Tencent-backed digital health platform WeDoctor is seeking to list its healthcare business in Hong Kong, with an up to US$10 billion IPO valuation.
Who is WeDoctor?
The group’s business segments include healthcare, insurance, cloud and artificial intelligence (AI), diagnostics, and pharmaceutical supply chain solutions.
Jefferies analysts said WeDoctor is heading towards building a closed healthcare circuit – which involves every aspect of the industry, including patients, physicians, hospitals, pharmacies, and insurers – while leveraging AI technology.
The company’s cloud business allows partner hospitals, clinics and government to do data processing, AI diagnosis, pension management and more.
Its other strengths include its extensive government partnership projects, a ‘robust connection’ with local public hospitals, and its first-mover advantage in both public reimbursement and commercial insurance connections, Jefferies noted. Moreover, WeDoctor in 2015 built China’s first internet hospital, Wuzheng Internet Hospital, providing online diagnosis and prescription services.
However, downsides lie in its heavy capital expenditure – the majority of WeDoctor’s businesses are self-operated or self-constructed, Jefferies said. The firm is also weak in its pharmaceutical e-commerce business, the research team added.
In addition, the company is navigating an increasingly strict regulatory environment in China, following government crackdowns on internet firms, Bloomberg reported.
Who are WeDoctor’s investors?
Besides Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings and US investment bank Goldman Sachs, other investors in WeDoctor have included Sequoia Capital China and Millennium Management.
The latter two participated in the Hangzhou-based firm’s funding round in late 2020 which raised some US$400 million and boosted its valuation to US$6.8 billion.
Global alternative investment manager Investcorp last September announced it had acquired a minority stake in WeDoctor.
In the 2018 round, life-and-medical insurer AIA Group and Hong Kong construction and logistics conglomerate NWS Holdings led the US$500 million injection.
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