BaBaMai Aims to Integrate Traditional Chinese Medicine into Daily Life, Files for IPO

"Lifestyle is a methodology, a philosophy that guides people's daily lives. For 'Ba Ba Mai,' an internet healthcare product, the goal is to transform Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) into a lifestyle. 'We aim to make TCM a lifestyle and leverage our platform to promote it, enabling more people to apply TCM methodologies to guide their healthy living,' Xia Tianyu, founder and CEO of Ba Ba Mai, told VCBeat. He pointed out a representative group in China: the people of Guangdong Province, who have already integrated TCM into their daily lives. They practice Tai Chi and enjoy morning tea after waking up, drink herbal teas throughout the day, prepare different medicinal diets and soups based on solar terms at the dining table, and receive foot reflexology and Tui Na massage after work. In essence, they are using TCM principles to guide their everyday lives."

Form a Complete Closed Loop

Baba Mai is a platform dominated by light medical services of Traditional Chinese Medicine. The product was officially launched in July this year, and the platform has currently accumulated 400 physicians and over 25,000 users.

On the Bamai platform, tools, services, community, self-media, and e-commerce form a closed loop. Among these, tools and services are used to attract users; the “Ask” community and the “Bamai Hall” self-media platform are designed to enhance user stickiness; while the “Bamai Street” e-commerce segment aims to achieve profitability.

In the “Online Appointment” feature, users can view doctors’ available service hours and appointment fees. After selecting a suitable time slot, they can visit the hospital for consultation at the scheduled time. Additionally, users can consult with doctors online. The pricing for this service is determined by the doctors themselves, although the system provides a suggested price.

After a user places an order, a medical history questionnaire will appear. Physicians can review the patient’s preliminary condition through this survey to determine whether they are able to provide services to the patient.

In the “Ask a Question” community, users can post inquiries based on their individual circumstances and set a bounty amount for physicians when submitting questions (with the option to ask for free). Xia Tianyu introduced that the system provides additional incentives to physicians who respond within 15 minutes, and the user’s bounty is evenly distributed among the first five respondents within 24 hours.

“Bamai Tang” is a self-media channel on the Bamai platform, sharing original articles and expert video content. Currently, the company is collaborating with hospital departments to film popular science videos on traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), repackaging TCM’s distinctive features through self-media formats. Xia Tianyu told VCBeat that “Bamai Tang” plans to incorporate content from other TCM-focused public accounts in the future, aiming to create an aggregated TCM self-media platform.

“Ba Mai Jie” Online Mall targets the light medical health consumer market, selling TCM wellness products such as medicinal diets, herbal plasters, herbal teas, herbal paste formulas, and medical devices, thereby generating steady cash flow.

Currently, the service workflow of Bama can be summarized as follows: Users can subscribe to and browse articles and videos on traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) health topics on "Bama Tang" in their daily lives. If their needs are not met, they may consult doctors in the "Ask a Doctor" community. If a doctor recommends offline diagnosis and treatment, the user can schedule an appointment with a TCM specialist via the "Online Appointment" feature for in-person care. If the doctor determines that offline treatment is unnecessary and self-care management suffices, they may recommend that the user purchase appropriate health products from "Bama Street" or opt for the upcoming home-based TCM wellness services.

It is understood that Babamai will launch its O2O services in early October, with home-visit consultations provided by junior medical staff. This group is abundant and well-suited to readily handle in-home wellness and healthcare services.

In the O2O service offered by Ba Ba Mai, physicians conduct home visits to perform traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) diagnostics—namely inspection, auscultation and olfaction, inquiry, and pulse-taking—along with constitutional assessment and preliminary diagnosis. Based on the identified symptoms, they provide appropriate health preservation and conditioning services. For patients with more severe conditions whose symptoms are not fully alleviated through these conditioning services, referrals can be made to TCM specialists on the Ba Ba Mai platform for offline consultations.

In addition, Baba Mai will soon launch the “TCM Family Health Physician” service, allowing users to purchase a year’s worth of health management services from a physician in a single transaction. Throughout the year, users can consult their physician on any health issues that arise in daily life and receive guidance on family health management under the “TCM Family Health Physician” program. This initiative not only integrates Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) more deeply into users’ everyday lives but also serves as one of Baba Mai’s strategies to achieve profitability.

