Reports

China's mobile healthcare market, excluding sales of smart health devices, has grown from approximately RMB 1.5 bln in 2011 to RMB 3.0 bln in 2014, and is expected to more than quadruple to roughly RMB 13.0 bln by 2017. Driven in part by rapidly increasing mobile internet penetration, broader deployment and uptake of 4G mobile services, and new developments in smart hardware and big data technology, the market is also being propelled by rising average incomes and changing lifestyles, with Chinese consumers now attaching increasing importance to health and fitness. China's spending on pharmaceuticals, for example, is expected to exceed USD 107 bln in 2015, up from USD 26 bln in 2007, and China is poised to become the world's second-largest drug market, after the U.S., by 2020, according to research published last year in the Journal of Pharmaceutical Policy and Practice.

With the number of mobile internet subscribers (i.e. internet-connected mobile subscriber accounts) in China exceeding 880 mln by the end of February 2015, traditional industries like healthcare have increasingly embraced the mobile internet as a means of improving efficiency, cutting costs, and providing more targeted, customized services. China’s healthcare industry regulators have also endorsed the development of online and mobile healthcare, with the China Food & Drug Administration announcing earlier this year that it is working to finalize a new policy allowing online sales of prescription drugs.

As technological, regulatory, economic, and social factors have aligned over the past several years to create attractive opportunities in the development of mobile healthcare and fitness platforms, investment in the sector by venture capital firms, major internet companies, and traditional healthcare and insurance providers has ramped quickly. Many startups in the field have already achieved Series C funding or better, and leading internet and mobile services firms like Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent have been active both in launching mobile healthcare platforms of their own and investing in mobile healthcare and fitness startups.

Users have been quick to adopt the new offerings from these companies, with mobile health management app users doubling in 2014 to hit 120 mln.

To help investors and health industry enterprises identify opportunities among China's quickly growing number of mobile health and fitness apps, platforms, and smart hardware developers, Marbridge has researched and formulated the Chinese Mobile Health and Fitness Industry Matrix. The Q1 2015 edition of the Matrix provides details on approximately 50 leading mobile health app developers and roughly 20 mobile health smart hardware developers in Excel (read-only) format:

• Listing Status (public, to list, private)
• Location (city in which operator/developer is headquartered)
• Company Business Scope
• Company Homepage URL
• Product Overview
• Product Description
• User Base
• Downloads
• Funding Information