Databao: Reconstructing Health Insurance with Internet Innovation Files for IPO

One month ago, China’s first commercial health insurance product designed specifically for diabetes patients, “Tui Tang Gu,” was launched. “Tui Tang Gu” was jointly introduced by the online insurance service platform Da Te Bao, China Taiping Insurance, and Munich Re from Germany. Currently, traditional insurers such as Munich Re and China Taiping Insurance, which collaborate with Da Te Bao, primarily provide support in underwriting and claims settlement, while Da Te Bao leads the research and development of the insurance product.

“Tui Tang Gu” features three major highlights: First, it is specifically designed for patients already diagnosed with diabetes, breaking the conventional rule that pre-existing conditions disqualify individuals from obtaining insurance coverage. Second, it is a fully online diabetes insurance product, with policy application, purchase, and claims processing all completed digitally. Third, it partners with three diabetes management apps—Zhangshang Tangyi, Weitang, and Xuetang Gaoguan—to offer users bundled packages combining insurance coverage with various health services provided by these platforms.

Da Te Bao is currently the only service platform focused on pure protection-type individual insurance products, such as accident insurance and health/critical illness insurance. Leveraging internet-based thinking and business models, Da Te Bao’s insurance offerings achieve low pricing, customization, and rapid iteration.

Within six months of its launch, Da Te Bao completed Series A and A+ financing rounds, raising a total of RMB 180 million. Investors included Ceyuan Ventures, Ping An Capital, and Fosun Group. Currently, Da Te Bao has approximately 2 million insured users. Recently, the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) approved Da Te Bao for a national insurance brokerage license, making it the first internet insurance startup platform to hold such a license in China.

Let Insurance Return to Its Original Purpose of Protection

Prior to founding Da Te Bao, Zhou Lei had already spent approximately 20 years immersed in the insurance industry. As a professional executive, Zhou achieved considerable success and renown, having previously served as Chief Channel Officer for Greater China at Allianz Global Assistance, Senior Vice President of Zurich Insurance China, and Vice President of AIG China General Insurance.



Allianz Global Assistance, Zurich Insurance, and AIG are all among the top ten insurance companies worldwide. However, within his existing career path, Zhou Lei had already encountered a ceiling. In his view, the window of opportunity for internet-based insurance was limited, as the internet industry has always adhered to the principle that “speed is paramount.” He therefore quickly made the decision to start his own business. In fact, Zhou Lei had long harbored an aspiration to return insurance to its “original intent”—that is, to ensure that insurance truly fulfills its protective function, rather than serving merely as a financial investment product.

This is also a concept that Zhou Lei often mentions on various occasions, and it is the original intention behind the founding of Da Te Bao.

Da Te Bao, meaning “High-Impact Inclusive Insurance,” envisions “providing the most cost-effective insurance products so that every Chinese person can have access to basic insurance coverage.”

Zhou Lei aims to leverage internet-based solutions to address the longstanding issues of traditional insurance products, such as high premiums, low coverage, poor claims services, and even claim denials. To enable end-to-end online transactions for these products, robust backend capabilities in process design and quality control are essential to ensure consistent and stable service quality. According to Zhou Lei, half of Datoubao’s workforce consists of its technical team.

Zhou Lei told VCBeat that Da Te Bao does not aim to profit from commissions, but rather seeks to earn a share of the profits by providing big data analytics services. Specifically, Da Te Bao aims to accumulate a user base through inclusive insurance products, and then leverage big data to provide insurers with services in areas such as risk control and expense variance management, ultimately achieving profitability through profit-sharing arrangements.

Single-Disease Insurance Customer Acquisition

It is worth noting that among Da Te Bao’s 2 million users, 70% are female, primarily concentrated in first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen.

Based on market research, Da Te Bao has found that within a family, mothers prioritize their children’s health above all else, followed by their own and other family members’ well-being. Consequently, the insurance products initially launched by Da Te Bao were specifically targeted at children and women, employing single-disease coverage policies as a strategy to acquire users. This also explains why Da Te Bao chose to partner with platforms such as Dayima and BabyTree in its early stages.

Another reason for focusing on single-disease insurance products is that they are low-priced and well-suited for promotion, serving as the primary customer acquisition tool for Dataibao. For instance, products such as critical illness insurance and hospitalization insurance for children, breast cancer insurance for women, and cervical cancer insurance can be priced at just tens to hundreds of yuan. Among the single-disease insurance products already planned by Dataibao, a range of offerings under development has been outlined, including those for hypertension and ophthalmic conditions.

