In 2018, Infervision completed two rounds of funding-- series B closed in Feb. and series C1 completed in last week. Except for Infervision, quite a number of AI solution unicorn companies have announced or completed funding series in 2018.
On December 7, 2018, Infervision(推想科技) closed its series C1 funding and the actual amount has not been released yet. This funding round is led by CDH Investments(鼎晖投资) and followed by Sequoia China, Haitong Leading Capital Management, Taihe Capital(泰和资本), Advan Tech Capital, Xiang He Capital(襄禾资本) and Genesis Capital. The raised fund would be used to finance R&D and marketing.
In 2017, there are 280 investments in digital healthcare industry, while in 2018, the number has dropped to 148 by far but total funding amount surpasses the number of 2017. Along with the favored "Healthy China 2030" policy published by the State Council in October 2016, investments in healthcare has been heated up and healthcare startups sprang in clusters, whether in pharmaceuticals or in big-data-backed healthcare tech companies. Though investors are more prudent and less risky in general, AI solution and healthcare industries are still chased by capital. In a capital winter for China startups, new funding round secured by Infervision reveals that the company is favored by the capital market for undisputable advantages.
Regarding the funding, the Partner of CDH Investment YING Wei(应伟) claimed, “AI product should not march in place at a conceptual level, but needs to prove its capability and applicability. In past three years, Infervision dedicated in both R&D and landing AI tech. Embedded in clinical scenarios, Infervision concentrates in connecting tech and real cases.” Startups never lack dreamers, but only doers last. At this point, Infervision is a model in the industry and in the leading rank of applying AI tech into real practice. Dated June 2018, over 150 hospitals in national wide have installed Infervision’s star product series InferRead. InferRead could provide averagely 13,000 cases of CT image readings in assisting diagnostic process per day per hospital.
Companies with only conceptual ideas and no progress in landing dreams are truly experiencing a capital winter. Technology’s ultimate pursue is servicing human and promote productivity. In 2018, Infervision completed two rounds of funding-- series B closed in February and series C1 completed in this month. Except for Infervision, quite a number of high tech healthcare unicorn companies like 12 Sigma(图玛深维), United Imaging Healthcare(联影医疗)，4Paradigm(第四范式)，etc. have announced or completed funding series in 2018. Active investments in AI solution may convey a signal to the industry – AI companies should recognize their concept products in reality to survive the winter.
--Author: FU YingWei; write to YingWei at YingWei@EqualOcean.com