Tencent Healthcare Is Getting Serious: Strategic Moves and Ecosystem Integration

Tencent is playing a very big game.

On November 23, a minor viral sensation swept through WeChat Moments: Tencent’s CEO, Ma Huateng, was photographed striking similar poses in the same location with three different men (though there were likely more than just these three photos, the editor only managed to collect these three). The first three images appeared in our WeChat Moments feeds.

From left to right: Wei Jianfeng, founder of Zhuojian; Li Tiantian, founder of DXY; and Wang Shirui, founder of Medlinker. They posted photos with Tencent founder Ma Huateng on the same day.

According to VCBeat, this was a medical salon organized by Tencent, featuring Tencent and its investees: Guahao.com, DXY, Zhuojian, and Medlinker, all of which are star enterprises in the internet healthcare sector. Ma Huateng attended the conference in person.

The most pressing concern was the theme. Through extensive outreach, VCBeat learned that the theme of this medical salon was straightforward and clear: following a series of investments in internet healthcare, Tencent has officially rolled out its strategic layout in the healthcare sector. Each portfolio company has been assigned a specific development direction by Tencent, with close interconnections established among them.

Let's first take a look at how Tencent invested in four companies

To begin with, Tencent has invested in a vast number of healthcare companies, along with numerous strategic investments related to government and municipal initiatives. Here, we primarily focus on its four investments most closely tied to internet healthcare: DXY, Guahao.com, Zhuojian, and Medlinker.

The first investment was in DXY, made in early September 2014, with an investment amount of $70 million. At the time, Tencent’s own media outlet, Tencent Tech, commented on the event: “This move signifies Tencent’s formal entry into the healthcare and medical sector. It is reported that following the completion of the investment, DXY will engage in a series of collaborations across Tencent’s various platforms, including exploration and integration with the WeChat system.”

At that time, the internet healthcare sector was at its peak. The industry was characterized by excessive enthusiasm but a lack of clear strategic direction. Tencent’s investment in DXY was primarily driven by its appreciation for the latter’sWeChat Connectionits role, namely, connecting physicians through DXY. The long-term goal is to help DXY expand from serving physicians to entering the mass health market.

The second investment was in Guahao.com, which also took place in September 2014, approximately three weeks after the investment in DXY. Led by Tencent, the total investment amount reached $106.5 million. Following the investment, the primary change at Guahao.com was the launch of the “WeDoctor Platform.” At that time, Tencent Technology reported: “The WeDoctor Platform is planned to integrate with WeChat and QQ, providing interfaces for hospitals and doctors so that they can offer convenient medical services to hundreds of millions of users on Guahao.com, WeChat, and QQ with a single connection.”

It is evident that the investment in Guahao.com also aims to leverage its connectivity with hospitals and physicians, facilitating seamless integration of WeChat and QQ users.

The third investment was in Zhuojian, made in early 2015, with an amount of RMB 150 million. At that time, the atmosphere in the internet healthcare sector underwent some subtle changes. As the fervor around “Internet + Healthcare” gradually cooled, more people began to advocate for “Healthcare + Internet.” Zhuojian is a company built on serving hospitals.

Last week, Dr. Wei Jianfeng, founder of Zhuojian, mentioned in a group interview with VCBeat that when Zhuojian first engaged with Tencent, Tencent outlined the positioning of Guahao.com, DXY, and Zhuojian: Guahao.com is primarily patient-centric, DXY is primarily physician-centric, while Zhuojian is primarily hospital-centric. There is some overlap between Guahao.com and DXY, mainly at the physician level, whereas Zhuojian’s efforts to integrate hospital information systems are truly distinctive.

The fourth investment was in Medlinker, made in early September 2015. Led by Tencent, the total amount reached $40 million. Medlinker is one of the most successful startups in building physician social networks. Tencent’s investment in Medlinker signaled its intention to make strategic inroads into physician communities. We will later examine Tencent’s more significant strategic moves, as its overall ecosystem was already taking shape at the time of the Medlinker investment.

