MicroInno, an innovative medical device platform for women’s health, has recently closed tens of millions of dollars in Series A financing. According to MicroInno CEO Zhang Yang, this round of financing will be mainly used for the company’s product registration clinical research advancement and the supplementation of R&D team members.
MicroInno was founded in 2021. Talking about why he chose to start his own business during the epidemic, MicroInnoCEO Zhang Yang said, “A good project can survive in an incredibly difficult environment.” In addition, “There are very few people in China who are really doing original medical device R&D, and we hope we can be one of those few.” Perhaps that’s why MicroInno was able to survive the epidemic and get the Series A shortly after the angel round was completed.
The women’s health track undoubtedly has great imagination. From the demand point of view, the huge female population brings a huge market of disease screening, diagnosis and treatment.
From the point of view of the demand for treatment that has already been met, according to the 2022 China Health Statistics Yearbook, in 2021, the number of consultations in maternity and child healthcare hospitals (institutes and stations) (among the services they provide, the outpatient services of obstetrics and gynecology tend to account for the highest proportion) will reach 307 million, and the total annual revenue will reach 184.746 billion yuan. The corresponding figures for 2018 were 292 million visits and 146.313 billion yuan, respectively. It can be seen that both the number of consultations and the overall revenue are growing, and are expected to quickly break through the 200 billion yuan market size.
From the perspective of unmet treatment needs, according to the seventh national census data, the current number of women’s groups is about 688 million (all age groups of women). In recent years, women’s health awareness in areas such as breast cancer and early screening for cervical cancer has increased due to the increased popularization of the disease and the widespread implementation of two-cancer screening, but the proportion of women seeking medical treatment for other gynecological diseases is still relatively low. According to the Report on Reproductive Health of Women of Childbearing Age in China, less than 60% of women of childbearing age in China seek medical treatment for illnesses. Among them, there is still plenty of room for growth.
In terms of supply, the provision of screening, diagnosis and treatment services for women’s health is still lacking.
If we put aside the number of obstetrics and gynecology medical service personnel, service level and other issues, the first major problem in front of women’s health screening and diagnosis is the lack of corresponding diagnostic, therapeutic and rehabilitation equipment.
On the one hand, from the perspective of the international market, currently listed companies in the field of women’s health tend to focus on the provision of women’s care and medical services: for example, Progyny, which will be listed in 2019, and Hims&Hers and Sema4, which will be listed in 2021. Some healthcare insurance multinationals have also begun to focus on women’s health, but only operate it as a business unit. The only listed companies dedicated to women’s health full-scene innovative product offerings are Hologic, CooperSurgical, and others.
On the other hand, in terms of the domestic market, the women’s health track is initially developing. The companies we mentioned earlier that have made their presence felt in the international market, such as Hologic, are now expanding their markets through companies established in China. On the other hand, innovative companies in the domestic women’s health track are still in the startup stage, and a number of companies have yet to develop their products and markets.
This also allows more domestic and foreign companies to see the opportunity. A large number of Femtech (technology, software, products, diagnostics, etc. that utilize technology to improve women’s health and well-being) companies have been created and have received funding after funding. And according to Global Market Insights, the Femtech market is forecast to be over $22.5 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 16.2% from 2021 to 2027.
MicroInno undoubtedly sees an opportunity for growth in women’s health as well. But unlike many other companies targeting women’s healthcare service providers, MicroInno is more hardcore: MicroInno wants to be the “Hologic, CooperSurgical” of China.
Gynecology is full of pain points for screening and treatment, in urgent need of innovative medical device platforms.
In the field of women’s health, the more central pain point is how to solve the problem of women’s clinical screening, diagnosis and treatment.
From the perspective of hospitals, when providing screening, diagnosis and treatment services for women, they are often faced with many problems such as investment, maintenance and management. As women’s diagnostic and treatment equipment is messy and numerous, it is often necessary to invest a lot of costs for departmental construction to increase diagnostic and treatment equipment; in addition, a large number of equipment also exacerbates the cost of maintenance; and in terms of management, for example, equipment such as endoscopes, due to the lack of sterilization of the product in place, which may lead to hospital infection and other problems. Hospitals are eager to have an innovative medical device platform for women’s screening with lower investment and easier management and maintenance.
From the doctor’s point of view, the core pain point is actually how to diagnose and treat patients better and faster in the clinical process, helping patients to reduce the physical and economic burden. In the past, diagnosis and treatment of diseases often took a long time, and the corresponding equipment learning cycle is long.
