Tencent's Internet Healthcare Strategic Layout and Product Portfolio: Prospectus Overview

In recent years, the BAT giants have actively entered the internet healthcare sector, making significant investments one after another and frequently generating headline news. What bold moves has Tencent made in this fiercely competitive battle where no clear leader has emerged? VCBeat has organized an overview of Tencent’s strategic layout by different sub-sectors, which will be continuously updated to help readers stay informed about Tencent’s latest developments in real time. The figure below presents a vertical timeline arranged in chronological order.



 

Webpages, Weibo Platform

December 19, 2011
Hospital Experts Launch Weibo Appointment Registration; Multiple Hospitals in Zhengzhou Open Weibo Accounts.

January 11, 2012
At a regular press conference yesterday, the Ministry of Health stated that medical institutions and physicians are prohibited from conducting diagnosis and treatment activities via Weibo.

July 26, 2012
Tencent Health’s medical channel has established a strategic partnership with Haodf Online, focusing primarily on “online consultations” and “appointment scheduling.” The key factor in Tencent’s selection of Haodf was its proprietary healthcare mobile app.
Shortly after partnering with Haodf Online, Tencent joined forces with Sino-Australia Care. Sino-Australia Care will provide medical and health management information and consulting services for Tencent.com and Tencent Weibo, offering internet-based health management and healthcare solutions to Tencent users, while also engaging a large pool of professional medical experts to facilitate continuous, effective, and professional online interactions.

Pharmaceutical E-commerce O2O

2011
Jianke.com has joined the QQ Mall on Tencent Paipai.

April 2014
Listed company Jointown Pharmaceutical Group (600998) released its 2013 annual report on April 29, 2014, and partnered with Tencent to develop the WeChat-based O2O pharmaceutical service “Yaojisong” (Medicine Express). Subsequently, it successively launched the WeChat subscription account “Haoyaoshi Health Information” and the WeChat service account “Haoyaoshi.”

August 2014
China’s largest pharmacy chain, Neptunus Star, has become the first pharmaceutical distributor in the country to pilot O2O (online-to-offline) services. Neptunus Star will launch a nationwide partnership with WeChat, advancing its O2O model through both Alipay and WeChat.

Philanthropic Investment

July 25, 2013
Watsi, a startup from the Y Combinator incubator, announced that it has raised $1.2 million in seed funding from nine investors, including Tencent. Watsi is the first non-profit startup to join YC, dedicated to addressing the healthcare disparities affecting one billion people.

Investment/Equity Stake in Online Medical Consultation

January 2014
Linjia Doctor is an online medical and health services website that specializes in branded specialist medical care. It has secured millions of RMB in seed funding from Kaisa Investment and Jiaqiao Investment. (Note: Kaisa Investment, founded in 2007 by Zeng Liqing, a co-founder of Tencent Holdings, primarily focuses on angel investments in high-tech sectors such as the internet, wireless communications, and interactive entertainment.)

April 3, 2015
According to an analysis of Joincare Pharmaceutical Group’s announcement, Tencent CEO Ma Huateng and Bestore Chairman Ou Yaping may invest HK$1.221 billion to indirectly hold a 4.81% stake in Joincare. Reports have revealed that Joincare Chairman Zhu Baoguo is working on building an online consultation platform called “Cute Doctor.” However, this was later clarified as a rumor; the nascent “Cute Doctor” platform does not currently belong to Joincare (600380), but expectations for its future injection into Joincare (600380) are already very clear.

WeDoctor / WeChat Smart Hospital

January 27, 2014
WeChat Smart Hospital, launched in 2014, is built on the foundation of “Official Accounts + WeChat Pay” and integrates with WeChat’s mobile e-commerce gateway to optimize connectivity among doctors, hospitals, patients, and medical devices. The entire process includes WeChat-based appointment registration and waiting reminders; WeChat navigation for effective guidance between consultation rooms and laboratories; WeChat payment for point-of-care fees; real-time delivery of electronic reports via WeChat; and post-discharge medication adherence reminders.
Latest data shows that nearly 100 hospitals across China have launched WeChat-based end-to-end medical services, and more than 1,200 hospitals now support appointment registration via WeChat.

Among traditional hospitals piloting WeChat’s smart healthcare solutions, Wuhan Stomatological Hospital became the first WeChat-enabled smart hospital; Guangdong Women and Children’s Hospital was the first to integrate real-time medical insurance settlement; Foshan Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital was the first to enable WeChat Pay; Northern Guangdong People’s Hospital was the first to support post-discharge doctor–patient communication via WeChat; and Shanghai First Maternity and Infant Health Hospital was the first to provide in-depth medical visit reminder services.

