Youkang Builds a Mobile Elderly Care Ecosystem Integrating 'Greater Health + Greater Living'

In January 2016, VCBeat’s VBInsight released its first “Elderly Care"In-Depth Review of Asset-Light Entrepreneurship Models," launched in March with "New Entrepreneurial Tracks Have Emerged:Elderly Care“The Asset-Light Trend Has Arrived.” Moving forward, we will gradually publish reports on startups in the asset-light segment of the elderly care industry. This is the eighth article in the series.

Currently, elderly care in China is broadly categorized into three models: home-based care, community-based care, and institutional care. UCan Technology aims to adopt a market-oriented approach to establish an integrated elderly care service platform, leveraging information technology to address the challenges of home-based care for the elderly in China. This market remains a blue ocean within the country.

Currently, UCan provides various paid and free services to the elderly through multiple channels, including online call centers, WeChat platforms, and mobile apps, as well as offline community service centers and convenience service activities. The medical sector serves as the primary focus for the individual market, establishing an “integrated medical and elderly care” service model. This model offers a comprehensive system of medical and elderly care services, ranging from health management and chronic disease management to physical examinations, in-home nursing, family doctor services, hospital care, and post-operative rehabilitation. The lifestyle services sector focuses on high-frequency, essential services required for the daily lives of the elderly, covering all senior users with offerings such as housekeeping, cleaning, laundry, appliance repair, home maintenance, and meal delivery. Additional services, including emergency rescue, cultural and recreational activities, and wearable devices, are provided to meet the personalized needs of different groups.

Meanwhile, UCan Technology undertakes various elderly care services commissioned by the government. In 2015, UCan’s elderly care service model was included in the Blue Book on Smart Elderly Care published by the National Working Commission on Aging.

On one hand, UCan integrates a vast array of high-quality medical and daily life service resources to serve urban seniors. On the other hand, leveraging the large base of elderly users accumulated on its platform, it attracts more premium service providers. Building on this foundation, UCan has developed multiple mobile applications and wearable devices that connect seniors, their children, and service providers with the UCan platform, ultimately creating a closed-loop internet-based elderly care ecosystem encompassing “Holistic Health + Holistic Living.”

UCan has now become an elderly care aggregation platform with 1 million elderly users, 400,000 active users, and integration of approximately 500 service providers of various types. Gu Yao, CEO of UCan Technology, told VCBeat that, in terms of care services alone, UCan has provided 3.5 million phone-based care check-ins for seniors living alone. In emergency response services, UCan has established a professional team that has successfully saved the lives of more than 3,000 elderly individuals, achieving a 100% success rate in rescue operations.

In terms of market strategy, Shanghai UCan Information Technology Co., Ltd. chooses government services as its entry point, ultimately targeting the individual consumer market to address elderly care needs.Entering the market through government procurement offers three key advantages:

1. Enhance brand credibility and influence: The government can provide Shanghai UCan Information Technology Co., Ltd. with revenue support and credibility endorsement. Through government channels, the company can alleviate the defensiveness of elderly individuals;

2. Consolidate service providers; the government possesses its own supplier resources and can assist Shanghai UCan Information Technology Co.,Ltd. in connecting with these resources;

3. Ensure stable cash flow income.

UCan will gradually replicate its model in other cities this year. For target cities, UCan has put forward three requirements: a sufficiently large population; a certain level of consumer spending power; and the presence of scaled suppliers along with established online shopping habits.

CEO Gu Yao is responsible for the company’s specific operational and management activities, bringing over 10 years of experience in the internet, e-commerce, and government sectors, as well as extensive expertise in internet e-commerce and corporate operations management.

Currently, UCan Technology is undergoing fundraising.