China healthcare platform Waterdrop raises 1 billion yuan in funds from investors including Boyu Capital
- Funding will go toward building a professional team in health care insurance and adopting AI in its products
Waterdrop, a Chinese online insurance platform backed by Tencent, has raised more than a billion yuan (US$145 million) in a funding round led by private equity firm Boyu Capital.
Other backers of the series C round include CICC Capital, while earlier investors including Tencent and Gaorong Capital also took part, the Beijing-based start-up said in a release on Wednesday.
Founded by former Meituan Dianping executive Shen Peng in 2016, Waterdrop started as a health care crowdfunding platform for patients and their families before branching into online insurance sales.
The company completed a 500 million yuan series B round led by Tencent in March. Both the internet giant and Boyu Capital are important institutional investors, according to Waterdrop.
Also known as Shuidi in Chinese, Waterdrop brokered insurance policies with annual premiums of over 500 million yuan in May, the company said. About 90 per cent of users bought their first online insurance product through the platform, it said.
Ping An Insurance, China Taiping, and People's Insurance Company of China are among insurers that sell products through Waterdrop. The company charges no commission fees for crowdfunding for medical treatments.