Medical Imaging Series Report No.3: Yunyi — A Comprehensive Solution for Physicians' Case Discussion Needs
Cheng Litao, a former nephrologist, is an avid social media user. When he noticed the absence of a dedicated social networking app for physicians on the market, he began contemplating the development of such an application.
Before developing the Yunyi app, Cheng Litao conducted interviews with more than 200 physicians. Eighty percent of physicians at small and medium-sized hospitals believed that the Yunyi initiative was valuable, while at least 60% of physicians at large hospitals shared this view. This is indeed the case.
After securing RMB 3 million in angel-round funding jointly provided by Plum Capital and CYANHILL CAPITAL, the “Yunyi” app was officially launched late last year. To date, Yunyi has accumulated 54,000 users, with doctors from Beijing accounting for 12% and those from Guangdong for 8%; the remaining users are distributed across other regions of China, including Henan, Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang. The user base of Yunyi is highly diverse, including many registered physicians from ethnic minority groups, two doctors from Hong Kong, and one from the United States. Currently, the platform’s user activity rate has remained stable at approximately 10%.
“Yun Yi” is a mobile application focused on physician social networking, featuring six main modules: News & Updates, Literature, PubMed, Q&A, Case Discussions, and Anonymous Rants. Among these, the Case Discussions feature of “Yun Yi” offers a degree of uniqueness.
Cheng Litao told VCBeat, “Case discussions are a fundamental need for physicians; all professional exchanges among doctors require a topic, and cases make the best ones.” Cases are something every physician handles routinely in their daily work, making them more readily accessible as discussion material compared with other topics.
The two most common formats for case discussions are topic-based posts and image-centric shares. Traditional topic-based discussions on social networking apps have certain limitations. “These posts exist in a threaded ‘building’ format, with numerous comments interspersed between the initial case information posted by the physician and the final conclusion. When there are dozens of comments, it becomes difficult to quickly clarify the line of reasoning and extract core information,” said Cheng Litao. “In addition, many cases evolve into open-ended discussions without any definitive conclusions, which offers limited value to participating physicians. In contrast, the case discussion feature of Yunyi places greater emphasis on practical utility and incorporates its own unique design.”
In the case discussion feature of Yunyi, physicians who post cases can append additional materials and add conclusions to their posted cases.
For example, if a case is presented for discussion at an early stage with limited data and no definitive diagnosis, other physicians may recommend specific tests. Upon receiving the test results, the posting physician can directly update the medical record by adding the findings as supplementary information. Once a clear diagnosis is established, such as through pathological examination results, the posting physician can also add the final conclusions. This ensures that all colleagues following the case have access to the complete results and a clear clinical narrative.
Currently, case presentations predominantly feature images. However, Cheng Litao believes that images are not the sole format for case discussions. In his view, neither text nor images alone can fully capture the essence of case discussions; instead, they must be integrated. For surgeons, image-based communication may play a more prominent role in case discussions, whereas for internists, textual descriptions are of greater importance. Therefore, a comprehensive case discussion should not emphasize only one aspect, as focusing exclusively on either fails to accurately meet the requirements of case discussions.
Notably, Yunyi’s case discussion feature places a strong emphasis on protecting patient privacy. “All cases posted on Yunyi must have patient-identifying information redacted; if such information is not redacted, posting is permitted only with the patient’s explicit authorization,” Cheng Litao told VCBeat. The decision to redact patient-identifying information rests with the physicians themselves. If the Yunyi team identifies any case posted by a physician that contains information capable of identifying the patient, they will require the physician to repost the case after appropriate redaction.
Meanwhile, Yunyi places significant emphasis on protecting physicians' copyright. Case images published on the Yunyi platform are automatically watermarked with the physician's name in a large font size to prevent unauthorized use. Additionally, Yunyi's case discussion feature supports uploading up to 36 images at once. After posting a case, physicians can invite up to 10 experts to provide commentary on their cases.
In addition, the Yunyi APP provides users with instant free communication services, supporting interactions across different telecom carriers and operating system platforms. On Yunyi, two doctors who are connected as friends can exchange voice messages, text messages, videos, images, and text at no cost. This enables doctors in remote regions such as Tibet and Xinjiang to conveniently discuss cases with their peers in Beijing, thereby rapidly addressing clinical challenges they currently face.
The Yunyi team currently has 22 members and is undergoing Series A financing, with a planned fundraising target of RMB 10–15 million.
VCBeat’s Series on Medical Imaging Startups
How Strong Is Entrepreneurship in Medical Imaging? Look at the Top 11 Overseas Apps
Medical Imaging Series Report 1: YiLian Builds an Instagram + Quora Exclusive for Doctors
We welcome more startup teams in the field of medical imaging to contact us by leaving a message on our WeChat account (vcbeat) or via email at vip@vcbeat.top.
What is your outlook on the market prospects for medical imaging within the current internet healthcare startup landscape? Have you been involved with projects in this sector, or have you already invested in one or more startups specializing in medical imaging? If you are an investor, please click here:Survey on Market Attention in the Medical Imaging Sector for Internet Healthcare Startups, respond to the questionnaire.