Original Intention of the Venture

Xia Tianyu embarked on his entrepreneurial journey not long ago. Prior to this venture, he served as the Technical Director of Portal Products at NetEase and was also the founder and general manager of NetEase Huatian. “Many people are starting their own businesses these days. I’m approaching 40, and it’s time I stopped working for others and gave it a try myself.”

When asked why he chose traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) as his entrepreneurial direction, Xia Tianyu cited three reasons.

On one hand, the aging population is becoming more severe, and the largest industry derived from this trend is the health industry. “The health industry consists of two parts: one is medical care, and the other is wellness and healthcare. Of course, there are also industries such as body shaping, fitness, and medical aesthetics, but these tend to target younger people,” Xia Tianyu told VCBeat. “In addition, Western medicine excels in treating diseases, while traditional Chinese medicine has greater advantages in wellness and healthcare.”

On the other hand, the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) industry has been gradually rising in recent years. Data shows that by 2013, the market size of the TCM industry exceeded RMB 600 billion, with an annual growth rate of over 30%. The proportion of total outpatient and emergency visits to TCM departments out of the national total saw a significant increase: 9% in 2005, rising to 21% in 2009, further increasing to 23.12% in 2012, and reaching 24% in 2013. Meanwhile, the state has provided substantial policy support for TCM. In May this year, the General Office of the State Council issued China’s first national-level plan on the development of TCM health services, titled “Development Plan for Traditional Chinese Medicine Health Services (2015–2020).”

On a personal level, Xia Tianyu’s spouse is the renowned ancient Chinese medicine practitioner Ge Hong (a famous physician of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, courtesy name Zhichuan, self-styled Baopuzi, from Jurong, Danyang; he was a pioneer in preventive medicine and authored *Handbook of Prescriptions for Emergencies*).）Although their descendants no longer practice medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has become a guiding principle in their lives, with TCM methods employed for health preservation and disease prevention. Additionally, Zhou Jianguo, co-founder of Baba Mai, is a devoted TCM enthusiast with a profound passion for the field and served as Xia Tianyu’s mentor in the TCM industry. With nearly 15 years of experience in the pharmaceutical sector, Zhou possesses extensive resources in the TCM industry and previously served as General Manager of National Marketing and Government Relations at Cornell Pharmaceutical. Sharing many common perspectives on TCM, the two decided to launch a joint venture after numerous in-depth discussions.

Xia Tianyu believes that services in the health industry can be divided into three stages. The first stage is when individuals are in good health, at which point they require wellness and healthcare maintenance. Alternatively, if minor symptoms arise that are not severe enough to necessitate hospital treatment, the required service is condition regulation. The second stage occurs when genuine health issues develop, requiring hospital-based medical treatment. The final stage involves post-discharge care, where patients need rehabilitation services after completing their hospital treatment.

Xia Tianyu told VCBeat, “We define the core clinical consultation phase as ‘medical care,’ while the preceding and subsequent stages—encompassing preventive healthcare, symptom management, and post-illness rehabilitation—are categorized as ‘light Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) services.’ Our product offerings cover all these areas. The light TCM segment addresses daily health maintenance and conditioning through TCM therapies such as tuina massage, cupping, gua sha, moxibustion, and acupuncture, as well as dietary therapy and herbal pastes. These are complemented by exercises like Tai Chi and Baduanjin to enhance physical fitness. For the core medical care component, we leverage our platform to assist users with appointment scheduling and referral services.”

Furthermore, Baba Mai encourages users to consult Western medicine practitioners when TCM cannot address their health issues. “We fully acknowledge that TCM has its own limitations and is not a cure-all for every disease. Our goal is to help users with the problems we are capable of solving.”

The BaBaMai team currently has more than 20 members.

Currently, Baba Mai has confirmed the completion of its angel round financing, amounting to several million RMB, by the end of August. The investor is Cao Guoxiong, Managing Partner of the RMB Fund at Matrix Partners China, who focuses on investments in the consumer, cultural, and healthcare sectors. This investment was made through the Cao family’s evergreen fund.