However, for traditional insurance companies, it is difficult to offset labor costs with single-disease insurance policies priced at only tens or hundreds of yuan. “Traditional insurers still rely on offline channels for customer acquisition, with an average cost of around 1,000 yuan per customer,” Zhou Lei explained, noting that the traditional industry heavily depends on channel resources.

In the early stages, Da Te Bao also adopted promotional strategies such as offering free insurance coverage. This year’s Father’s Day, Da Te Bao partnered with Didi Chuxing and Kuaidi Dache to provide 500,000 complimentary “Critical Illness Insurance Policies for Respiratory System Diseases” to Didi-Kuaidi drivers and passengers. This insurance specifically covers four high-incidence critical respiratory conditions: end-stage lung disease, cor pulmonale, malignant lung tumors, and severe asthma. With a sum insured of up to RMB 9,999, beneficiaries can enjoy full-year coverage upon a single claim.

Low-Cost, Customized, and Rapid Iteration

How Can "Da Te Bao" Reduce Insurance Costs?

Zhou Lei stated that, compared with traditional insurance companies, the advantage of internet-based insurers lies in their rapid response and fast iteration. “For a traditional insurer to launch a product, it must go through design, actuarial analysis, regulatory approval, and finally market release, a process that often takes several months. In contrast, internet insurance companies can make improvements at any time based on user needs.”

Internet insurance companies can also make innovative attempts, such as offering floating sum assured.

Floating Sum Assured is an insurance product specifically designed to incentivize diabetes patients to engage in disease management. By proactively completing their daily health management plans, policyholders can accumulate their sum assured over time. The initial sum assured is RMB 1,000, with an annual maximum cap of RMB 20,000.

The insurance products developed through the collaboration between DXY, Tencent, and ZhongAn also feature a design with floating coverage amounts. “Floating coverage amounts can help more effectively incentivize users and increase user stickiness; we will also introduce this mechanism into our insurance products,” said Zhou Lei, introducing the design philosophy behind this insurance product. “We initially designed it by referencing data from neighboring countries and regions, such as relevant user data from Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. After continuously collecting user data, we then localized the product.”

For internet healthcare companies, commercial health insurance not only enhances user stickiness and engagement but, more critically, resolves the profitability model of internet healthcare. It has become a consensus among all internet healthcare companies that commercial health insurance serves as the payer.

Through collaborations with Zhangshang Tangyi, Weitang, and Xuetang Gaoguan, both parties can leverage their respective traffic streams to promote products and share user bases. Meanwhile, Tuitanggu is set to launch on diabetes management apps such as Tangyisheng and Yuetang. Reportedly, within just one week of its launch, Tuitanggu generated nearly 2,000 insurance policy purchases.

Datetebao's HMO

Datoubao’s longer-term goal is to become China’s Oscar, implementing an HMO (Health Maintenance Organization) model and intervening in the control of users’ medical expenses.

Zhou Lei stated that traditional commercial insurers generally avoid offering medical and health insurance because they do not engage in front-end risk management for medical insurance, making it impossible to control costs and resulting in high premium expenses. This is precisely why they are only willing to serve the high-end market rather than the mid- to low-end segments. This gap represents a significant opportunity for Datebao.

What sets Da Te Bao apart from traditional or large corporations is its commitment to collaborative win-win partnerships rather than seeking market dominance. Specifically, it integrates high-quality resources across various niche segments of the current market to build out every component of its HMO model.

As platforms such as WeDoctor Group and Haodf are already relatively mature, Da Te Bao has chosen to partner with “hidden champions” in vertical niches—companies that may lack broad name recognition but possess strong resource capabilities.

Da Te Bao’s criteria for selecting partner companies include those that have secured Series A or Series B funding and demonstrate deep specialization in vertical sectors, such as pediatrics, ophthalmology, claims cost control, and chronic disease management.

During his tenure at Allianz in Germany, Zhou Lei had already engaged in similar resource integration efforts. The HMO model he established involves providing remote consultations and prescribing treatment plans and medications once a customer falls ill. If patients require in-person medical care, DataSure Insurance offers services such as appointment registration. Since physicians’ interests are aligned with those of DataSure Insurance, there is no incentive for overprescribing, thereby helping to control insurance costs.

Traditional insurers are better positioned than Datoubao to undertake this initiative, yet they lack sufficient motivation and determination. Even though some companies are making attempts in the internet space, most treat it merely as an online distribution channel rather than developing a genuine internet-based product.

Zhou Lei told VCBeat that even if traditional insurance companies have awakened to the need to develop internet-based insurance products, they have already missed this window of opportunity. “We are ahead of them, and that is my advantage.”