Pharmaceutical Terminal Network Secures Tens of Millions in Series A+ Funding

[Today's Highlights]

○ American Well Launches Telemedicine Communication Platform

○ Sleepace secures RMB 44.06 million in funding, bringing its total capital to over USD 10 million

○ Drug Terminal Network Completes Tens of Millions in Series A+ Financing

○ Emotion recognition technology facilitates telemedicine

○ Baidu Waimai Launches Pharmaceutical Section, Claiming Fastest One-Hour Medicine Delivery

1. American Well Launches Telemedicine Service for Doctor-Patient Communication
Telemedicine provider American Well is set to launch a telehealth exchange service that enables patients to access immediate online consultations or face-to-face visits when seeking medical care, while allowing physicians to utilize their available time to serve patients. Dr. Roy Schoenberg, CEO of American Well, already trialed the service on the 22nd at the mHealth + Telemedicine World event in Boston. He stated that the service will make its official debut in the coming weeks.


American Well’s discussion topics will focus on specific medical specialties or non-medical fields, such as diet and nutrition.

Schoenberg believes that this type of telemedicine is highly disruptive, and American Well is eager to possess the simplicity and power of the iPhone.

2. Sleepace Secures RMB 44.06 Million in Funding, Bringing Total Capital to Over USD 10 Million
Sleepace, a sleep monitoring company, raised RMB 44.06 million in its Series B financing round, led by Luolai Home Textiles with participation from JD.com. This marks the largest funding deal to date in the smart sleep health sector. According to Tech in Asia, this round brings the company’s total funding to $10 million.


Reston is a soft sensing strip, similar to the device from Finland’s Beddit. Reston can track sleep duration, heart rate, respiratory rate, body movement, and sleep cycles. Based on the data it collects, the device sends performance analysis reports to partner applications to help users understand their sleep. Users can also add multiple accounts within the application to manage the sleep habits of different family members.

3. Yaopin Terminal Network Completes Tens of Millions in Series A+ Financing
Following its RMB 27 million Series A financing round in May, the B2B pharmaceutical trading platform Yaopin Terminal Network has completed a Series A+ round worth tens of millions of yuan. GGV Capital led the investment, with Matrix Partners China participating as a co-investor. Hexin Capital continued to serve as the company’s exclusive financial advisor.

YaoPin Terminal Network stated that the financing will be used for the research, development, and investment in the platform’s core products. Meanwhile, more impactful capital operations are being planned to leverage financial resources and expedite the company’s strategic layout. It is understood that most purchases made through pharmaceutical B2B platforms are by independent pharmacies; as these entities have weaker bargaining power compared to large channels such as hospitals, they can reduce costs by utilizing pharmaceutical e-commerce.

YaoPin Terminal Network was established in May 2010 as a third-party B2B e-commerce transaction service platform specializing in the pharmaceutical distribution sector. The platform aims to facilitate wholesale transactions between pharmaceutical manufacturers, pharmaceutical agents/wholesalers, and end-user merchants such as retail pharmacies and clinics.

4. Emotion Recognition Technology Facilitates Telemedicine
Nearly all smartphones and tablets can perform facial recognition via their cameras, so is there anything that could surpass this? Consider trying emotion recognition. New technologies can now determine your emotions based on different facial expressions.

In telemedicine, patients can be assessed on mobile platforms, and physicians’ ability to discern patients’ subjective sensations is beneficial to the healing process.



Telemedicine providers interested in shifting more elements, such as design and physician requirements, into the professional domain can benefit from emotion recognition technology, enabling them to understand their patients’ feelings even when the patients do not explicitly articulate their emotions to psychiatrists or psychologists.

Affectiva is an emotion recognition company that secured $12 million in Series C funding in 2012 from KPCB and Li Ka-shing’s Horizon Ventures. Affectiva’s emotion recognition technology uses the cameras on laptops, tablets, or smartphones to capture users’ facial expressions. Its algorithms analyze facial cues to determine the emotions users are experiencing at that moment.

Affectiva’s algorithms read users’ action units, such as the curling of the lips into a smile or the furrowing of the brows. They then derive an emotional state from 1.2 billion emotion data points collected across 75 countries worldwide.

5. Baidu Waimai Launches Pharmaceutical Section, Claims Fastest One-Hour Drug Delivery
According to Baidu Waimai, the platform began rolling out its pharmaceuticals section in early July, claiming that medication can be delivered in as little as one hour.

Well-known online and offline pharmaceutical retail platforms, including Yaogivei, 111.com, Jingwei Pharmacy, and Baixing Yangguang Pharmacy, will gradually integrate with Baidu Waimai, using Beijing as the core hub to expand nationwide. The delivery model combines self-delivery by the platform and pharmacies with “Baidu Waimai Riders.” After placing an order through the pharmaceutical platforms integrated with Baidu Waimai, users can receive their medications in as little as one hour. The initial launch on Baidu Waimai features nearly 1,000 products across more than ten categories, including household essentials, cold and cough remedies, heat-clearing and detoxifying agents, and fever-reducing and pain-relieving medications, basically covering the range of over-the-counter drugs needed for daily use.