Let’s Revisit the Differences and Convergence Points Among the Four Companies

Let's start by looking at a figure.

Let us continue the analysis. Currently, Guahao.com boasts the most comprehensive ecosystem, having made significant strides in serving hospitals, physicians, and patients; consequently, it commands the highest valuation.

Next is DXY, which has historically excelled in physician communication and academic engagement but lacked connections with hospitals and patients. After securing investment from Tencent, it shifted its focus toward the mass consumer health market. However, DXY missed the wave of internet healthcare services such as online consultations and appointment registration, and is currently prioritizing offline clinics.

Let’s discuss Medlinker again. Similar to DXY, both are communities that aggregate physicians. The difference lies in their formats: DXY primarily operates as a forum focused on academic exchanges and research papers, whereas Medlinker emerged during the mobile internet era, adopting the currently popular model of case-based image social networking. Consequently, Medlinker now faces a challenge similar to DXY’s: how to achieve monetization after accumulating a large base of physicians.

Finally, there is Zhuojian. Zhuojian is somewhat unique in that it initially pursued an offline strategy, introducing online technologies to offline settings to help hospitals improve operational efficiency before advancing further internet-based transformation. Consequently, Zhuojian’s most core resource lies in its partnerships with hospitals, characterized by substantial and in-depth collaboration.

Looking back at Tencent’s strategic layout, Guahao.com represents the scenario of online medical consultations, DXY represents the scenario of academic exchange among physicians, Medlinker represents the scenario of professional social networking for doctors, and Zhuojian Health represents the scenario of hospital digitalization.

How can these enterprises be organically integrated to complete the puzzle of Tencent’s healthcare empire? For instance, both DXY and Medlinker require access to medical institutions and patient resources, while Zhuojian is also seeking to enhance its product offerings for physicians and patients. All of them may aim to establish a certain degree of closed-loop ecosystem.

This was one of the themes of the Shenzhen conference on the 23rd: The Internet Healthcare Revolution Is Here. Since it is a revolution, there must be a division of labor.

Please refer to the figure below, which shows a rough layout as follows:

Reportedly, these are the key takeaways from the Shenzhen conference: Guahao.com focuses primarily on tertiary hospitals, Medlinker targets private hospitals, DXY concentrates on offline clinics, while Zhuojian mainly drives internet integration within hospitals. Of course, the reality is not so simple; this is merely a rough outline. We can identify their areas of overlap by examining the business scopes of these companies.

Guahao.com, DXY, Zhuojian, Medlinker

This diagram is an inference. There will inevitably be countless intersections among the four companies.

An ideal scenario would be one in which physicians engage in professional exchanges on DXY and Medlinker, conduct group consultations via Guahao.com, practice at multiple sites including DXY’s offline clinics, while Zhuojian handles the integration of various information systems on the hospital side. As for distinguishing between tertiary public hospitals and private hospitals, it is likely difficult to draw a clear line.

The Side Quests of War

Beyond these four main business lines, Tencent has also incubated its own product: Tang Daifu (Sugar Doctor). Through Tang Daifu, Tencent has directly entered the fields of chronic disease management and insurance, with DXY serving as a key intermediary link.

Prior to the Shenzhen conference, Tencent, in partnership with Tangdaifu, DXY, and ZhongAn Insurance, jointly launched Tangdaifu 2.0. The Tangdaifu smart glucometer, serving as an intelligent terminal, integrates with DXY’s online real-time consultation and health management services. Furthermore, leveraging big data management for patients, Tangdaifu collaborated with ZhongAn Insurance to introduce rehabilitation incentive insurance services tailored for patients.

At the macro level, Tencent has gradually established its presence across local governments, hospitals, physicians, and patients, while at the meso level, its strategic layout for specific disease categories is just beginning.

Special Note, much of the above content is speculative. The internet healthcare sector has evolved rapidly over the past one to two years. Tencent’s investment objectives last year may have shifted significantly this year. The only certainty is that Tencent will definitely not be absent from the major battleground of healthcare and medical services.