Arterial Network learned for the first time that recently, Yaoshi (Suzhou) Medical Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Yaoshi Medical") completed tens of millions of yuan in A+round financing,this round of financing is led by Yuanhe Puhua Strategy, followed by Haihong Jinli, with Multidimensional Capital serving as the exclusive financial advisor.The funds raised will mainly be used to accelerate the marketization of Yaoshi Medical's core product, the Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscope (SLO), both domestically and internationally, as well as the research and development of multiple innovative ophthalmic optical devices, in order to continue leading the industry.
Yaoshi Medical is an enterprise that focuses on innovation in ophthalmic medical devices, integrating the research and development, production, sales, and AI big data research of innovative ophthalmic optical platforms. The company has a senior technical team with nearly 20 years of work experience, including a Fortune Global 500 and internationally renowned ophthalmic equipment company. They have a deep accumulation in core image processing, optical design, industrialization, and engineering fields. At present, the company has established production and research centers in Suzhou, Nantong, and Japan, based on high-end ophthalmic optical platforms, dedicated to innovating ophthalmic diagnosis and screening technologies.
01. The potential of fundus examination track is released, and Yaoshi Medical leads with technological innovation and multidimensional advantages
At present, the global and Chinese ophthalmic disease spectrum is showing two significant characteristics and development trends, which profoundly affect the development direction of the field of eye health:
Firstly, the continuous expansion of the patient base and the trend towards disease universalization have become prominent.With the continuous deepening of the aging process of the global and Chinese population, the prevalence of age-related fundus diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD), diabetes retinopathy (DR), pathological myopia, and so on, continues to rise. At the same time, the transformation of modern lifestyle has promoted the continuous expansion of the group of patients with chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension. Such systemic diseases are prone to serious fundus complications.
Secondly,there is a structural change in the demand for diagnosis and treatment, characterized by a shift in focus and a downward shift. In the past, fundus examination resources were mostly concentrated in core medical institutions in big cities, and the screening needs of grassroots and lower tier markets were not fully met for a long time; Nowadays, with the increasing public health awareness and the widespread popularization of the concept of "early screening, early diagnosis, and early treatment", the demand for efficient and convenient fundus screening is rapidly exploding in primary medical institutions and physical examination centers.
Based on the above trends, the field of fundus examination is ushering in unprecedented development space and potential. Its core driving force lies in:
Firstly, there is still a huge unmet clinical demand in the field of fundus screening. There are billions of potential patients with retinal diseases in China, but the current standardized screening and follow-up coverage is still at a low level, resulting in a huge diagnostic gap;
Secondly, traditional fundus camera technology has many shortcomings, and the market urgently needs innovative solutions. At present, the mainstream traditional fundus camera technology still faces multiple limitations in clinical applications, such as limited field of view coverage, strong dependence on dilated pupil operation, high operation threshold and insufficient imaging stability, and lack of multimodal imaging evaluation ability, making it difficult to adapt to the current screening needs of "early screening, convenience, and precision". This provides a market space for the new generation of devices launched by Yaoshi Medical, which are ultra wide angle, non mydriatic, and fast imaging, to replace and upgrade;
Thirdly, policy and technology are driven by both wheels. The country's emphasis on chronic disease management and graded diagnosis and treatment, as well as the mature application of artificial intelligence (AI) technology in the field of auxiliary diagnosis, are jointly promoting fundus examination equipment to become an important entrance for eye health and even overall health management.
According to Frost&Sullivan data, the Chinese ophthalmic medical diagnostic equipment market is predicted to reach 4.6 billion yuan and 8 billion yuan in 2025 and 2030, respectively, with compound annual growth rates of 18.2% and 11.8% from 2020 to 2025 and 2025 to 2030, respectively. As a core component of early screening and diagnosis of ophthalmic diseases, fundus examination is a golden track that is in a period of rapid growth and has both social and commercial value. At present, Yaoshi Medical has established a multidimensional leading advantage in this field.
02. Breaking the monopoly of high-end ophthalmic equipment imports with ultra wide angle, non mydriatic, and multimodal imaging technology
In response to the shortcomings of traditional fundus camera technology, Yaoshi Medical has developed the "Yetsea" ultra wide angle laser scanning ophthalmoscope Yetsea 100, 200, and 300 series products. Based on "ultra wide angle, no pupil dilation", they are gradually developing towards "intelligence, multimodality, and high performance", aiming to provide the most suitable solutions for medical institutions at different levels.