June 17, 2014
Shaoguan Yuebei People's Hospital Becomes the First Medical Institution in China to Launch a WeChat-Based Full-Process Medical Service Platform.

June 30, 2014
The First WeChat-Based End-to-End Medical Service Platform Launches at Guangdong Women and Children Hospital. Patients need only scan the WeChat QR code or search for “Guangdong Women and Children Hospital” to follow the official account, then enter basic personal information to link their medical card. This enables them to complete the entire care process via mobile phone, including appointment scheduling, registration, payment, waiting list inquiries, and access to test results.

August 28, 2014
WeChat Pay Unveils “WeChat Smart Life” Cross-Industry Solution, Built on WeChat Official Accounts and WeChat Pay, with “Smart Healthcare” as a Key Component

October 2014
Tencent has expanded its WeChat platform into the mobile healthcare sector, pioneering the integration of medical insurance reimbursement within its payment system. The WeChat platform is also exploring internal hospital process management, whereby medical workflows such as “critical value” alerts, duty roster notifications, and scheduling for consultations will be conducted via WeChat.

November 25, 2014
Tencent Has Been Increasingly Betting on “Internet + Healthcare”Tencent has partnered with the Guangzhou Municipal Health Bureau to launch the “Guangzhou Health Pass” public account, enabling appointment scheduling and payment services at 60 hospitals across the city. WeChat will introduce the “Guangzhou Health Pass” official account, through which Guangzhou residents can book appointments at approximately 60 hospitals in Guangzhou. WeChat and the Guangzhou Municipal Health Bureau will also initiate a promotional campaign offering registration for just one cent.

Smart Hardware

June 2014
PICOOC Secures $21 Million in Series B Funding from Tencent Industrial Win-Win Fund and JD.com (Note: Tencent Industrial Win-Win Fund is Tencent’s corporate venture capital platform, primarily focusing on online games, social networks, wireless internet, e-commerce, and new media.)

July 2014
Tencent’s smart hardware platform, built on mobile QQ and WeChat, is finally coming to fruition. In early July, WeChat opened its smart hardware interfaces, subsequently integrating “WeChat-enabled” smart bands from four manufacturers, including iHealth and Huawei.

August 2014
As the first listed wearable medical device company in China, Andon Health is continuously strengthening its collaboration with Tencent’s WeChat. On August 9, the company announced that its iHealth Cloud Blood Pressure Monitor BP5 would be integrated into the WeChat platform and would begin public beta pre-sales on JD.com on August 11. Earlier in July, Andon Health partnered with WeChat to launch the WeChat-enabled version of the iHealth smartwatch.

January 20, 2015
Tencent has launched its own “Tang Da Fu” blood glucose meter. It is a smart hardware product primarily designed for diabetes management, featuring a color display and an interface similar to that of a smartphone. The Tang Da Fu device integrates with WeChat: upon startup, it prompts users to scan a QR code to link their WeChat account. Subsequently, the official WeChat public account pushes test results and regular testing reminders to the user.

April 28, 2015
Bao莱特 has entered into a framework cooperation agreement with Shenzhen Tencent Computer Systems Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Tencent”), under which the two parties will establish a long-term strategic partnership. Pursuant to the agreement, Bao莱特 will be responsible for the research and development, manufacturing, and cloud platform operations of smart wearable health and medical products. Tencent will provide technical support on its Internet of Things (IoT) platform for Bao莱特’s smart wearable health and medical products, enabling them to access the IoT platform and obtain unique corresponding platform accounts (including but not limited to QQ accounts), thereby facilitating big data mining and development. Users of the company’s smart products will be able to leverage the IoT platform to achieve data connectivity, statistical interaction, and other IoT-enabled functionalities.

WeChat, QQ, and Mobile Platforms

June 2014
Guahao.com has launched the “WeDoctor” app, featuring functions such as electronic medical records, appointment scheduling, internal hospital communication, and time savings. Through “WeDoctor,” information can flow seamlessly among doctors, hospitals, and patients. It is reported that Guahao.com has been rolling out the mobile “WeDoctor” service in batches at its affiliated hospitals. This is a mobile healthcare app cluster comprising three core applications: “Micro-Hospital,” “Micro-Doctor,” and “Micro-Payment.”

