Mami Knows Launches On-Demand Telephonic Consultation Service Allowing Users to Select Doctors and Pay Based on Outcomes

On August 8, the “Phone Consultation” feature of Mami Zhidao, a maternal and child online consultation app, was officially launched. Meanwhile, leveraging its proprietary technology, Mami Zhidao will also provide this service to users on other partner platforms, aiming to become the largest provider of maternal and child phone consultation services in China.

Currently, the Mami Zhidao app has undergone four major iterations. Building on its existing features of text-and-image consultations and one-minute emergency services, it has added telephone consultation services. The most distinctive feature of this service, compared to other platforms, is that users can view doctors’ online status and select specific doctors for real-time connections.

Operationally, after selecting a physician and initiating a telephone consultation, the user will receive a callback from the physician within five minutes for a ten-minute phone discussion. Pricing for telephone consultations is determined based on factors such as the physician’s service type, star rating, and user evaluations.

Mommy Knows Product Screenshot

Compared with online appointment platforms and traditional hospitals, the “Phone Consultation” feature allows users to consult doctors directly via phone, eliminating the hassle of registration and scheduling. Meanwhile, expert physicians on the Mommy Knows platform will respond promptly, providing professional answers to maternal and child health inquiries. In the future, version 5.0 of Mommy Knows will also introduce video consultation services.

According to VCBeat, Mami Zhidao is committed to becoming a provider of telephone consultation services for maternal and infant care, offering its telephone consultation capabilities to platforms in need. Its first external partner was Tencent’s Mobile QQ. In May this year, Mami Zhidao became one of the first maternal and infant healthcare platforms to launch on the “Experts” section of Tencent’s Mobile QQ.

“We have provided Tencent with over 800 physicians, all of whom are senior doctors selected from public Grade-A tertiary hospitals. The physicians available on the platform are under exclusive contracts with us. These doctors have been part of Yixin Mami Zhidao for more than two years, ensuring strong guarantees in terms of service philosophy and quality, which is also why we have earned Tencent’s favor,” said Chen Lin, Vice President of Product at Mami Zhidao.

In fact, Mami Zhidao and Tencent had already initiated their partnership at the very beginning of its launch. At that time, the maternal and infant channel on the QQ Health platform exclusively integrated original content from “Mami Zhidao.” Subsequently, Tencent Video launched the maternal and infant video series “Mami Zhidao: Pregnancy Talks.”

Chen Lin stated, “Tencent Xingjia’s product strategy involves collaborating with select high-quality partners within vertical sectors. Meanwhile, Mami Zhidao also aims to enhance its commercialization capabilities through partnerships with major traffic platforms, thereby extending the reach of its online consultation services to a broader user base.”

According to Tencent’s 2015 data on QQ user demographics, users aged 20–35 accounted for approximately 40%, a cohort precisely in the life stage of marriage and child-rearing. Furthermore, with the relaxation of China’s two-child policy, the annual number of newborns has exceeded 16 million, while the number of pediatricians continues to decline, giving rise to unprecedented demand in the maternal and infant healthcare market.

In the face of such enormous market demand, diverse collaborations spanning resources, domains, and platforms are bound to emerge in large numbers, with innovative partnerships between internet giants and vertical sectors being particularly promising.

The partnership with Tencent represents a pilot initiative for Mommy Knows. Going forward, the company plans to replicate this collaborative model in sectors with more closely aligned use cases. It has been disclosed that Mommy Knows has reached cooperation intentions with multiple high-traffic platforms and maternal-and-infant communities. These platforms will gradually integrate Mommy Knows’ telephone consultation services in the future. Chen Lin stated, “We also welcome more maternal-and-infant platforms with needs for telephone consultation services to partner with us.”

Since its launch in January 2015, Mommy Knows has exclusively contracted with 2,000 chief physicians from Grade A tertiary hospitals, and the platform currently boasts over 4 million maternal users. In 2016, Mommy Knows began its initial commercialization efforts. As previously noted in the VCBeat article “Maternal and Child Health Startups: Can Six Key Entry Points Successfully Validate Three Profit Models?”, during this commercial pilot phase, Mommy Knows introduced value-added online consultation services, commercial insurance products, and offline clinics.

In early March this year, Mommy Knows partnered with a commercial insurance provider to launch “Mommy Bao,” the platform’s first internet-based medical insurance product. (For details, click on the VCBeat article: New Insurance Product! How to Combine Internet Healthcare with Children’s Insurance?)

According to VCBeat, the new medical service model of “online consultation + offline outpatient care” is a key component in building Mami Knows’ product ecosystem. Liang Liang, CEO of Mami Knows, revealed that the company plans to launch its self-built pediatric outpatient clinics, “Yixin Pediatrics,” in Shanghai and Shenzhen by the end of this year.

It is reported that Mami Zhidao secured tens of millions in angel investment from SoftBank China in 2014. In 2015, it raised $10 million in Series A financing, led by Morningside Venture Capital and participated in by SoftBank. In March 2016, the company completed a RMB 100 million Series B financing round, led by Fosun Kunzhong, with participation from Hawthorn Capital, SoftBank China, and Morningside Venture Capital. (For details, please click on the VCBeat article: “Mommy Knows” Completes RMB 100 Million Series B Financing to Accelerate Expansion of Its “Online + Offline” Service Model）

Mami Knows Business Cooperation:marketing@easyhin.com