial advisory services (fundraising), investment consulting, mergers and acquisitions, and other investment banking activities. We focus on identifying high-potential leading enterprises across various stages—start-up, growth, maturity, and pre-IPO—in sectors such as TMT, consumer goods, services, energy conservation and environmental protection, modern agriculture, publishing and media, new energy, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, and advanced manufacturing.
Puhua Capital Medical Fund is the first specialized healthcare fund under Puhua Capital. It was established in January 2016 by Cao Guoxiong, Founding Partner of Matrix Partners China’s RMB fund and Chairman of Puhua Capital, and Zhou Mi, former Director of the Healthcare Group at Matrix Partners China. Zhou Mi’s investment portfolio includes Rich Surgical, StarChild Medical, Sinuopu Medical, Zhenlipai, Gengmei, Pocket Sugar Doctor, Super Weight Loss King, Quanyuantang, and others. The two have worked together for over five years, representing a powerful alliance between a seasoned capital leader and an emerging talent in healthcare investment.
PreAngel Fund, founded by Wang Lijie in 2011, has launched six consecutive funds with a total assets under management of RMB 600 million. Its portfolio companies are primarily located in China and the United States, covering angel-stage startups in sectors such as mobile internet, smart hardware, healthcare, the sharing economy, finance and insurance, vertical e-commerce, consumption upgrades, female-oriented consumption, and sports and culture. The limited partners (LPs) of PreAngel Fund are prominent figures or well-known enterprises in the internet industry, including Li Wei from Shenzhen Sino-Hong Kong Industry-Academia-Research Base & Songhe Capital, Cai Wensheng from Meitu, Chen Rong from Zhonglu Group, Feng Tao from Shanghai United Capital, Chen Wei from Oriental Fortune Capital, Jia Yueting from LeEco Investments, Wu Bin from Vipshop, Zhu Zhaojiang from Tecno, Li Xiaoguang from Dongfang Hongdao, Yang Xiangyang from Yuanzheng Investment, and Li Zhu from Inno Angels.