September 2, 2014
Tencent has officially invested $70 million (approximately RMB 430 million) in DXY, an internet-based healthcare company. As part of the investment partnership, the collaboration includes integrating DXY’s related mobile applications with the WeChat platform, enabling physicians to provide online consultation services to patients through these apps.

September 27, 2014
Mobile QQ Launches “Health Center.” Primarily leveraging health data from various health apps and smart devices, it creates a “Personal Health Management Center” for users, thereby providing an intelligent platform for daily life and health management. Currently, Mobile QQ’s Health Center offers downloads of smart software, purchases of smart hardware, and interactive features for health data.

October 13, 2014
Guahao.com Announced a $106 Million Series C Funding Round, Led by Tencent. Following the completion of this investment round, Guahao.com will launch its new open mobile healthcare platform—WeDoctor—on October 18–19. WeDoctor is a mobile application designed to optimize the medical consultation process through mobile internet technologies. With Tencent’s investment, WeDoctor plans to integrate with WeChat and QQ, providing hospitals and physicians with API access. This integration will enable hospitals and doctors to connect seamlessly, offering convenient healthcare services to hundreds of millions of users across Guahao.com, WeChat, and QQ.

March 2015
Recently, JiuYi160 has partnered with Baidu, having previously established collaborations with Tencent and Alibaba, including providing appointment registration services for WeChat City Services and AliHealth. For JiuYi160, strategic partnerships with the BAT giants (Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent) enable it to leverage the massive traffic of these three major internet platforms to refine its channel entry points in the internet healthcare landscape and better create a closed-loop integration of online and offline services.

March 28, 2015
Guahao.com has officially launched the “WeDoctor Group” across China, establishing a cross-regional, same-specialty physician collaboration network built upon services such as triage and appointment scheduling. Through WeDoctor, physicians can not only manage patients more efficiently and build their own “patient communities,” but also conduct post-consultation follow-ups and online follow-up visits.

April 29, 2015
Tencent and Bank of Beijing Sign Comprehensive Strategic Cooperation AgreementUnder the agreement, Bank of Beijing will provide Tencent with an indicative credit line of RMB 10 billion. The two parties will collaborate in areas such as the Jingyi Tong project, WeChat Pay, group cash management, and retail finance, with a particular focus on the healthcare sector. According to available information, the “Jingyi Tong” card is a real-name IC medical consultation card with an e-wallet function, jointly issued by the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau, the Beijing Hospital Administration, and Bank of Beijing. It can be used as a hospital registration card and enables small-value payments, catering to non-insured patients in Beijing and out-of-town patients.

Tencent Open Platform Startup Base / Support Program

October 30, 2014
The 2014 Tencent Global Partner Conference was grandly held in Boao, where the So-Young Plastic Surgery APP received an award. Since the first Tencent Open Platform startup incubator became operational in November 2013, the outcomes from various incubators have been highly encouraging. Currently, multiple applications, including Chunyu Doctor, Don’t Tap the White Tile, and So-Young, have secured over $100 million in financing through Tencent’s startup incubators, with Chunyu Doctor emerging as the leading application in the mobile healthcare industry. Chunyu Pocket Doctor was launched in 2011 and participated in the inaugural “Open Platform Application Innovation Competition” hosted by the Tencent Open Platform in early 2012.

January 14, 2015
Tencent’s “Double Hundred Plan”: Over the next three years, Tencent will invest RMB 10 billion to support 100 startups with market valuations exceeding RMB 100 million. The “Double Hundred Plan” will also focus on vertical industries such as healthcare, film and entertainment, food and beverage, education, and finance, to identify high-quality startup projects across various sectors.

Telemedicine
November 21, 2014
Chen Lei, General Manager of Tencent Cloud, has expressed strong interest in Warm Doctor (a video-based doctor-patient interaction platform). For the first time, Tencent’s video interaction technology is being made externally available through Warm Doctor, and Tencent Cloud will provide experience assurance for the Warm Doctor project.

Smart City

March 23, 2015
Tencent and the Henan Provincial People’s Government have announced a strategic partnership on “Internet Plus.” Leveraging Tencent’s data infrastructure, cloud computing capabilities, and social platform products such as WeChat and QQ, the two parties will carry out strategic cooperation with “Internet Plus” solutions as the focal point of integration. It is reported that government-affiliated WeChat public accounts of various Henan provincial government agencies will be uniformly integrated into the “City Services” entry point on WeChat. In addition to Zhengzhou, which is now gaining access to WeChat’s “City Services,” other cities including Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Foshan, and Wuhan had already been onboarded to this service.

