Chinese startup brings big expensive medical devices from the hospital to your pocket

Thanks to improved medicine, a rising middle class, and a state-instituted one-child policy, China’s population is aging. And for startups in the healthcare field, the growing number of grannies and grandpas present huge opportunities. China’s Ministry of Health states that between 2012 and 2020, China will spend RMB 400 billion (US$64.4 billion) upgrading its electronic healthcare systems.

"Chinese people have higher incomes. Life is getting better. Under normal circumstances, when people no longer worry about daily life, they must pay attention to their own health problems," says Liu Xinzhi, founder of FinlTop.

A slew of hardware startups in China have already made a grab for the low-hanging fruit in the med-tech sector: glucose meters for diabetics and blood pressure monitors, for instance, which were available for consumer use long before the smartphone and internet of things era.

Test results

FinlTop makes those devices, too, but it has bigger aspirations. It focuses on miniaturization of large machines once only available in hospitals and clinics, and then making them affordable to the average patient. "These instruments are very common in hospitals, but rarely used at home," Liu says. One of its first products is a handheld electrocardiogram (ECG) designed for home use. The device costs about RMB 300 (US$50).

Rather than attaching electrodes to arms, legs, or chest, FinlTop requires the user to simply press their thumbs to the two metal sensors on the smartphone-sized device. A readout appears in real-time and the results are sent to the user’s smartphone, which can in turn be sent to his or her doctor.

Just because patients can see their test results doesn’t mean they can interpret them. FinlTop’s app analyzes the results and tells users, in the simplest terms possible, whether they are healthy or if there’s a problem. Liu explains, "We want to let people understand in a simple and clear way the results of their health tests rather than, as in the past, looking at test results in bewilderment."

FinlTop crowdfunded its ECG on China’s JD Coufenzi, completing the campaign in September last year with RMB 61,558 (~US$10,000). It also received an RMB 10 million (US$1.61 million) seed investment from Yicheng Electronic Technology.

Besides the ECG, FinlTop also makes a urine analyzer, wireless glucose meter, pulse oximeter, blood pressure monitor, body weight scale, and multi-parameter display that combines and visualizes the data from all these devices.

Open to doctors

The startup was founded in April 2013 by three engineers, all with experience in the medical device field. They spotted an opportunity at the intersection of China’s aging population and the rise of the internet-of-things movement.

Liu tells Tech in Asia that medical institutions, pharmacies, and individual doctors have all exhibited an interest in FinlTop. So far, it established strategic partnerships with more than 100 companies, which represent over 1 million patients.