China’s Medical Data Startup LinkDoc Eyes $500 Million IPO

Chinese medical data startup LinkDoc Technology is planning to raise $500 million in an initial public offering (IPO), Bloomberg reported, citing sources.

The Beijing-headquartered company is working with Bank of America, China International Capital and Morgan Stanley on the proposed share sale, according to the sources, per the news outlet.

The public filing could happen in Hong Kong but LinkDoc is still considering other potential venues for the IPO, the sources told Bloomberg. Negotiations are ongoing and could change regarding the size of the fundraise and the timing.

Founded in 2014 in Beijing by Shan He and Tony Zhang, LinkDoc provides healthcare services that are steeped in big data and artificial intelligence (AI) to offer the latest in cancer-focused care. Alibaba Health Information Technology is reportedly among its backers.

A competing AI-focused medical data platform — Yidu Tech— raised $610 million in a Hong Kong IPO in January, per Bloomberg. Its share price surged some 43 percent since the listing.

Colin Mellon, senior vice president of healthcare and insurance solutions at Fiserv, said in a PYMNTS TV Trend Talk that the pandemic turned the spotlight on solutions that don’t benefit medical providers due to lack of engagement. Integrated technology — chatbots, virtual visits and online tutorials — can advance services while also making statements easier to understand.

The intersection of healthcare and digital technologies has been instrumental in giving consumers better care at a more affordable price point. In an interview with PYMNTS, Dr. YiDing Yu, chief medical officer of healthcare-centric artificial intelligence (AI) platform Olive, said the healthcare system is still buried in manual processes and paper flows.

Yu said Olive was developed to serve as the “internet of healthcare” and aims to integrate the various information points while streamlining manual tasks using AI. With an AI-powered approach, the typical workflow is more efficient because it draws from real-time rules, according to the report.