Xiaolu Clinic

About Xiaolu Clinic

Xiaolu Clinic, legally known as Beijing Zichen Zhengyang Technology Co., Ltd. and later as Qinghai Xiaolu Traditional Chinese Medicine Internet Hospital Co., Ltd., is a digital health platform established in 2015. The company was founded by Zhang Kuo, who holds a Ph.D. in computer science and technology from Tsinghua University and was formerly the chief scientist at Sogou, and Liu Xinyue, who previously worked at major pharmaceutical companies like GSK and Pfizer before serving as a vice president at the online medical platform Haodf.com. Their collaboration began from a shared vision to address the geographical mismatch between Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practitioners, largely concentrated in urban centers, and patients in remote areas.

The firm operates an online platform that facilitates remote consultations, particularly for re-consultations and follow-up care in chronic disease management, connecting patients with TCM doctors across China. Patients can engage with doctors through various means, and physicians can issue electronic prescriptions. A key component of its business model is its "smart pharmacy" service, which handles the logistics of prescription fulfillment and delivery to the patient's home, partnering with nearly a hundred pharmacies and pharmaceutical companies to ensure broad national coverage. This integrated approach aims to create a closed-loop ecosystem for TCM services, from diagnosis to medication delivery. The platform has registered over 120,000 TCM doctors and has served over 20 million patients. Revenue is generated through these online medical services and prescription fulfillment.

Initially, the company experimented with different business models, including a B2B approach offering onsite services to corporations, which proved to have high operating costs. The current, more successful model focuses on online re-examinations and prescription adjustments after an initial in-person diagnosis. Xiaolu Clinic was the first online TCM platform to be approved by the Chinese government and received its medical institution practice license in 2017. The company has raised significant capital through multiple funding rounds, including investments from prominent venture capital firms like IDG Capital, Redpoint China Ventures, Sinovation Ventures, and NGP Capital, totaling over USD 64.9 million before being acquired by Ali Health in 2021.