Qiezi Oral Cloud Disrupts Dental SaaS Market with Free Model, Files IPO Prospectus After Covering Over 13,000 Clinics

“You must be prepared for the possibility that the company could go under at any moment.” During the three-hour interview, Cui Wei, founder and CEO of Chengqi, remarked on this more than once.

Every entrepreneurial venture is fraught with uncertainties, which harbor both risks and countless possibilities. Cui Wei had a less-than-successful startup experience in his early years, making him even more cautious this time around. “Entrepreneurship requires the ability to endure solitude,” Cui Wei said with a smile. For over half a year since its establishment, Chengqi remained largely unknown to the outside world. “If the company fails, at least it won’t be a disgraceful downfall.”

Now, Chengqi can generously and confidently share its achievements with the outside world.

Since its establishment last July, Chengqi’s flagship product, “Qiezi Dental Cloud,” has captured 13,679 clinics as of May 31 this year.Qiezi Dental Cloud is an outpatient management software developed for small and medium-sized clinics, township health rooms, infirmaries, and community health service stations. It integrates pharmacy management, pricing and billing, electronic prescriptions, financial statistics, and other functions. The system covers all aspects of daily management in medical clinics.According to Cui Wei, users in Tibet have already adopted his Qiezi Dental Cloud. Cui told VCBeat that the name “Qiezi” (Eggplant) is derived from the pleasant sound people make when baring their teeth in a smile for the camera, evoking a strong sense of specific scenario.

However, Cui Wei admitted that he was initially uncertain whether the seed of “Qiezi Dental Cloud” would take root and sprout.

Before founding Chengqi, Cui Wei spent four years immersed in the pharmaceutical e-commerce sector. From the initial collaboration between JD.com and Haoyaoshi in 2011 to their eventual split and the launch of JD Medicine City, Cui witnessed the industry’s ups and downs over those years. His ultimate decision to leave both the pharmaceutical e-commerce industry and JD.com was driven by the prolonged delay in relaxing regulations on the online sale of prescription drugs—a key factor that has long hindered significant breakthroughs in the sector.

“E-commerce in the pharmaceutical sector is performing well; however, as it advances further, it will inevitably intersect with medical services,” analyzed Cui Wei. Internet healthcare cannot bypass the public hospital system under administrative monopoly, and companies in the internet healthcare market are engaged in homogeneous competition. For those considering entrepreneurship, it is essential to identify a relatively untapped blue-ocean segment.

Cui Wei

After conducting research, Cui Wei identified three major characteristics of the dental clinic market: fragmentation, dispersion, and disorder. There are approximately 150,000 individual dental clinics across China, two-thirds of which are small to medium-sized entities, primarily operating as single-location practices or small chains with fewer than five outlets. Due to information asymmetry and the involvement of multiple interdisciplinary fields such as aesthetics and materials science, market pricing varies significantly.

Cui Wei believes that as people’s living standards and consumption levels rise, consumers’ awareness of oral health care is improving. “This market aligns well with the internet model; it is also a highly grassroots sector with tremendous explosive growth potential.”

Cui Wei told VCBeat that large chain clinics currently have their own systems, while others still rely on traditional software. True dental cloud solutions are scarce. According to Cui Wei, a cloud system should meet the following criteria: First, it must be available 24/7 without requiring offline maintenance by engineers and should include a mobile app. Second, data must be synchronized in real time between the mobile and web platforms.

“We are the company that has secured the largest amount of financing in this industry to date, which is crucial for startups,” said Cui Wei. He noted that ample financial backing would enable Chengqi to accelerate its growth.

Cui Wei stated that Chengqi does not take a single cent from the clinics. “The internet operates on a tipping economy; we focus on delivering quality service, always centering on ‘enhancing user experience.’ Once we reach a certain scale, people will naturally be willing to pay.” This model adopted by Chengqi is emblematic of the currently popular fan economy.

Orange Qi’s trump card is “permanent free access,” which is highly appealing to small and medium-sized clinics. “Because they are very cost-conscious,” said Cui Wei. Achieving profitability in the dental SaaS sector requires reaching a certain scale. Once scaled up, supply chains become optimized, leading to reduced industry costs; these savings are ultimately passed on to end consumers, offering them tangible benefits. Meanwhile, a market-driven, data-based approach enables users to make more transparent and confident choices.

Notably, Chengqi’s products have been tailor-made for dental clinics from the outset. Since the launch of its first version, “Qiezi Dental Cloud” has maintained real-time interaction with users, incorporating their feedback promptly to drive product updates and iterations.

Initially, Qiezi Dental Cloud was neither understood nor accepted by customers, whose primary concern was security. This was because Qiezi Dental Cloud did not offer a local PC client, providing only a web-based cloud service. However, Cui Wei believed that, from a future-oriented perspective, data is meaningful only when synchronized in real time. Only a cloud-based solution can enable rapid data iteration and eliminate the costs associated with offline maintenance.

