Maimai Elder Care Secures RMB 30 Million in Series A Funding to Expand C-End Smart Care Solutions
Recently, MaiMai Elderly Care announced the completion of a RMB 30 million Series A financing round, led by China Merchants Venture Capital. As a first-tier subsidiary of China Merchants Group, China Merchants Venture Capital manages the RMB 5 billion “Internet Plus” Fund established in 2015, which primarily focuses on the “Three Industries and One Sci-Tech Innovation” sectors—namely, integration of industry and finance, linkage between industry and urban development, convergence of industry and internet, and technological innovation.
In June 2015, MaiMai Elderly Care secured tens of millions of yuan in angel-round investment from Beijing Tongdu Capital.
Maimai Elderly Care is an “Internet+” startup dedicated to custom-developing smart care solutions for mid-to-high-end elderly care institutions. Focusing on smart care services, the company addresses critical pain points in the elderly care sector, such as shortages of caregiving resources, by providing comprehensive hardware and software solutions for smart care. According to VCBeat, Maimai Elderly Care’s hardware and software products and core algorithms have secured more than 20 national technical patents, some of which have obtained EU CE and RoHS certifications.
The positioning in the mid-to-high-end market is a strategic move aligned with market trends. Following the State Council’s issuance of the “Several Opinions on Accelerating the Development of the Elderly Care Service Industry” (commonly known as “Document No. 35”) in September 2013, the mid-to-high-end elderly care market experienced explosive growth. Unlike traditional public-sector elderly care institutions, commercially operated facilities place greater emphasis on brand building and service quality. He Wei, Founder and CEO of MaiMai Elderly Care, stated, “Elderly care institutions that prioritize service quality are all potential partners for MaiMai.”
In September 2015, MaiMai Elderly Care established wholly-owned subsidiaries in Beijing and Shanghai, leveraging these key cities to actively expand its elderly care market across China. Within six months, it forged strategic partnerships with more than 30 domestic and international industry leaders, including Vanke, Fosun, Allianz (Germany), CITIC Guoan, China Railway International, Linlijia, Guanfang Group, and Zhongjing Zhonghe. Its business operations covered Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Tianjin, Ningbo, Shijiazhuang, Kunming, Guiyang, and other regions, securing the leading market share in the mid-to-high-end elderly care sector.
He Wei stated that, from the perspective of the actual needs of elderly consumers (C-end), what they truly require is neither hardware nor software, but services that can solve practical problems.
“Mai Mai Elder Care began with institutional elderly care to build a solid foundation for future home-based elderly care products and services. ‘We collaborate with mid-to-high-end elder care institutions to establish electronic health records for seniors, monitor the implementation and feedback of care plans, and work alongside our clients to develop the most personalized and high-quality care solutions, ultimately benefiting those receiving home-based elderly care.’”
On the B2B front, MaiMai Elderly Care is dedicated to helping elderly care institutions address three key challenges: first, reducing risks associated with caregiving services; second, improving caregiving efficiency; and third, enhancing children’s trust in caregiving services.
In institutional elderly care solutions, the core of MaiMai Elderly Care’s product offering is the Health Cloud. Centered on the Health Cloud, MaiMai Elderly Care has built four components: the senior terminal, the nurse terminal, the family member terminal, and the management platform. The senior terminal comprises smart bands (watches), wireless fixed call buttons, wall-mounted call buttons, portable call buttons, smart gateways, and smart mattresses, addressing daytime and nighttime scenarios for healthy seniors, semi-dependent seniors, and seniors with dementia or disabilities. The nurse terminal includes smart nurse bands (watches), nurse tablets (PADs), and integrated health data collection devices. The family member terminal is a WeChat mobile application, while the management platform consists of a TV interface, a mobile H5 page, and a web-based backend.
Although numerous hardware components are involved, the core technology of MaiMai Elderly Care is not merely a simple aggregation of hardware products. All smart devices serve solely as channels for data collection. The collected data is uploaded to the cloud, where intelligent learning algorithms analyze and process the raw data. The resulting outputs enable product functionalities tailored to diverse application scenarios, such as “fall detection alerts,” “lost person tracking,” and “alerts for prolonged absence from bed at night.”
He Wei told VCBeat that the proceeds from this financing round will be primarily allocated to three areas:
First, expand the R&D team. Existing R&D personnel will continue to optimize institutional elderly care solutions (B-side clients), while more resources will be invested to accelerate the development of community- and home-based elderly care products (C-side).
Second, establish a wholly-owned subsidiary in Guangzhou to complete the strategic layout in the key cities of Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. Maimai Elderly Care was founded in Chengdu, which currently serves as its R&D center. The primary target markets for Maimai Elderly Care are Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, along with their surrounding regions: the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta, and the Pearl River Delta.
Third, strengthen the sales and operations teams. Maimai Elderly Care is an R&D-driven company with over 50 employees, 85% of whom are engaged in research and development. As a result, Maimai Elderly Care has spent two years refining its products. Moving forward, the company will bolster the sales and operations teams at its subsidiaries in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou to better serve its customers.
It is understood that Maimai Elderly Care’s primary market objective for the next phase is to extend its products and services to 30 first- and second-tier cities across China, covering 100,000 individuals in mid-to-high-end institutions and communities.