Source: Securities Times Author: Chen Yukang
The rumor that Haodafu Online, the unicorn in the field of digital health, has been fully acquired by Ant Group, has finally been confirmed.
Tianyancha shows that there has been a change in shareholders of Interactive Peak Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Interactive Peak Technology), the main body of Haodafu Online. On September 11, Haodafu Online founder Wang Hang transferred 85.94% of the shares, and Lei Jun, who holds 0.97% of the shares, also exited. The other three shareholders also exited the list of shareholders. Shanghai Yunchang Enterprise Management Consulting Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ant Group, holds 100% of the shares of Interactive Peak Technology.
At the same time, the legal representative of Interactive Peak Technology has been changed to Zhang Junjie, Vice President of Ant Group and General Manager of the Digital Medical and Health Business Unit.
Previously, there were market rumors that Ant Group was planning to acquire Haodafu Online, and the latter would be integrated into the Alipay Medical and Health Business Unit. In response to this, Haodafu Online replied that the company has no comment on this news and please refer to the official announcement for accurate information.
Regarding the "union" of the two, industry insiders said that Ant Group, with its huge traffic pool and stable platform foundation, complements the tens of thousands of senior and active doctor resources owned by Haodafu Online. Subsequently, Ant Group will be able to deepen its strategic layout in the medical and health market, explore more diversified business models for long-term development by relying on Haodafu Online's professional medical platform. At the same time, this integration will also help Haodafu Online effectively address the challenge of unclear profit model, accelerate its commercialization transformation process, and jointly create a win-win situation.
Established in 2006, Hao Daifu Online is one of China's leading digital health platforms. According to its official website, Hao Daifu Online has achieved significant results in areas such as hospital/doctor information search, text-based consultations, phone consultations, remote video consultations, accurate outpatient appointments, post-diagnosis disease management, family doctors, and disease knowledge dissemination.
According to internet information, in 2007, Lei Jun and others provided 3 million yuan in angel investment to Hao Daifu Online. Since then, Hao Daifu Online has gone through several rounds of financing.
In February 2017, Hao Daifu Online completed a D-round financing led by Tencent, with participation from several well-known funds, raising a whopping $200 million. At that time, the valuation of Hao Daifu Online reached $1.3 billion to $1.4 billion, making it a renowned unicorn enterprise in the internet health sector.
Data shows that as of September 2024, Hao Daifu Online has included the information of over 1.94 million doctors from more than 10,000 legitimate hospitals in China. Among them, 0.28 million doctors have registered with their real names on the platform and directly provide online medical services to patients. Among these active doctors, doctors from top-level hospitals account for 73%. As of September 2024, Hao Daifu Online has provided services to more than 89 million patients.
How to solidify the loose profit methods and build a more mature business model has long been a challenge for internet health companies and also one of the bottlenecks for Hao Daifu Online. Wang Hang once stated in 2023 that Hao Daifu Online achieved a balanced budget in the first quarter of 2023 and will be profitable for the whole year.
Wang Hang stated at that time that compared to the previous years of product research and development, 2023 marked the official commercialization phase for Hao Daifu. In addition to platform service fees and membership services, in March, Hao Daifu also launched a follow-up service package for internal medicine doctors, mainly targeting patients with chronic diseases. Despite not being heavily promoted, the business performance is still acceptable.
In December 2022, a letter titled 'Letter to All Employees' was circulated within the industry, written by Wang Hang, stating that Hao Daifu Online is about to undergo strategic and organizational restructuring, specifically transitioning from a startup phase focused on product research and development to market expansion. Hao Daifu Online confirmed the authenticity of the letter to the media at that time and stated that the decision was made in order to strengthen the company's risk resilience, break away from reliance on financing, and become a self-sufficient enterprise.
Regarding the business model of Hao Daifu Online, Wang Hang stated in 2022 that the platform is defined as an online work platform for doctors, empowering doctors from various angles. Firstly, it enhances the organizational capabilities of doctors. Previously, doctors relied on hospitals for all work, but the internet era has given doctors greater freedom, enabling them to empower and integrate industry resources. Secondly, doctors' interventions with patients extend to pre-hospitalization and post-hospitalization, realizing comprehensive disease management, and even the entire life cycle. Thirdly, internet doctors can connect with the market and the vast number of consumers, with different capabilities in presenting and connecting with patients.
Editor/Lambor