RayPlus Medical Imaging Submits Prospectus: Building a SaaS-Based Cloud Intelligent Imaging Workstation for Doctors

Traditional PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication Systems) medical imaging information systems have successfully achieved the storage, transmission, and even auxiliary diagnosis of massive amounts of medical images. However, their usage scenarios are limited, and the high learning curve makes it difficult to meet the numerous fragmented needs in actual clinical practice. Moreover, the auxiliary diagnostic functions implemented are quite preliminary, failing to achieve an optimal balance between cost and efficiency, and many specific imaging requirements of physicians remain unmet.

Ruijia Medical Imaging, a startup from Wuhan, centers on scalable cloud computing architecture and image-based intelligent algorithms to provide RayPlus, a medical imaging-based computer-aided diagnosis and treatment system, for specialists across various departments. The system is flexibly compatible with multiple terminals, including PCs, tablets, and smartphones, meeting specialists’ diverse needs for specific auxiliary diagnosis and addressing various fragmented application scenarios.

Yuan Rong, founder of Ruijia Medical Imaging, envisions RayPlus handling all the heavy and tedious tasks related to medical imaging in the cloud, allowing doctors to obtain their desired imaging results with just a few clicks on the interface.

SaaS is the optimal solution for addressing fragmented demands in medical imaging

It is understood that image-based computer-aided diagnosis and treatment to assist clinical decision-making is a significant trend in current medical development. Taking surgical treatment as an example, computer-aided preoperative planning can improve precision and procedural outcomes by more than 30%. In developed countries such as the United States and Germany, computer-aided assistance prior to treatment decisions is already widespread, with physicians formulating medical decisions based on personalized, quantitative medical models.

Compared with foreign countries, the reality in China is quite “worrying.” Yuan Rong, founder of Ruijia Medical Imaging, told VCBeat that in China, the vast majority of medical decisions still rely entirely on doctors’ personal experience, resulting in low efficiency and indirectly contributing to difficulties in accessing medical care and overcrowding at tertiary Grade A hospitals.

Yuan Rong provided VCBeat with a detailed analysis of how traditional PACS can no longer meet the rapidly surging medical demands in China, particularly in terms of usage scenarios, specialty physician requirements, learning curves, and assisted diagnosis.

For instance, the application of computer-aided diagnosis and treatment technologies based on medical imaging is currently highly restricted in hospitals. Post-processing of medical images is primarily concentrated within the Department of Radiology, which is equipped with comprehensive image processing workstations. Hospitals cannot afford to deploy one or more such workstations for every clinical department. Beyond the high cost of these workstations, most of these systems are complex and cumbersome, requiring physicians to invest significant time in learning how to operate them. Moreover, processing each case demands considerable time. Nevertheless, specialists in various clinical departments have their own needs for image processing in both clinical practice and research. For example, many physicians have approached Yuan Rong, requesting measurements of the volume of specific tissues, clarification of the spatial relationship between lesions and blood vessels, convenient access to 3D models, or even lightweight viewing software that can be run directly on their laptops. While some routine requests can be handled by radiologists, the sheer volume of such demands is overwhelming. Even with radiologists sharing the use of image processing workstations in shifts, they remain unable to keep up with the workload.

Yuan Rong stated that addressing the specific needs of particular diseases and organs involves even greater complexity. During his doctoral studies, Yuan Rong had an entrepreneurial experience developing a liver surgery planning system. At that time, it was discovered that in some patients, lesions eroded blood vessels, and conventional vessel segmentation techniques failed to accurately isolate the vasculature. Achieving automated processing required specialized algorithms. In academia, many peers are indeed researching such algorithms; however, these algorithms remain too distant from clinical practice. Currently, apart from face-to-face collaboration, there are no effective channels to connect researchers with physicians.