From the patient’s point of view, gynecological diseases themselves have a high incidence rate, and the consultation and treatment steps are very long and expensive. Patients desperately need better treatments and lower costs.
MicroInno undoubtedly sees these pain points. “MicroInno is a platform company that develops innovative products in the areas of screening, treatment, rehabilitation and aesthetics for women’s reproductive health,” said Zhang Yang, CEO of MicroInno.
MicroInno intends to build a complete solution for women’s health, in order to better address the characteristics of women’s disease diagnosis and treatment, it has constructed an innovative platform, which helps doctors better reduce the burden of equipment use and better assist women’s patients in screening and treatment through integrated products and functions.
For example, in cervical diagnosis and treatment, in the past, early cervical screening faced time-consuming problems, such as high rate of missed diagnosis and misdiagnosis, bulky equipment, cumbersome operation, and low degree of automation of diagnostic technology, while MicroInno, through fluorescence imaging and NBI narrow-band imaging, is able to complete the screening of pre-cancerous cervical lesions in a short period of time, with a very high accuracy rate. Meanwhile, it realizes non-invasive early diagnosis and treatment integration by combining with photodynamic therapy technology, and real-time monitoring of treatment effect can be realized.
In terms of uterine diagnosis and treatment, MicroInno has created an “ultra-minimally invasive” outpatient day surgery center for uterine “ultra-minimally invasive” ready-to-treat surgical solutions. Through the application of ultra-fine disposable hysteroscopic diagnosis and treatment system, instead of hysteroscopy and surgical scopes, it realizes the true meaning of “ultra-minimally invasive” immediate diagnosis and treatment.
For hospitals, MicroInno’s innovative device platform can be purchased and used on-demand, greatly reducing the hospital’s investment, maintenance and management costs; for doctors, MicroInno further simplifies the operation process without changing the clinical operation, providing doctors with a set of more convenient tools; and for patients, it takes into account the benefits of the treatment and the reduction of treatment costs. For patients, the benefits of treatment are combined with the reduction of treatment costs.
Relying on a composite innovation team to continuously promote product iterations.
Zhang Yang pointed out that it may not be easy to build an innovative medical device platform in the field of women’s health. On the one hand, in terms of creating innovative products, it often requires companies to have strong technical strength. The creation of an innovative product often involves the mastery of consumables, equipment, software, optics, electronics and other technologies; to create an innovative platform means a more comprehensive grasp of the relevant medical technology, engineering technology. On the other hand, it is much more difficult to move from “domestic substitution” to “domestic innovation”. In the past, “domestic substitution” allowed medical device enterprises to enjoy the dividends of the times. However, there is a huge difference between foreign medical ecology and China, a large number of European and American products are not suitable for the Chinese market, in the case of no reference, how to create innovative products belonging to our country is the problem in front of a number of innovative enterprises.
And it finally comes down to whether an enterprise really has the strength of innovation. For Zhang Yang, one of MicroInno’s strengths comes from its team. Currently, MicroInno is a team of nearly 30 people, with team members covering almost all areas of product development, product registration, quality management, channel sales and so on. Its team members are all senior practitioners who have been deeply engaged in the medical industry for 15~20 years, and the team members have experience in Medtronic, Johnson & Johnson, Hologic, Tigertech, etc. And most of MicroInno’s team members have been working in the medical industry for more than 20 years. Most of MicroInno’s team members are familiar with each other and have strong team cohesion.
MicroInno’s CEO, Mr. Yang Zhang, has 18 years of experience in medical device R&D and management in multinational companies. He has a master’s degree from Shanghai Jiaotong University and studied corporate innovation management at Stanford University. He was the General Manager of the Surgical Division of Shanghai MicroInno Group, the Asia-Pacific R&D Director of BD, the R&D Senior Manager of Medtronic, the Chief Design Engineer of Johnson & Johnson, and led the design and development of the Medtronic Microwave Ablation, the BD I.V. Indwelling Needle, the Johnson & Johnson Axiom Anastomosis, and the Minimally Invasive ECMO, etc. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of MicroInno.
Meanwhile, the lead investor of this round, GD Capital, has strong industrial and physician resources. It will further assist MicroInno’s product development and clinical application. After the completion of this round of financing, MicroInno will further accelerate the progress of product approval and license acquisition, and further attract high-quality talents to join the team, so as to maintain its advantages in the women’s health track.