Shanghai-based medical AI startup Synyi announced that it has raised RMB 250M ($36.3M) in Series C funding led by Chinese tech giant Tencent. Founded in 2016, Synyi started with Natural Language Processing (NLP) capabilities in the Chinese language and focused on hospitals’ demand for scientific research data, combining AI & HIT to create their first smart analytics platform.

To solve the problem of data silos and low usability of data in healthcare information systems, Synyi developed a new generation hospital informatics platform with AI capabilities in 2018. The platform has all the functions of informatics platforms built by traditional HIT companies but has the ability to extract information from medical records. The data is then stored and can be used for further analysis or for the establishment of future smart hospitals. 

Synyi will use the latest funds, also coming from state-backed Sinopharm Capital, to explore the smart healthcare sector, attract new medical and AI talent and ensure its products stay at the top of the Chinese market.

THE LARGER TREND

In 2018, Synyi raised $15.7M in Series B funding led by GGV Capital, with Sequoia Capital China and Zhen Fund participating in the same round. The company raised RMB 55M ($7.9M) in Series A funding in 2017 and received RMB 10M ($1.4M) seed funding in 2016. In March this year, Synyi partnered with Huawei to launch a big data centre solution for hospitals.

Tencent is no stranger to the burgeoning medtech space in China as both an investor and market player– in April, it invested $250M in Chinese online healthcare platform Trusted Doctor. 

ON THE RECORD

“Digital hospital systems will be patient-focused in the future and play a more important role in scientific research, clinical diagnosis and hospital management. Synyi has strong data management capabilities and its smart analysis platform will add value along the entire industry chain,” said Jeffrey Li, managing partner of Tencent's investment arm in a statement.