Yuan Rong pointed out that SaaS, a novel form of software application, can effectively address the aforementioned issues. Centralized hardware and software significantly reduce costs, while algorithms requiring substantial computational resources are executed on the server side, enabling physicians to begin working using any PC, tablet, or smartphone equipped with a web browser. Furthermore, through intelligent algorithms and modular design, physicians can achieve superior processing results without devoting considerable time to learning parameter adjustment.

RayPlus Aims to Be the “Meitu” of Medical Imaging

Years of research and experience working with hospital physicians have led Yuan Rong to deeply recognize that computer-aided diagnosis and treatment based on medical imaging is an essential need for clinicians, yet this need cannot be fully met by traditional workstations. The RayPlus medical imaging platform, launched by Ruijia Medical Imaging, aims to achieve two objectives: first, to enable specialists in clinical departments to access computer-aided diagnosis and treatment based on medical imaging in a cost-effective and efficient manner; and second, to make more specialized image processing techniques visible and accessible to physicians, thereby serving as a bridge connecting medical image processing researchers with clinicians.

Yuan Rong often cites a common analogy: A comprehensive workstation is like Photoshop—feature-rich, but expensive and difficult to master. Ordinary doctors neither need nor have the time to acquire such expertise; what they require is a simple “Meitu Xiuxiu”-style tool that delivers an enhanced result with just one click.

RayPlus by Ruijia Medical Imaging aims to become the “Meitu Xiuxiu” of the medical imaging industry. All computationally intensive and laborious tasks are handled by RayPlus in the cloud, allowing physicians to obtain their desired results with just a simple click.

When asked about Ruijia’s competitors, Yuan Rong stated that, strictly speaking, the market targeted by Ruijia remains a blue ocean. Yuan explained that most internet-based medical imaging companies focus primarily on image viewing, storage, and computer-aided diagnosis. Meanwhile, many traditional PACS vendors have completed their transition to cloud-based PACS solutions; their years of technological and channel accumulation have turned this segment into a red ocean. In contrast, more advanced computer-aided treatment technologies remain difficult for typical startups to enter due to high technical barriers and broad interdisciplinary requirements. Similar products from companies such as France’s Infinitt, the U.S.-based EDDA Technology, and a handful of domestic firms are still predominantly offered as workstation-based solutions or provided to physicians on a case-by-case service basis. These approaches are costly, complex to operate, and inefficient, limiting their adoption to a small number of top-tier (Grade 3A) hospitals and making integration into routine patient treatment pathways challenging.

Currently, Ruijia Medical Imaging’s business model encompasses both B2B and B2C segments. RayPlus provides services to hospital departments on an annual subscription basis, assisting physicians in making more informed clinical decisions and facilitating cutting-edge disease research. Meanwhile, RayPlus plans to collaborate with rapidly growing online hospitals to offer a richer suite of remote diagnosis and treatment tools on their platforms, allowing patients to select and pay for these services directly.

According to Yuan Rong, the founding team of Ruijia Medical Imaging originates from PETLab at Huazhong University of Science and Technology. With years of technical accumulation in the field of medical imaging, the team has led multiple key projects funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Education. The founding team has extensive experience in close scientific research collaboration with radiology, nuclear medicine, oncology, and surgery departments at many top-tier Grade A tertiary hospitals in China. Ruijia Medical Imaging plans to establish five application demonstration departments in Beijing, Shanghai, and Wuhan within one year, utilizing the RayPlus system to facilitate computer-assisted treatment of liver cancer.

In addition, Ruijia Medical Imaging provides registered physician users with free access to features such as 2D image viewing, 3D volume rendering, and surface reconstruction, encouraging more potential users to adopt this cloud-based workstation and addressing the current challenges of “prohibitive costs and steep learning curves.”

RayPlus is currently raising funds, seeking investors with professional expertise in internet healthcare and healthcare informatization who are firmly optimistic about these sectors. Together, we aim to accelerate the commercial development of RayPlus and seize first-mover advantages in this still-blue-ocean market.

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