Specifically, the "Yetsea" series ultra wide angle laser scanning ophthalmoscope solves the pain points of traditional technology from six dimensions:
Firstly, the imaging range is wide. Yaoshi Medical's ultra wide angle laser scanning ophthalmoscope uses laser scanning technology as its basic principle, and can obtain a 168 ° fundus imaging range in one imaging, which greatly improves the imaging range of traditional fundus cameras from 30 ° to 50 °. The company's unique infrared panoramic shooting technology (patented) has a single shooting range of over 270 °, fully covering the entire range of the retina, greatly reducing the missed diagnosis rate of peripheral retinal lesions;
Traditional fundus color photography with a 45 ° imaging range vs. Yaoshi with a 168 ° imaging range
Original infrared panoramic image (static)
Secondly, there is no need for dilated pupils. The equipment requires the pupil to be no less than 1.7mm, which not only eliminates the discomfort of patients after mydriasis, but also saves time and improves the diagnosis and treatment efficiency, especially for patients who cannot mydriasis such as glaucoma and those who are difficult to mydriasis such as diabetes;
Thirdly, the imaging speed is fast.The ultra wide angle laser scanning ophthalmoscope captures an image in a very short time, greatly reducing the examination time and improving the comfort of medical treatment. Especially in the Yaoshi medical industry, the first automatic alignment integration technology can significantly reduce the actual shooting time;
Fourthly,the image resolution is high. The ultra wide angle laser scanning ophthalmoscope of Yaoshi Medical can obtain images with a maximum resolution of 4.9 μ m and a pixel size of 3120 × 3120, which can capture fundus images that cannot be imaged by ordinary fundus cameras, providing clearer and more detailed basis for doctors' diagnosis;
Color photo
Fifth, it has strong penetrating power. For patients with refractive interstitial opacity, traditional fundus cameras are difficult to observe the fundus clearly due to the cloudy lens. Yaoshi Medical's ultra wide angle laser scanning ophthalmoscope uses four types of lasers, red, blue, green, and infrared, for imaging, which has stronger penetration power and can penetrate 85% of cataracts. Even in the case of level 4 nuclei, clear fundus images can be obtained, expanding the scope of application of fundus examination;
Sixth, achieve multimodal imaging. Yaoshi Medical's laser scanning ophthalmoscope introduces the concept of multimodal imaging, which is not just a simple fundus color photo in the traditional sense, but also fully utilizes the core characteristics of laser light sources. The collected spontaneous fluorescence images and fluorescence contrast imaging have higher contrast of lesion display compared to traditional cameras.
Spontaneous fluorescence
FFA imaging
ICGA imaging
In addition, Yaoshi Medical's unique "arbitrary door" function (patented) can trace the dynamic images of any part of the color photo, achieving a revolutionary upgrade from two-dimensional static images to animations in fundus diagnosis, providing a new diagnosis and treatment mode for fundus diagnosis.
Yaoshi Medical's unique "arbitrary door" function
The launch of the "Yetsea" series of ultra wide angle laser scanning ophthalmoscopes is a key milestone for Yetsea Medical in achieving its mission of "making high-end ophthalmic equipment in China".
Firstly, through independent innovation, its core performance has reached the international advanced level, and it has achieved "parallel running" with the main products of imported brands in key indicators; Secondly, provide hospitals with a new option of "high quality and good price", and promote the popularization of technology; Thirdly, Yaoshi Medical has gradually built and improved a localized core supply chain system, reducing dependence on specific international supply chains, enhancing industrial security, and establishing unparalleled advantages in response speed and service depth compared to imported manufacturers.
At the same time, during the product update process, Yaoshi Medical has established long-term and in-depth cooperative relationships with top ophthalmic centers and frontline clinical experts nationwide, deepening clinical research collaboration; On the other hand, establish a "demand funnel" mechanism with a professional clinical application department to systematically collect, organize, and analyze feedback from hospitals at different levels and convert it into product function optimization, ensuring accurate insights into real clinical needs and practical solutions to clinical pain points.
03. Expand overseas market layout and safeguard public eye health through technological innovation
At present, Yaoshi Medical has launched overseas market layout and has established exclusive strategic cooperation with several well-known overseas technology listed companies from Japan and other countries to jointly layout the domestic and international ophthalmic markets. This marks that the company has not only completed the technology going global, but also gained recognition for the technical value of its products from large overseas enterprises, laying a solid foundation for quickly occupying domestic and international markets.
Yaoshi Medical predicts that in the next five years, the competition in the high-end ophthalmic equipment field will be a comprehensive competition of technological depth, market breadth, and ecological construction capabilities. In response to this, the company will continue to create high-end ophthalmic disease screening and diagnostic equipment with clear image quality, easy operation, and stable quality based on clinical needs, and combine it with AI algorithms to deepen the technological moat. At the same time, Yaoshi Medical will comprehensively cover the diagnosis of ophthalmic diseases such as fundus, anterior segment, and refraction, create a more comprehensive product matrix, and actively establish strategic cooperation with large ophthalmic service providers or more domestic and foreign ophthalmic giants to explore market or technology cooperation and accelerate the commercialization process.
For this financing, Mr. Wu Haizhou, founder of Yaoshi Medical, said:Thank you for the trust and support of Yuanhe Puhua and Haihong Jinli. Yaoshi Medical has always been committed to achieving early diagnosis and treatment of ophthalmic diseases through cutting-edge technology, safeguarding the eye health of the entire population.
This round of financing will mainly focus on two core strategic directions. Firstly, we will fully accelerate the marketization process of our globally leading ultra wide angle confocal laser scanning ophthalmoscope (SLO) product, and quickly empower its excellent diagnostic value in clinical practice; Secondly, we will continue to deepen our research and development pipeline, focusing on the diagnosis of core ophthalmic diseases such as fundus, anterior segment, and refraction, and creating a variety of high-end ophthalmic diagnostic equipment with clear image quality, easy operation, and stable quality. We firmly believe that cutting-edge technology is the cornerstone of driving industry progress. Yaoshi Medical hopes to provide more powerful diagnostic tools for clinical use through advanced ophthalmic equipment technology, and contribute its modest efforts to the development of China's ophthalmic industry.
Hu Yingping, partner of Yuanhe Puhua, said:The vast ophthalmic market in China urgently needs innovative user experience and universal testing products. The founding team of Yaoshi has international leading and rich product experience, and is a composite team of medical experts and innovative engineering technology. They have successfully launched the world's leading first generation products and quickly gained market recognition. We look forward to accompanying our team to approach the market and continuously invest in product iteration, leading the industry in domestic independent innovation.
Yuanhe Puhua has long been dedicated to investing in the hard technology industry chain, rooted in the industry, and committed to accompanying entrepreneurs in their growth and walking alongside them. We have invested in approximately 250 companies, including about 50 listed companies.