March 27, 2015
By integrating the official WeChat accounts of various government agencies into the “City Services” portal within WeChat Pay, residents of Hainan will be able to enjoy a wide range of convenient services in the future across multiple domains, including healthcare, social security, transportation, traffic police administration, household registration, entry and exit administration, and tourism.

April 7, 2015
Tencent has officially announced the launch of the WeChat “City Services” portal in Shanghai. Residents can now access 14 convenient services through WeChat, including hospital appointment registration, weather inquiries, and utility bill payments. Among these, the “Hospital Appointment Registration” service within “City Services” is provided by Guahao.com, China’s largest internet healthcare service platform.

April 10, 2015
Chongqing Municipal Government and Tencent Officially Sign “Internet+” Strategic Agreement, Bringing Various Conveniences Through “Internet+,” Including Services Such as Transportation, Healthcare, Social Security, Traffic Police, Household Registration, Entry-Exit Administration, and Tourism. This “City Services” Feature Is Set to Launch Soon.

April 29, 2015
At the Tencent 2015 “Internet Plus China” Summit held in Beijing, Tencent announced the signing of strategic framework cooperation agreements with 16 regions, including Yancheng, Changsha, Wuxi, Dalian, and Changzhou, to pursue comprehensive “Internet Plus” collaboration. By partnering with local governments, Tencent is actively advancing a range of services in areas such as e-government, healthcare, and transportation.

Overview of Tencent’s Investment Portfolio (Click to Enlarge):



Scanadu: Founded in January 2011 and headquartered in California, USA, the company’s flagship product is the Scanadu Scout, a highly powerful device for measuring physiological indicators that can rapidly obtain various bodily parameters. Users need only place the device on their forehead for 10 seconds to track and record dynamic changes in body temperature, respiratory rate, blood oxygen saturation, electrocardiogram (ECG), blood pressure, and emotional data via a smartphone, thereby monitoring vital signs. In April 2015, the company secured $35 million in Series B financing, following $10.5 million in Series A financing raised in November 2013.

Guahao.com/WeDoctor: Affiliated with Kangjian Green Line Network Technology Co., Ltd., it was established in March 2010 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. In 2014, Guahao.com was upgraded to WeDoctor, a website providing online and mobile appointment registration services. The CEO is Liao Yuanjie. In October 2014, it secured over USD 100 million in Series C financing, led by Tencent. In January 2012, it raised tens of millions of US dollars in Series B financing, and in December 2010, it obtained USD 22 million in Series A financing.

Dingxiang Yuan: Affiliated with Zhejiang Hangzhou Guanlan Network Co., Ltd., established in July 2000. Dingxiang Yuan has been dedicated to internet practices in the fields of medicine and life sciences, and is currently the largest and most influential social media platform in the industry. Its main products include Dingxiang Wireless, Dingxiang Yuan Forum, Dingxiang Doctor, and Pocket Question Bank. The CEO is Zhang Jin, and the co-founders are Li Tiantian and Zhou Shuzhong. In September 2014, Tencent invested $70 million; in December 2012, it secured tens of millions of dollars in financing; and in January 2010, it received $2 million in funding.

PICOOC: The company’s full name is PICOOC (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd. Founded in July 2013, it is a developer of mobile smart peripheral products and applications, offering wearable devices and healthcare services. Its product lineup includes the Latin health monitor, among others. The CEO is Zhang Yue. In June 2014, the company secured $21 million in financing; in January 2014, it raised $4 million; and in August 2013, it received an investment of several million RMB.

Linjia Yisheng / Leweike: Affiliated with Shenzhen Leweike Technology Co., Ltd., established in September 2013, it is an online medical and health service website specializing in branded specialist medical services. It aims to provide rapid and authoritative mobile medical consultations and follow-up assistance, currently focusing on specialized treatment for varicose veins. The CEO is Han Liying. In January 2014, the company secured several million RMB in investment.

Watsi Website: A non-profit medical crowdfunding platform founded in 2012 and accepted into the Y Combinator accelerator program. The company adopts a crowdfunding model to provide essential financial support to billions of people worldwide, serving patients who lack access to basic healthcare services. By publishing these patients’ medical conditions and needs on its crowdfunding platform, the company secures assistance from donors.