Healthcare Partners Innovation Collaboration Scheme Competition Closes Registration: 4 Key Data Points Reveal China's Medical Startup Landscape
Since the registration launched on December 22, 2015, the “Medical Journey to Growth, Win-Win Partnership” Medical Partner Innovation Cooperation Scheme Competition, hosted by Pfizer, Ping An Insurance, Tencent, and Legend Capital, has been enthusiastically embraced by entrepreneurs. As of February 13, 2016, a total of 377 startup companies had registered.
During the registration period, the organizers also invited the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (hereinafter referred to as the “Gates Foundation”), the world’s largest foundation, to serve as the public welfare and charitable partner for this competition, while WeDoctor Group, a leading Chinese internet healthcare enterprise, and DXY were appointed as strategic partners. In addition to negotiating collaborations with the four organizing parties—Pfizer, Ping An, Tencent, and Legend Capital—outstanding participating teams may choose to engage in in-depth discussions with the competition’s partners based on their respective interests and development directions.
Focus Areas: Nearly Half Are Internet Healthcare Companies
Among the 377 companies registered for this competition, 182 were internet healthcare enterprises, accounting for 48% of the total. This figure correlates positively with the heightened attention currently directed toward internet healthcare, as the internet becomes an integral tool and channel within the medical sector. Ranking second and third were medical services, medical devices, and pharmaceutical-related companies. Overall, the participating companies spanned a broad range of fields, from currently trending areas such as internet healthcare, in vitro diagnostics (IVD), genetic testing, and medical big data, to traditional sectors including medical devices, drug R&D, and rehabilitation chains. In terms of specialized segments, oncology, diabetes, orthopedics, and obstetrics/gynecology were particularly prominent. Companies labeled with clinical medical big data, wearable smart hardware, medical imaging, point-of-care testing (POCT), and biogenetic technologies demonstrated strong momentum.
Cooperation Intent: Companies at Series A and Beyond Prioritize Medical Resources
Based on the companies registered for this competition, those in later financing rounds place greater emphasis on non-capital resources, such as medical resources (e.g., physicians and hospitals) and traffic and dissemination resources. The chart below uses the number of companies prioritizing capital cooperation at each financing round as the baseline to show the relative number of companies focusing on medical resources, traffic, and other resources. It can be seen that as the financing round advances, a higher proportion of companies focus on resources beyond capital.
Among the desired resources for collaboration, physicians, hospitals, and medical resources are garnering the most attention. Additionally, opportunities for business integration with Pfizer’s big data, marketing, and sales departments; Ping An Commercial Insurance; and Tencent’s financing and traffic diversion capabilities are also highly favored. Some applicant companies have specifically highlighted their need for access to Pfizer’s oncology distribution channels, as well as connections to small and medium-sized hospitals, rural hospitals, or primary-level pharmaceutical market distributors.
Funding Stage: Angel-round companies account for approximately one-third.
More than 300 companies registered for this competition, covering various stages of medical innovation and entrepreneurship. Participants ranged from seed-stage and angel-round startups to those in Series B and C rounds. Data shows that angel-round companies accounted for 31% of all registrants, approximately one-third of the total. Compared with other competitions, nearly 21% of the participating companies had secured Pre-A round financing or later. The event attracted enterprises with single-round funding exceeding USD 100 million and valuations surpassing several billion RMB. No fewer than 30 companies that made it onto the final list of VCBeat’s Annual Internet Healthcare Influential Rankings participated in this competition, demonstrating the organizer’s strong brand influence and the event’s considerable appeal.
Regional Distribution: The top six provinces account for over 70% of all registered enterprises
Participating companies in this competition hail from 26 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions across China. The top six regions are Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Sichuan, with Beijing-based companies accounting for approximately one-third of the total registrations. Notably, Sichuan is the only western region represented among the top ten. In the second tier, central provinces such as Henan, Hebei, Hubei, Hunan, and Shandong have demonstrated strong performance. It is also worth noting that Liaoning and Heilongjiang in Northeast China each have six participating companies.
———— Fun Little Data Separator ————
l Which telecom carrier do entrepreneurs favor the most?
n 62% of the contact persons from registered enterprises use China Mobile phone numbers.
l Do you know what email address entrepreneurs prefer the most?
- The most frequently used email service among contact persons from registering enterprises is QQ Mail, accounting for approximately one-third of the total, followed by 163 Mail, 126 Mail, Sina Mail, and 139 Mail.
—————Divider Requiring Critical Attention—————
Registration for the competition has now closed. The organizers are currently conducting a rigorous review and screening of registered companies. The results for the next stage will be announced by 18:00 on Friday, February 26. All participating companies are advised to monitor their email inboxes. Next week, 50 outstanding companies will advance to the closed-door session of the competition. Please stay tuned to the official competition website for further updates.http://www.cyzone.cn/features/hcpartners/and VCBeat's follow-up reports.