Health Management Site Guokang Obtains 2nd Round Funding
21st Century Business Herald, 11/06/10
Chinese web-based health risk-management services provider Guokang has announced that it has received RMB 100 mln in second-round funding from Sequoia Capital and Qiming Venture Partners. The site had already received USD 10 mln in funding from Qiming in 2007.
Guokang was founded in 2005 by Yang Huashan, founder and former CEO of Grentech (Nasdaq: GRRF), a wireless solutions provider. Guokang provides businesses and individual consumers with health benefit plans that unify managed care, health management, employee wellness programs, examination management, health-risk planning, and employee health management consulting services. The site's provider network incorporates more than 500 tertiary care hospitals, over 500 health examination organizations, and over 30 insurance companies in China. Currently, the company's client roster includes China Merchants Bank, Carrefour, and Chinese consumer electronics manufacturer TCL Corporation (000100.SZ).
Yang has explained that the company does not plan to expand into physical treatment facilities, such as clinics and examination centers, or retail sales of health care products, so as not to compete with health care providers.
The completion of this round of funding will allow Guokang to proceed with its IPO preparations, though the company is considering going public in China, rather than overseas as originally planned.
Editor's Note: For more background on this topic, please see "Online Healthcare Firm Lands VC Funding" MD 11/05/07 issue.
Keywords: Yang Huashan Internet IPO funding Guokang online healthcare Qiming second-round Sequoia Capital