It is reported that Chengqi’s Dental Cloud is deployed on Alibaba Cloud servers. “In simple terms, our level of data security is comparable to that of Alipay,” introduced Cui Wei. User data storage is based on distributed storage technology and elastic computing services (which enable recovery after failures and automatic migration of cloud servers while ensuring that URLs and firewall rules remain unchanged). Every fragment of data is sharded across servers worldwide, making it impossible for anyone to access the complete dataset. Data ownership belongs entirely to the clinics.

In July last year, after the launch of Qiezi Dental Cloud, we began seeking seed users. Online, we acquired users through social platforms such as QQ groups and WeChat groups; offline, we conducted ground promotions leveraging existing personal networks. Approximately three months later, the user base of Qiezi Dental Cloud underwent a qualitative leap driven by quantitative growth, surpassing 5,000 users by the end of last year.

Over the past three months, Qiezi Dental Cloud has undergone two iterations. Sang Lin, co-founder of Chengqi, introduced that Chengqi maintains a dedicated user group focused on customer needs, with participation from technical, product, and operations teams. Product features are improved and adjusted weekly based on user feedback. “For example, our platform originally resembled traditional software, primarily presenting data in spreadsheet format, but was later updated to a view-based mode.”

Sang Lin told VCBeat that Qiezi Dental Cloud is divided into versions for single clinics and small chains. “For example, some doctors do not practice at a fixed location but provide services at multiple clinics, which requires adjustments to product features based on the doctors’ needs.”

Prior to joining Chengqi, Sang Lin had many years of experience in the field of healthcare informatics, primarily responsible for the applied research and development of Hospital Information System (HIS) solutions for large hospitals.

Sang Lin stated that hospital HIS products are primarily operated on a project basis, whereas dental SaaS is driven by user operations, requiring continuous fulfillment of user needs.

Cui Wei predicts that the dental SaaS market will become a red ocean in two to three years. “Chengqi is still in its infancy. Whether it can reach the finish line depends on both luck and effort. Therefore, speed must be the key to winning in the early stages.”

To accelerate growth, the team must keep pace. Currently, Orange Qi’s ground promotion team comprises over 100 members, representing the company’s largest financial investment to date. In fact, there is a scarcity of experienced sales professionals available in the dental SaaS market. Orange Qi’s existing sales staff hail from diverse sectors, including software, medical devices, and healthcare apps. VCBeat has learned that, apart from the partners, all other managers at Orange Qi have advanced from entry-level positions to their current roles.

Cui Wei does not blindly adhere to past successes. “No matter how effective previous models were, they may not be applicable, as no one knows how to build the models of the future.”

In addition to “Qiezi Oral Cloud,” Chengqi also offers products such as “Qiezi Micro-Marketing” and “Qiezi Doctor.” By subscribing to the Qiezi Micro-Marketing platform, dental clinics can easily become “Qiezi” store owners even without holding inventory, thereby enhancing both their profitability and patient loyalty. “Qiezi Doctor” enables real-time appointment scheduling and flexible customer management, while facilitating instant communication between doctors and patients as well as among peers.

VCBeat has learned that Chengqi has launched the “Qiezi Dentist Show” campaign. Under this initiative, Chengqi shares case videos filmed by dentists (each no longer than three minutes) on the Qiezi Cloud WeChat account, fostering interaction among dentists and turning users of the Qiezi Dental Cloud into content promoters.

Cui Wei stated that this approach helps physicians build their professional influence. “Teach a man to fish, and empower him with capability.” Orange Qi has also signed contracts with influential experts to help develop their personal brands (IPs), while enabling some grassroots dentists to become recognized experts through talent selection programs.

Cui Wei believes that “the company is the medium,” leveraging Internet thinking and business models to turn every user into a builder and disseminator of the corporate brand.

“Externally, we need to have the capability to deliver SaaS solutions; internally, we also employ a SaaS-based corporate management system, similar to a CRM framework,” said Cui Wei.

At the very center of Chengqi’s office stands a prominent large screen, dedicated to video conferencing and remote interviews, serving as Chengqi’s “National Air Command Center.” VCBeat has learned that Chengqi has a dedicated team responsible for operating this “National Air Command Center.” Currently, Chengqi releases an operational maintenance data report on a weekly basis to prepare for the future explosion of big data.

Cui Wei told VCBeat that Orange Qi’s overarching strategy is to focus on developing SaaS systems, continuously meeting the needs of dental clinics, and therefore firmly avoiding engagement with the consumer (C-end) market. “We are dedicated to serving business clients (B-end), and in the future, collaborations with insurance and e-commerce sectors can be integrated into our platform.”

“SaaS will dominate the future.” Cui Wei stated that once dental clinic SaaS solutions mature, they can be replicated in other specialized fields.

“Dental SaaS has high data requirements and demands continuous accumulation. Only by achieving breadth can one attain depth.” Cui Wei believes that, to some extent, Orange Qi is a “camel company.” “This also prevents the industry from rapidly becoming a red ocean.”